Getting to Know. . . EMILY ELBERT
 by Kathy S-B  ·  19 August 2007

At eighteen years of age, Emily Elbert sings with a voice that sounds like she’s been living life on the music circuit for decades. That’s a good thing. A very good thing. The sound of wisdom, grace, and maturity come through loud and clear. Emily’s future is very bright. Check out what she’s up to at www.emilyelbert.com or at her myspace.com/emilyelbert. You can get a little taste of this outstanding young musician by watching her perform her song, “All is Love.”

How long have you been playing guitar?

About four years. When I was fourteen, I’d been playing piano for eight years, but got sick of the stiffness of the competitive piano world, so I quit taking lessons. I was itching to play something, though, so guitar took the place of piano. With piano, I had a very formal, linear approach, but with guitar, I was able to use a more self-taught, experimental, creative learning method and pull ideas from everywhere.

Did you start writing songs right away or did you make a gradual transition from cover tunes to original tunes?

I guess I always messed around with ideas of my own but it took a year after I started playing guitar before they came together in song format. But I still play cover tunes live because it’s like the tradition of playing jazz standards, where they’re open to the adaptation of the artist. The fun of creating music is making it your own.

I understand that your first musical instrument was the piano. Have you switched alliances to the guitar completely or do you still play the piano as well?

Well, I don’t play enough piano to be called a pianist, that’s for sure. I left it alone for a long time but sure would like to take it back up. It intrigues me.

Your scat singing and jazz style singing is quite sophisticated for a teenager. Have people told you that you must be an old soul?

Thanks. Yeah, people say things like that fairly often, which I’m honored to hear. But it doesn’t even begin to compete with how often people tell me I look like I’m twelve. Haha.

I feel like it’s important to have respect and knowledge of ideas that came before me and I aspire to weave them in with modern influences.

Your MySpace page lists Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Jack Kerouac as some of your influences. Do you do a lot of reading in your spare time? Have you written anything that was especially influenced by any of these literary folk?

As long as I can remember, my hunger for reading has been an important part of my learning process. I’ve grown up reading The Dallas Morning News every day and I place a high value on reading. I wouldn’t say that any specific song is written with a specific writer in mind, but I hope that my thoughts in general can draw from the wisdom of insightful thinkers.

Photo by Lynn Michelle

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