Emily Barker
Encyclopedia
Emily Barker is a guitar
ist and singer-songwriter
born in Bridgetown, Western Australia. With chamber-folk trio The Red Clay Halo, she has recorded three albums: Photos.Fires.Fables. (2006), Despite The Snow (2008) and Almanac (2011). The band is known for its rootsy ensemble playing, four-part harmony vocals and has been described as 'chamber-folk of the highest order'.
where she collaborated with guitarist Rob Jackson. They formed a band called The Low Country which released two albums, Welcome To The Low Country (2003) and The Dark Road (2004), tracks from which enjoyed plays on John Peel
’s BBC radio show.
In October 2005 Emily won Country Song of the Year and Regional Song of the Year awards at the annual West Australian Music Songwriting Awards
. Also in 2005, Emily started work on her debut solo album, the critically acclaimed Photos.Fires.Fables. The release of this album saw the birth of The Red Clay Halo, an all-female trio of Anna Jenkins, Jo Silverston and Gill Sandell who collectively provide backing harmony vocals and who respectively play violin, cello and musical saw, and accordion, piano and flute.
The band’s second studio album, Despite The Snow, was recorded in live sessions in a 16th century barn in Norfolk. Self-released in November 2008 on Emily’s own label Everyone Sang, the album again garnered much praise.
In late 2008, the album's opening track "Nostalgia" was discovered by composer Martin Phipps
who re-recorded it with Emily for use as the theme tune for the hit television series Wallander on BBC1 starring British actor Kenneth Branagh
. The first series, which attracted over 6 million viewers per episode, won a slew of awards, including several BAFTAs and a Royal Television Society
award for its theme tune. In 2010, the song "Nostalgia" was selected for the first independent labels' Storm The Charts campaign.
February 2011 saw the release of Almanac. The release of this album was accompanied by sessions for Cerys Matthews
on 6 Music and Radio 4
’s Loose Ends
, while the single "Little Deaths" was record of the week on Nenome’s show on 6 Music. Emily and the band again went on the road in the UK, culminating in a complete performance of Almanac at St Giles-in-the-Fields
church in London. Almanac was jointly funded by spareroom.com, and a fan-funded campaign on pledgemusic.com
.
The song "Pause" from Almanac was the theme tune for a major 2011 BBC2
drama serial, The Shadow Line
, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor
and Christopher Eccleston
. Martin Phipps again adapted the song for the title sequence.
Emily performs in London and has regularly toured the UK with the Red Clay Halo. She has supported artists such as The Waifs
, Jose Gonzalez
, Mary Gauthier
and Frank Turner
.
Emily has been played regularly on BBC regional radio stations throughout the UK, as well as receiving play on BBC 6 Music
.
Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo
2010
magazine
Photos.Fires.Fables is ‘sharply observed, original songs …adventurously embellished by gypsy flourishes and haunting desert echoes that’d be at home on a Calexico album’.
Q
Gave Despite the Snow a four star review, saying it was ‘stripped free of studio frippery and all the better for its carefree simplicity’.
The Times
Awarded her live performance five stars and compared her to Gillian Welch
and Laura Cantrell
' A review of Despite the Snow said 'the hills have yet to be emptied of gold if you know where to look'.
BBC music website
Of Almanac said: 'This is a dream of a record. A new Marling, then? No, Barker offers something else...'
Mojo magazine
Have also covered Emily Barker and her music.
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist and singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
born in Bridgetown, Western Australia. With chamber-folk trio The Red Clay Halo, she has recorded three albums: Photos.Fires.Fables. (2006), Despite The Snow (2008) and Almanac (2011). The band is known for its rootsy ensemble playing, four-part harmony vocals and has been described as 'chamber-folk of the highest order'.
Musical career
Emily travelled to the UK in 2002, and was first based in CambridgeCambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
where she collaborated with guitarist Rob Jackson. They formed a band called The Low Country which released two albums, Welcome To The Low Country (2003) and The Dark Road (2004), tracks from which enjoyed plays on John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
’s BBC radio show.
In October 2005 Emily won Country Song of the Year and Regional Song of the Year awards at the annual West Australian Music Songwriting Awards
WAM Song of the Year
WAM was originally formed as the Western Australian Rock Music Industry Association Inc. in 1985, with its main aim to develop and run annual awards recognising achievements within the music industry in Western Australia...
. Also in 2005, Emily started work on her debut solo album, the critically acclaimed Photos.Fires.Fables. The release of this album saw the birth of The Red Clay Halo, an all-female trio of Anna Jenkins, Jo Silverston and Gill Sandell who collectively provide backing harmony vocals and who respectively play violin, cello and musical saw, and accordion, piano and flute.
The band’s second studio album, Despite The Snow, was recorded in live sessions in a 16th century barn in Norfolk. Self-released in November 2008 on Emily’s own label Everyone Sang, the album again garnered much praise.
In late 2008, the album's opening track "Nostalgia" was discovered by composer Martin Phipps
Martin Phipps
Martin Phipps is an award-winning British composer, who has garnered critical acclaim for his work on numerous film and television projects.- Career :...
who re-recorded it with Emily for use as the theme tune for the hit television series Wallander on BBC1 starring British actor Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
. The first series, which attracted over 6 million viewers per episode, won a slew of awards, including several BAFTAs and a Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
award for its theme tune. In 2010, the song "Nostalgia" was selected for the first independent labels' Storm The Charts campaign.
February 2011 saw the release of Almanac. The release of this album was accompanied by sessions for Cerys Matthews
Cerys Matthews
Cerys Elizabeth Matthews is a Welsh singer and songwriter. She is known as the lead singer of the Welsh rock band Catatonia, her more recent bilingual solo career, and for a 1998 Christmas duet with Tom Jones.-Biography:...
on 6 Music and Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
’s Loose Ends
Loose Ends (radio)
Loose Ends is a British radio programme originally broadcast on Saturday mornings, and then transmitted early Saturday evenings from 1998 by BBC Radio 4. It was hosted by Ned Sherrin until he became ill in late 2006 with a reported throat infection, and later throat cancer...
, while the single "Little Deaths" was record of the week on Nenome’s show on 6 Music. Emily and the band again went on the road in the UK, culminating in a complete performance of Almanac at St Giles-in-the-Fields
St Giles in the Fields
St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, is a church in the London Borough of Camden, in the West End. It is close to the Centre Point office tower and the Tottenham Court Road tube station. The church is part of the Diocese of London within the Church of England...
church in London. Almanac was jointly funded by spareroom.com, and a fan-funded campaign on pledgemusic.com
Pledgemusic
PledgeMusic is an online Direct-to-Fan / Fan-funded music platform utilising a Threshold Pledge System / Provision Point Mechanism, launched in August 2009, that facilitates musicians reaching out to their fan-base to financially contribute to upcoming recordings or other musical projects...
.
The song "Pause" from Almanac was the theme tune for a major 2011 BBC2
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
drama serial, The Shadow Line
The Shadow Line (TV series)
The Shadow Line is a seven-part British television drama serial produced by Company Pictures/Eight Rooks Ltd/Baby Cow/CinemaNX production for BBC Two...
, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetelu Umeadi "Chiwetel" Ejiofor, OBE is an English actor of stage and screen. He has received numerous acting awards and award nominations, including the 2006 BAFTA Awards Rising Star, three Golden Globe Awards' nominations, and the 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his...
and Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
. Martin Phipps again adapted the song for the title sequence.
Emily performs in London and has regularly toured the UK with the Red Clay Halo. She has supported artists such as The Waifs
The Waifs
The Waifs are an Australian folk rock band formed in 1992 by Josh Cunningham , and sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson...
, Jose Gonzalez
José González
José González is a Swedish-Argentine indie folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Gothenburg, Sweden.González is also a member of Swedish band Junip, along with Elias Araya and Tobias Winterkorn.- Biography :...
, Mary Gauthier
Mary Gauthier
Mary Gauthier is an American folk singer-songwriter.-Life and career:Gauthier was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Given up at birth by a mother she never knew, Gauthier was adopted by an Italian Catholic couple in Thibodaux, Louisiana...
and Frank Turner
Frank Turner
Frank Turner is an English folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. To date, Turner has released four solo albums, two rarities...
.
Emily has been played regularly on BBC regional radio stations throughout the UK, as well as receiving play on BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
.
Discography
The Low Country- Welcome To The Low Country (2003)
- The Dark Road (2004)
Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo
- Photos.Fires.Fables. (2005)
- Despite The Snow (2008)
- Almanac (2011)
Roles of Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo
- Emily Barker: songwriter, guitars, vocals.
- Gill Sandell: accordion, piano, flute, backing vocals, percussion.
- Jo Silverston: cello, saw, banjo, backing vocals.
- Anna Jenkins: violin, backing vocals.
Festivals and Live Shows
2008- Opening support act on Frank TurnerFrank TurnerFrank Turner is an English folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. To date, Turner has released four solo albums, two rarities...
's October 2008 UK tour. - Cambridge Folk FestivalCambridge Folk FestivalThe Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is renowned for its eclectic mix of music and a wide definition of what might be considered folk. It occurs...
.
2010
- London's Camden Crawl Festival
- End of the Road FestivalEnd Of The Road FestivalEnd of the Road Festival is an annual music festival in England which focuses on alternative music, mostly folk, alt.country and Americana. It is hosted at the Larmer Tree Gardens, on the border of north Dorset and Wiltshire, and usually takes place over the first or second full weekend in...
- Wenstock Folk Festival
- The Lovers, The Dreamers and Me event at The Tate Britain, curated by Arctic Circle.
- The Arctic Circle Christmas show at Kings Place, London.
Press
UncutUNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
magazine
Photos.Fires.Fables is ‘sharply observed, original songs …adventurously embellished by gypsy flourishes and haunting desert echoes that’d be at home on a Calexico album’.
Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
Gave Despite the Snow a four star review, saying it was ‘stripped free of studio frippery and all the better for its carefree simplicity’.
The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
Awarded her live performance five stars and compared her to Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, Bluegrass, and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely...
and Laura Cantrell
Laura Cantrell
Laura Cantrell is a country singer-songwriter and DJ from Nashville, Tennessee. She used to present a weekly country and old-time music radio show on WFMU in New Jersey called The Radio Thrift Shop...
' A review of Despite the Snow said 'the hills have yet to be emptied of gold if you know where to look'.
BBC music website
Of Almanac said: 'This is a dream of a record. A new Marling, then? No, Barker offers something else...'
Mojo magazine
Have also covered Emily Barker and her music.
External links
- Emily Barker on FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- Emily Barker on iTunesITunesiTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
- Emily Barker on MyspaceMyspaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
- Emily Barker on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Emily Barker on TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...