The music of singer-songwriter Emily Jane White is the stuff to serenade souls of tortured mystics with. Smoky, dark, ethereal, this small town girl turned internationally acclaimed songstress grapples with pain, sorrow and the meaning of it all in her bluesy, folksy and deeply poetic melodies. With her first album– Dark Undercoat– recorded in 2007, Emily’s two subsequently released masterpieces– Victorian American and Ode to Sentience– have also been met with praise in the US and Europe. A native of foggy Fort Bragg, California, the mood of her hometown-influenced music lends itself to solitary rainy mornings at home contemplating life and deciphering dreams. Emily’s dedication to fully embodying a creative existence is nothing short of astounding and inspirational. For this, she is a poster girl for the Petals and Bones Awesome Person of the Week series. She currently splits her time between the open road, the North Bay and the East Bay where she lives and breathes music every moment of every day. - D.B.
1. Can you give some background on your life as a musician? How did you come to choose this career? What kinds of projects have you completed? Did you have a formal education in something music related?
I grew up in Ft. Bragg/Mendocino, California. I started playing basic piano when I was 5 years old. I took lessons from pre-school through first grade and then quit because I had a decent ear and wasn’t interested in reading music or following lesson books. I picked up piano again when I was 14 with an art therapy teacher who let me improvise and learn any piece I wanted. I then moved on to an improvisational jazz teacher. Around the same time my father, who is also a guitar player, introduced me to a few open chords with which I was able to learn a few covers.
During my college years at UC Santa Cruz I began playing in a few punk/rock bands. I played electric guitar and keyboard. I then picked up the acoustic guitar after a serious heartbreak and began writing my own songs at the age of 20. I started with an all girl group called The Diamond Star Halos and then went on to pursue my own solo music after our lives went in different directions. I essentially made it a goal in 2005/2006 to record my first record. I released it in 2007 and had some success here and in Europe which has continued to build. I’ve released three records. My first two were released in Europe and in the US. The third one was released in Europe last year and I’m hoping to release it in the US sometime soon.
In regard to formal musical training, I took many piano lessons and a music theory class in college but I never pursued any kind of formal training on a serious level.
2. How do you stay motivated to be creative? Where do your ideas come from?
I’ve been touring so much these past three years that I’ve currently taken a break from writing with the intention of making a record. I needed to take the pressure off myself for awhile. However, I sing and write all the time. I often sit with my guitar and record whatever comes out, or sit at the piano and improvise. I have about 50 sketches of songs on my computer right now. Music is a life practice for me. I write because I have to. It’s a form of catharsis. I never intended for music to be my main career but am grateful it has become this way for now. Because I essentially manage my whole musical project, I sometimes get caught up in the mundane maintenance of that and it distracts me from my creative process. I’ve recently been designing and enforcing a structure for myself to write at least one thing a day, whether it be a poem or a song.
My ideas come from strong autobiographical sentiments within, or reactions and empathic responses to things I have heard about or witnessed. My songwriting is a way for me to channel political criticism, negative sentiment, anger, and primarily sadness and melancholy, into something transformative and hopeful. My most recent record is autobiographical but my first two records have a few songs written in response to the legacy of other artists by whom I’ve been strongly influenced, literature, or political issues.
3. What advice do you have to someone who wants to be more creative or bring more creativity into their work?
Well, I’m no expert on the creative process. But, one thing that has been helpful and was recommended to me by a dear artist friend of mine is to pick up a copy of “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke and really ask yourself the question of what do you want to create and why? What is it that you want and have to say? By what are you informed? Who do you want to inform? There are a lot of inexplicable elements to the creative process making it hard to talk about. Some of these elements are deeply personal and hard to translate to others.
Another way is to simply free write. I was taught how to free write in middle school and it has been of great use to me. I simply write whatever I’m feeling or thinking for 20 minutes without stopping or censoring myself. It helps to remove creative blocks.
4. How important is discipline to your creative output? How important is idle time/relaxation?
These are great questions! Creating art takes work and discipline. There is no doubt about that. It depends on what you’re doing with your idle time and relaxation. A lot of my work was initially written in solitude. I have played with extraordinarily talented musicians, so during rehearsal the songs took on a new life once I played them for my band mates and allowed for collaborative accompaniment. I have to stay firmly disciplined in protecting my solitude and alone time if I want to stay in touch with my creative process.
Since I’ve been on break, I’ve allowed myself time for distraction, leading me to take a good look my artistic life and the structure it needs.
5. What does a typical day look like for you?
I spent so much time these past 3 years recording records and touring that my day to day when I return home is not very routine. I spend a lot of time walking and exercising. While I do this I often listen to a lot of interviews with artists that I really admire. I have suffered a few repetitive motion injuries over the years so I do a lot of physical exercise to deal with those. I read articles and listen to NPR and music I’ve never heard before. I also spend a lot of time dealing with e-mail, contracts, those kinds of things. Having spent so much time away, I do make friends and family a priority.
A sample of Emily’s talent: Emily Jane White live: A Shot Rang Out