Emily Clark’s Musical Ride

Twenty-four-year-old Emily Clark has accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. From moving to Whitefish, Montana, at the age of 18 to hitting the jam scene in Denver just a few years ago, the blues-oriented soul singer has found a home among some of the top artists in American roots music. TipJar had the chance to chat with her this summer right before she took off for the big sky country of Montana to host her second annual Deadication Music Festival.

How did you find your way to Denver?

I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. When I was about 18 I bought a one-way train ticket to Whitefish, Montana, where I started playing in a Grateful Dead-oriented band called Cannonball. I recorded my first album with them about a year later. Shortly after that recording we all decided to take a little hiatus. People in the band were starting families and other careers, but I still really wanted to keep going with my music. Soon I was picked up by Flathead Valley’s biggest funk band (laughs). The group was called 20 Grand. I became their lead singer. I was only three shows into my stint with them when we opened up for [String Cheese Incident keyboardist] Kyle Hollingsworth’s band. While at that show I met all the guys from the Motet, who were also playing — Garrett Sayers, Dave Watts and the whole gang. We all hung out, got to be friends and kept in touch. At one point they were like hey no one is going to hear you if you stay in Whitefish, so why don’t you move to Denver? I was getting sick of playing the small bar circuit there and I was wanting to step it up, so I decided to make the move.

(Emily singing with Cannonball at Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana, 2011)

What Year was that?

Around 2012 or so. I got my first little studio apartment here in Denver. Dave [Watts] had encouraged me to move to Colorado and I had another friend, Katie Scotten, who told me I’d like the Denver area. Between Dave and Katie I had a couple people to help ease the transition.

Didn’t you have a band when you first moved here?

Yes, Emily Clark’s Makeshift Band. I’ve since changed the name to Emily Clark and the Passing Fancy, which is what we are called now. The band first took shape when I met my guitar player Matt Walton, who is my right hand man. He’s phenomenal. He used to play in a band called the Former Champions. We did our first gig together (for a private party) as part of band called Tiger Party. That was how we met and we’ve stuck together ever since.

Have you traveled with your band?

We mainly play in Colorado but Matt and I have performed as a duo all over Montana. I have taken the Makeshift band to Seattle and Portland for a few shows. I like to go back to the Northwest when I can, but it’s expensive to take everyone with me so I’ll usually throw a band together from people that I know in the area when I play out of state. It’s cheaper to travel by myself.

Can you describe your sound?

It’s got kind of a Tedeschi Trucks and Bonnie Raitt feel to it. I cover a lot of Bonnie’s stuff. I’m actually doing a Bonnie Raitt tribute this fall at Cervantes [Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver]. I’m really excited about it. I’ve got some big name players on board. I’ll be announcing it pretty soon. But yeah, I take my inspiration from artists including Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Bonnie Raitt, Jamie Cullum, The Neville Brothers and Little Feat. My original sound is pretty blues-driven, but my guitar player Matt is a big fan of Curt Rosenwinkle and Bill Frisell. So his playing lends a more modern and jazzy feel to our sound.

When you perform as a duo, does you guitar player play acoustic or electric?

He plays an electric guitar and does a lot of nice looping. He has a really cool sound that works well with my voice. I can’t say enough about him.

You’ve been playing with some big names lately. I think I saw Sam Bush and Oteil Burbridge in some photos with you. How did that all come about?

I don’t want to name drop but I’m about to (laughs). It kind of started with a super jam hosted by [Motet drummer] Dave Watts that included [bassist] Oteil [Burbridge] and [steel guitarist] Roosevelt Collier. Roosevelt is an amazing lap steel player from Miami and a great guy. He liked what I did and invited me to play with him as part of another super jam that included Andy Hall of the Infamous String Dusters. That jam led to Andy Hall asking me to play with the Denver Bluegrass Generals, which included Samson Grisman, Sam Bush, Chris Pandolfi, Jeff Austin, Fareed Haque and a bunch of other stellar musicians.

Wow!

Yeah it’s pretty mind blowing. Fareed is going to help me produce my next album, which will be the first release I’ve done since I did the EP (Boom) with Cannonball, [available on iTunes]. https://cannonball.bandcamp.com/album/boom.

I see that you also just played a tribute to Jerry Garcia at ARISE Music Fest this summer with some great players, was that as much fun as it looked?

Oh god yes. I got to join Larry and Jenny Keel along with Jeff Austin, Dave Watts and some other people. Scott Morrill [owner of Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom and talent buyer for the ARISE Music Festival] had the idea of having me up with Larry and Jeff for the Jerry Garcia tribute. The whole show is on SoundCloud. I sang Mystery Train and Franklin’s Tower. It was so much fun but it was also a little nerve-racking. The crowd was big. I kept looking over and seeing Jeff Austin and going oh wow this is really happening (laughs).

What’s your current schedule looking like?

Well, I’ve been putting on a fest in Montana for two years now (the Deadication Festival). So I haven’t scheduled too much because I’m working on this year’s event [which occurred on August 22nd]. I’m featured in another band in Chicago around Halloween and I’ve got a show at Coda Brewing Company in Aurora, CO, in September (codabrewing.com). I like things to happen organically and I see how much work it takes to be a band leader so I’m kind of taking things as they come for now. I’m embracing being a featured artist. I work full time for an organization called Blooming Footprint, which is media and music brand nourishing company that helps bands with their online presence and their social media stuff. I also did the LOHI Music Festival and Sonic Bloom Festival. So I’m trying to do all of that and keep my band going, although being a solo artist that gets featured in bands works well for me as well. I don’t want to saturate my gigging. I like performing once or twice per month so that it’s more special.

Did you have a vision of being a singer when you were a kid?

Yeah, the first time I decided I really wanted to sing for a living was when I saw Susan Tedeschi and Joan Osborne at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle when I was about five or six. I got to see Susan, Joan and Robert Cray all in one summer. I was actually torn between wanting to be a comedian or a musician.

Have you had a chance to meet Susan Tedeschi?

Yes I have. I got into a bad car accident a couple years ago here in Denver and while I was recovering from collarbone surgery, I decided to travel back to Seattle with Dave [Watts] to see my family. I saw that Susan was scheduled to play at Marymoor Park (www.marymoorconcerts.com/events). So I said to Dave, hey we should go to that show. Sometime before the concert I talked to my friend Todd Smallie [former bassist for the Derek Trucks band and now the bassist for JJ Grey and Mofro]. He’s a really sweet guy and he said hey if there’s ever anything I can do to help you with your healing process just let me know. I said you know what there is something you could do, you could help me meet Susan Tedeschi (laughs). And so he did. The Wood Brothers (www.thewoodbros.com) opened that show. It was a great night that included a bunch of magical sit-ins between the bands. I met her there for the first time. She signed my sling and my poster. I think my mom was more nervous than I was (laughs) but it was truly amazing.

You car accident sounded serious . . .

It was. I lost my car and lost my job. It really humbled me. Some good things emerged from it though. I quit smoking cigarettes, which helped improve my singing.

I see you have your own company called Make it Groovy Productions?

Yeah I just started Make it Groovy Productions this past year. People can check it out at EmilyClark.net . It’s just a resting page right now but I’ve got a full website that will be there soon.

So life is pretty good?

Yeah it’s awesome. I’m focusing on my festival, my album with Fareed Haque, my upcoming show in September and just enjoying the ride.

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Special thanks to photographer Lynon Lohof for her featured photograph of Emily Clark and Cannonball at The Great Northern Bar in Whitefish, MT