OurStage

19 year old Emily Elbert is a singer/songwriter with deep musical roots and a love for creative expression. Her music has delighted audiences and music critics alike with her jazz-infused sound, which she describes as “acoustic soul-folk.” Fresh off a northeast run with G Love and Special Sauce and a showcase spot at the Folk Alliance Festival in Memphis, Elbert is already making a name for herself. Her love of music from around the world, and distinctive combination of jazz, folk, soul, blues, and pop creates a sound that engages the hearts, minds, and ears of listeners around the globe. Emily blends a hip musical perspective with an in-depth knowledge of classic favorites to create unique vocal and guitar arrangements.
Just seven months after Emily began working as a professional performer, music critics at The Dallas Morning News selected her as “local rookie of the year” for 2006. By 18 the Coppell, Texas native had won awards for music performances on both coasts and at home, including the 2007 Gibson/Baldwin Grammy Jazz Ensemble in Los Angeles and Berklee College of Music’s Performing Songwriter Contest. She also won 1st Place at the Old Settler’s Music Festival’s Youth Talent Competition and was Grand Prize Winner in Texas Music Project’s Texas 10 Under 20 Contest.

Elbert’s debut CD, Bright Side, contains eleven original songs that she wrote, arranged, performed, and recorded at Bob Gentry’s New Masters Studio in Tyler. In addition to her original music, Emily enjoys playing and singing music she admires, from Michael Jackson to Joni Mitchell.

Texas Instruments recently licensed videos of two of Emily’s songs to demonstrate their new video cell phones throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. So far in 2008, she has been a featured performer at the North American Folk Music Alliance conference in Memphis, toured the Northeast with G Love & Special Sauce and the Wood Brothers (featuring Chris Wood of Medeski Martin & Wood), has opened for Patty Larkin and Kaki King, and has upcoming shows booked with Marcia Ball and Ben Taylor.

Emily Elbert is currently based in Boston, where she is a student at Berklee College of Music.