Emma Cloney

Stars for Streetlights is a brave, soul-wrenching musical journey of honesty and personal truth. On the new full-length CD, Emma Cloney meditates on a life weighed-down by expectation and accumulation, and proves that the truth really can set you free. I fell for the warm melodies, and Emma’s trademark clear, uplifting vocals. She’s crafted a 10-song testament to living life unburdened. I’m inspired! - Bruce Laden CBC radio 1. - CBC radio one

Stars for Streetlights is a brave, soul-wrenching musical journey of honesty and personal truth. On the new full-length CD, Emma Cloney meditates on a life weighed-down by expectation and accumulation, and proves that the truth really can set you free. I fell for the warm melodies, and Emma’s trademark clear, uplifting vocals. She’s crafted a 10-song testament to living life unburdened. I’m inspired! - Bruce Laden CBC radio 1. - CBC radio one

Mother, wife, student and folk musician Emma Cloney is back with her second album, “Stars for Streetlights”.

With lyrical themes of loss, hitting rock-bottom, self-preservation and finding strength from unknown places, the album resonates with a power and truth. The combination of Cloney’s angelic vocals and indie-folk guitar creates a sound that is hauntingly beautiful and exclusively hers.

The title, “Stars for Streetlights” comes from Cloney’s own experience of losing her ranch in rural Manitoba and having to move to the city.

“The view facing my house was a cornucopia of stars, but if you turned around you would see this hazy orange fog of Winnipeg,” said Cloney.

“When everything changed and we lost the house and I found myself back in Winnipeg, there was this really weird moment where I came home from school, looked up and I’m staring into the face of streetlights, there [were] no stars. I traded them.”

The album is a mix of folk songs that reflect how Emma felt during the loss of her home and what she thought to be her self, along with songs she wrote about the experience.

With help from fellow folk artist Dan Frechette, Canadian fiddle maestro Patti Lamoureux and members from the Juno winning band The Duhks, Emma spent 18 months in studio recording “Stars for Streetlights”. During that time she and her music grew.

Jason Hooper, the artistic director at the West End Cultural Centre, feels her new album shows how she is growing as an artist.

“She is more mature [and] her music is maturing with her,” he said.

The album release party for “Stars for Streetlights” will be held at the West End Cultural Centre on Oct. 12. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. and the show will begin at 8. Tickets are available in advance at the West End Cultural Centre, Ticketmaster, Music Trader and the Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store for $15 or $20 at the door. Fellow Winnipeg folk artists Kevin Roy and Keith Dyck will open. - The Projector

Mother, wife, student and folk musician Emma Cloney is back with her second album, “Stars for Streetlights”.

With lyrical themes of loss, hitting rock-bottom, self-preservation and finding strength from unknown places, the album resonates with a power and truth. The combination of Cloney’s angelic vocals and indie-folk guitar creates a sound that is hauntingly beautiful and exclusively hers.

The title, “Stars for Streetlights” comes from Cloney’s own experience of losing her ranch in rural Manitoba and having to move to the city.

“The view facing my house was a cornucopia of stars, but if you turned around you would see this hazy orange fog of Winnipeg,” said Cloney.

“When everything changed and we lost the house and I found myself back in Winnipeg, there was this really weird moment where I came home from school, looked up and I’m staring into the face of streetlights, there [were] no stars. I traded them.”

The album is a mix of folk songs that reflect how Emma felt during the loss of her home and what she thought to be her self, along with songs she wrote about the experience.

With help from fellow folk artist Dan Frechette, Canadian fiddle maestro Patti Lamoureux and members from the Juno winning band The Duhks, Emma spent 18 months in studio recording “Stars for Streetlights”. During that time she and her music grew.

Jason Hooper, the artistic director at the West End Cultural Centre, feels her new album shows how she is growing as an artist.

“She is more mature [and] her music is maturing with her,” he said.

The album release party for “Stars for Streetlights” will be held at the West End Cultural Centre on Oct. 12. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. and the show will begin at 8. Tickets are available in advance at the West End Cultural Centre, Ticketmaster, Music Trader and the Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store for $15 or $20 at the door. Fellow Winnipeg folk artists Kevin Roy and Keith Dyck will open. - The Projector

Manitoba Scene
Emma Cloney juggles music, motherhood and making money
Posted by Sandra Thacker, SCENE Producer | Saturday March 2, 2013

Emma Cloney with Ismaila Alfa (CBC/Thacker)

My songs were this musical catharsis, basically. I think of my guitar like a six string therapist. I had expressed all of these songs and these lyrics but had never shared them.

—Emma Cloney, singer/songwriter

Imagine learning guitar, fiddle and banjo all in a weekend. That's what singer/songwriter Emma Cloney set out to do, just four or five years ago.

Cloney has a deeply ingrained love of bluegrass and it all started with her father's 1972 guild guitar. "I found out that the best way to make sure your children turn into professional musicians is to own an expensive instrument and tell them that under no circumstances, are they allowed to touch it."

While she dabbled in music over the years, her grown up role as a mom and a nursing student took over. But she still sang and wrote songs whenever she could.

In fact, Cloney wrote many of her songs to provide closure to different chapters in her life. "My songs were this musical catharsis, basically. I think of my guitar like a six string therapist," she says with a smile. "I had expressed all of these songs and these lyrics but had never shared them."

She eventually started jamming with other Winnipeg musicians and even opened her own home to musical gatherings. What started in her rural home at the time eventually became her annual Prairie Kitchen Party at the West End Cultural Centre. - CBC the scene

Manitoba Scene
Emma Cloney juggles music, motherhood and making money
Posted by Sandra Thacker, SCENE Producer | Saturday March 2, 2013

Emma Cloney with Ismaila Alfa (CBC/Thacker)

My songs were this musical catharsis, basically. I think of my guitar like a six string therapist. I had expressed all of these songs and these lyrics but had never shared them.

—Emma Cloney, singer/songwriter

Imagine learning guitar, fiddle and banjo all in a weekend. That's what singer/songwriter Emma Cloney set out to do, just four or five years ago.

Cloney has a deeply ingrained love of bluegrass and it all started with her father's 1972 guild guitar. "I found out that the best way to make sure your children turn into professional musicians is to own an expensive instrument and tell them that under no circumstances, are they allowed to touch it."

While she dabbled in music over the years, her grown up role as a mom and a nursing student took over. But she still sang and wrote songs whenever she could.

In fact, Cloney wrote many of her songs to provide closure to different chapters in her life. "My songs were this musical catharsis, basically. I think of my guitar like a six string therapist," she says with a smile. "I had expressed all of these songs and these lyrics but had never shared them."

She eventually started jamming with other Winnipeg musicians and even opened her own home to musical gatherings. What started in her rural home at the time eventually became her annual Prairie Kitchen Party at the West End Cultural Centre. - CBC the scene

Emma Cloney: Stars for Streetlights coming out Oct. 12 (Independent)

For her second proper album, resident singer-songwriter Emma Cloney has enlisted the services of many key players in this town: producers Scott Nolan and Jeremy Rusu; folkie Dan Frechette; fiddler Patti Lamoureux; and a few members of the Duhks. The result is Stars for Streetlights, a record that will likely build on what Cloney is best known for: her highly personal, inviting tales and unaffected, evocative delivery hovering over elements of folk, pop, and bluegrass. - CBC

Emma Cloney: Stars for Streetlights coming out Oct. 12 (Independent)

For her second proper album, resident singer-songwriter Emma Cloney has enlisted the services of many key players in this town: producers Scott Nolan and Jeremy Rusu; folkie Dan Frechette; fiddler Patti Lamoureux; and a few members of the Duhks. The result is Stars for Streetlights, a record that will likely build on what Cloney is best known for: her highly personal, inviting tales and unaffected, evocative delivery hovering over elements of folk, pop, and bluegrass. - CBC

Four Stars ****
EMMA CLONEY
Something to Say
(Independent)

Miss Cloney’s sound takes me to back to every Folk Fest I’ve ever attended, and the experience of sitting near the Green Ash stage and stumbling upon a sound you weren’t expecting — honey-soaked vocals, homegrown storytelling (Mustang Dreamer) and simple, genuine talent. The tunes here are the type Johnny Cash might’ve sung to June: religious (Glory Be, Down to the River to Pray) but not overtly preachy, just lovely, good-natured and totally enjoyable. With a voice that’s reminiscent of Basia Bulat, 27-year-old Cloney is one to look out for.
— Nicholas Friesen - Uptown Magazine Winnipeg

Four Stars ****
EMMA CLONEY
Something to Say
(Independent)

Miss Cloney’s sound takes me to back to every Folk Fest I’ve ever attended, and the experience of sitting near the Green Ash stage and stumbling upon a sound you weren’t expecting — honey-soaked vocals, homegrown storytelling (Mustang Dreamer) and simple, genuine talent. The tunes here are the type Johnny Cash might’ve sung to June: religious (Glory Be, Down to the River to Pray) but not overtly preachy, just lovely, good-natured and totally enjoyable. With a voice that’s reminiscent of Basia Bulat, 27-year-old Cloney is one to look out for.
— Nicholas Friesen - Uptown Magazine Winnipeg

Emma Cloney is a singer-songwriter and rancher, hailing from Big Sky Ranch, near Woodlands, Manitoba. She's also the 'cook' behind the 'kitchen party' at the West End Cultural Centre on Tuesday, May 24.

Emma put down her guitar for a few minutes to talk to SCENE about her secret recipe.

How did the ranch jam/kitchen party tradition get started at Big Sky Ranch?
It was last summer when my family and I decided to call up the friends and neighbours and invite them to our ranch. Our little ranch is settled on five acres of land complete with horses and a small fishing pond - a sweet piece of country heaven for our young family. From my kitchen window, you can enjoy the gleam of the glass jars from freshly canned dill pickles and the smell of homemade bread and jam.

So family and friends gathered there ... all twenty-seven of us. We ate together, laughed, talked, and told stories. But, best of all, we jammed together, filling my kitchen and home with the sweet sound of our own private folk festival. We had fiddlers, banjos, mandolins and guitars, singers and storytellers... even a Metis woman who told us of her People's oral history.

These kitchen parties at my home have been lovingly named "The Ranch Jams" and they remain one of my favouite things to do on a warm summer night or even a cold winter's night by the heat of the wood stove. With all the happiness these gatherings have brought to the family, we decided to share the experience on a larger scale.

Why the kitchen?
It's the heart of any home! A Kitchen Party is all about sharing music and stories so picture if you will, walking into a farmhouse kitchen filled with the smells of homemade bread and jams and being welcomed in by the playful sounds of fiddled reels and jigs. It's a "come as you are and stay until the wee hours of the morning" kind of place. With all the liveliness that goes on in the kitchen, it's no wonder that the party never migrates to the other rooms of the house.

What are the essential ingredients to a successful kitchen party?
Kitchen chairs, a good stomping floor, a lively audience, and.....great food! Musicians might never leave! There should be a food theme in any kitchen, and no kitchen party would be complete without plenty of homemade goodies and a free flow of liquid libation.

What's your recipe for the best kitchen party ever?

Enthusiastic passionate musicians

1 huge kitchen

Hours of non-stop Fun

Audience Members -- Complete with spoons, boots, Beer and Spirit

and pickles!

- CBC Manitoba Scene

Emma Cloney is a singer-songwriter and rancher, hailing from Big Sky Ranch, near Woodlands, Manitoba. She's also the 'cook' behind the 'kitchen party' at the West End Cultural Centre on Tuesday, May 24.

Emma put down her guitar for a few minutes to talk to SCENE about her secret recipe.

How did the ranch jam/kitchen party tradition get started at Big Sky Ranch?
It was last summer when my family and I decided to call up the friends and neighbours and invite them to our ranch. Our little ranch is settled on five acres of land complete with horses and a small fishing pond - a sweet piece of country heaven for our young family. From my kitchen window, you can enjoy the gleam of the glass jars from freshly canned dill pickles and the smell of homemade bread and jam.

So family and friends gathered there ... all twenty-seven of us. We ate together, laughed, talked, and told stories. But, best of all, we jammed together, filling my kitchen and home with the sweet sound of our own private folk festival. We had fiddlers, banjos, mandolins and guitars, singers and storytellers... even a Metis woman who told us of her People's oral history.

These kitchen parties at my home have been lovingly named "The Ranch Jams" and they remain one of my favouite things to do on a warm summer night or even a cold winter's night by the heat of the wood stove. With all the happiness these gatherings have brought to the family, we decided to share the experience on a larger scale.

Why the kitchen?
It's the heart of any home! A Kitchen Party is all about sharing music and stories so picture if you will, walking into a farmhouse kitchen filled with the smells of homemade bread and jams and being welcomed in by the playful sounds of fiddled reels and jigs. It's a "come as you are and stay until the wee hours of the morning" kind of place. With all the liveliness that goes on in the kitchen, it's no wonder that the party never migrates to the other rooms of the house.

What are the essential ingredients to a successful kitchen party?
Kitchen chairs, a good stomping floor, a lively audience, and.....great food! Musicians might never leave! There should be a food theme in any kitchen, and no kitchen party would be complete without plenty of homemade goodies and a free flow of liquid libation.

What's your recipe for the best kitchen party ever?

Enthusiastic passionate musicians

1 huge kitchen

Hours of non-stop Fun

Audience Members -- Complete with spoons, boots, Beer and Spirit

and pickles!

- CBC Manitoba Scene

Each time Emma Cloney performs, she takes another step on her healing journey. "I don't think my audience realizes they are being payed as therapists," she laughs. "Every time I perform, it's a way of letting go."

Cloney, a Manitoba folk musician who is currently touring her first album called Something to Say, says music has helped her work through some difficult childhood experiences.

Cloney, who is now 27, spent much of her childhood in foster care. The transient nature of being in care taught her to never get attached to people or places.

Many of her songs talk about reconnecting, especially with her youngest brother who remained with Cloney's parents.

Being separated from her brother was difficult to accept.

"It was painful to know he was undergoing stress and verbal abuse and we couldn't do anything about it," she says.

The song "Tiny Soldiers" is about trying to fight on his behalf.

"We felt like small warriors going to foster parents and other adults asking to help. We had to go help him because he felt very voiceless."

Although Cloney didn't have access to music lessons or expensive instruments when she was young, she still found ways to make music.

"I found anything that would make sound," she says. "I would listen to instrumental music on CBC radio and make up lyrics."

When Cloney was in her early twenties, she asked her husband for a guitar, a banjo and a fiddle.

He bought all three as a Christmas gift and Cloney has been writing songs ever since.

"I had something to say and I had a guitar," she says. "The songs came so easily."

Cloney admits it can sometimes be difficult to perform these songs.

"The truth is, I had written all these songs before I knew I would play them publicly," she says. "There are times when I have choked in the middle of a song, and nearly unable to complete it."

But she says the emotion in her songs really resonates with audiences.

"Every time I share a song, I share a story and a small piece of myself."

Cloney's songs aren't just about the past, however. Her two young daughters also provide inspiration. "Mustang Dreamer" is a lullaby about horses.

"As we were getting ready for bed she said, 'Mommy, you just make the music, and I'll make the words,' " she says.

"Of course, when a song moves me, my knee jerk reaction is to cry. So she turns around and sees that mommy is crying and says, 'Oh don't worry mommy, I won't run away with the horses.' And I thought, that's the perfect chorus."

When Cloney became a parent, she struggled with whether or not to have her parents be part of her children's lives.

She decided yes, although there are still many struggles.

"But I have a lot of forgiveness in my heart. The only person that gets hurt from holding on to the past is me."


- Regina Leader Post

Each time Emma Cloney performs, she takes another step on her healing journey. "I don't think my audience realizes they are being payed as therapists," she laughs. "Every time I perform, it's a way of letting go."

Cloney, a Manitoba folk musician who is currently touring her first album called Something to Say, says music has helped her work through some difficult childhood experiences.

Cloney, who is now 27, spent much of her childhood in foster care. The transient nature of being in care taught her to never get attached to people or places.

Many of her songs talk about reconnecting, especially with her youngest brother who remained with Cloney's parents.

Being separated from her brother was difficult to accept.

"It was painful to know he was undergoing stress and verbal abuse and we couldn't do anything about it," she says.

The song "Tiny Soldiers" is about trying to fight on his behalf.

"We felt like small warriors going to foster parents and other adults asking to help. We had to go help him because he felt very voiceless."

Although Cloney didn't have access to music lessons or expensive instruments when she was young, she still found ways to make music.

"I found anything that would make sound," she says. "I would listen to instrumental music on CBC radio and make up lyrics."

When Cloney was in her early twenties, she asked her husband for a guitar, a banjo and a fiddle.

He bought all three as a Christmas gift and Cloney has been writing songs ever since.

"I had something to say and I had a guitar," she says. "The songs came so easily."

Cloney admits it can sometimes be difficult to perform these songs.

"The truth is, I had written all these songs before I knew I would play them publicly," she says. "There are times when I have choked in the middle of a song, and nearly unable to complete it."

But she says the emotion in her songs really resonates with audiences.

"Every time I share a song, I share a story and a small piece of myself."

Cloney's songs aren't just about the past, however. Her two young daughters also provide inspiration. "Mustang Dreamer" is a lullaby about horses.

"As we were getting ready for bed she said, 'Mommy, you just make the music, and I'll make the words,' " she says.

"Of course, when a song moves me, my knee jerk reaction is to cry. So she turns around and sees that mommy is crying and says, 'Oh don't worry mommy, I won't run away with the horses.' And I thought, that's the perfect chorus."

When Cloney became a parent, she struggled with whether or not to have her parents be part of her children's lives.

She decided yes, although there are still many struggles.

"But I have a lot of forgiveness in my heart. The only person that gets hurt from holding on to the past is me."


- Regina Leader Post

EMMA CLONEY

Something to Say

(Independent)

On singer-songwriter Emma Cloney's debut, the Woodlands resident channels the history of folk music, covering timeless topics of love, family, memories and dreams. Her material isn't so much about what she has to say, as it is about what she wants to tell on story-songs about her friend's battle with breast cancer (The Anthem), the changing countryside (The Old Farmhouse) and growing up listing to her father play music on the bluegrass-flavoured Daddy's Guild Guitar, the album's highlight.

Cloney handles acoustic guitar duties and enlists some local veterans like Dan Frechette, Jessee Havey and Patti Lamoureux to help give the music some weight as she dabbles in traditional folk and Americana with a Celtic touch. The melodies are simple, but effective, and should provide the perfect soundtrack at local coffee houses. 'Ö'Ö1/2

-- RW - Winnipeg Free Press

EMMA CLONEY

Something to Say

(Independent)

On singer-songwriter Emma Cloney's debut, the Woodlands resident channels the history of folk music, covering timeless topics of love, family, memories and dreams. Her material isn't so much about what she has to say, as it is about what she wants to tell on story-songs about her friend's battle with breast cancer (The Anthem), the changing countryside (The Old Farmhouse) and growing up listing to her father play music on the bluegrass-flavoured Daddy's Guild Guitar, the album's highlight.

Cloney handles acoustic guitar duties and enlists some local veterans like Dan Frechette, Jessee Havey and Patti Lamoureux to help give the music some weight as she dabbles in traditional folk and Americana with a Celtic touch. The melodies are simple, but effective, and should provide the perfect soundtrack at local coffee houses. 'Ö'Ö1/2

-- RW - Winnipeg Free Press

Emma Cloney’s debut Something to Say has the sound of an old favourite. Like something pulled out of a box of long forgotten albums. Maybe it’s that Gordon Lightfoot influence she nods to. Or her adherence to a classic folk sound tempered by her feminine rumbling voice. A voice that takes you back to the female artists boom of an early Lilith Fair variety (think Jewel, McLachlin, Harris). And by familiar we don’t mean tired but comforting. Perhaps, even a breath of fresh air. Assuming, of course, you appreciate a roots sound that gets at times a little Country. Representing Manitoba in the Canadian music scene, Cloney stays true to her love of a more traditional folk sound embracing the classic instruments of her genre like the fiddle, mandolin, upright bass and banjo. No electric guitar, no skinny jeans, just a girl and her guitar singing about rivers, home and her family. Song not to miss on this one: a hootenanny of a track entitled, “Daddy’s Guild Guitar.” But for a more contemporary listener “Love the Way You Love Me” will suit you fine. (STUDIO 11, www.studio11audio.com, www.emmacloney.com) Cindy Doyle - Stylus Magazine -- Cindy Doyle

Emma Cloney’s debut Something to Say has the sound of an old favourite. Like something pulled out of a box of long forgotten albums. Maybe it’s that Gordon Lightfoot influence she nods to. Or her adherence to a classic folk sound tempered by her feminine rumbling voice. A voice that takes you back to the female artists boom of an early Lilith Fair variety (think Jewel, McLachlin, Harris). And by familiar we don’t mean tired but comforting. Perhaps, even a breath of fresh air. Assuming, of course, you appreciate a roots sound that gets at times a little Country. Representing Manitoba in the Canadian music scene, Cloney stays true to her love of a more traditional folk sound embracing the classic instruments of her genre like the fiddle, mandolin, upright bass and banjo. No electric guitar, no skinny jeans, just a girl and her guitar singing about rivers, home and her family. Song not to miss on this one: a hootenanny of a track entitled, “Daddy’s Guild Guitar.” But for a more contemporary listener “Love the Way You Love Me” will suit you fine. (STUDIO 11, www.studio11audio.com, www.emmacloney.com) Cindy Doyle - Stylus Magazine -- Cindy Doyle

Within seconds of sitting down with Emma Cloney, you realize two things about her: she is a determined woman, and there is nothing that can stop her.

The Woodlands, Man., folk singer sipped a chai latte at Soma Café and described what she’s currently feeling about her life as a “pinch-me moment.”

It wasn’t too long ago that Dan Frechette took Cloney to Tim Butler’s acoustic open mic night at Bella Vista Restaurant on Maryland Street and said, “Listen to her—listen to what she does.”

What she did that night landed her a chance to make a demo CD that would sell all 150 copies within three days. That led her to making her debut album, Something To Say, taking the music she was making out of the comfort of her living room.

A mother of two young daughters, a full-time nursing student with a 4.0 GPA, a full-time horse rancher and a wife, it’s easy to wonder how she even has time to make music.

“I drink unicorn blood and don’t sleep,” Cloney says with wide eyes and a laugh. “But really, I need music.”

For Cloney, music is what calms her down and keeps her going.

“Some people take long baths, some people read romance novels and some people run around the block – I need my guitar.”

I drink unicorn blood and don’t sleep.

– Emma Cloney, musician

-Emma Cloney performs at The Gas Station Theatre (445 River Ave.) on Tuesday, March 8
-Dan Frechette and The Old No. 3 Trio will also perform
-Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m.
-Tickets are $10 at the Winnipeg Folk Festival Store or $12 at the door
-Visit www.myspace.com/emmacloney

Music has always been a big part of her life.

Her dad played guitar and she has been attending the Winnipeg Folk Festival since she was in the uterus.

Each track on Something to Say tells a story about people and places in Cloney’s life that have influenced her and moved her.

Picking a favourite is not an easy task, especially for Cloney, who’s been working on the album for months.

As with anything you work on constantly, she says there are moments when she loves them and moments that she hates them; her favourite track changes every week.

“Right now, it’s probably Glory Bee,” she said. “I love it because it’s one of the first songs I had written a few years ago and it was written for my grandmother. ... The way that Patti Lamoureux played the fiddle to go with the track has this beautiful Celtic inspiration and my grandmother and that entire side of the family were born in Ireland.

“So, she almost intuitively picked up on the Celtic spirit in the song and added that flavour for me. “

The album maintains a consistent flow of high-energy sounds mixed with traditional folk roots. Cloney describes the album as a chapter in her life that she’s finished and sealed and ready to deliver to the world.

One of the things in life Cloney is most grateful for are the friends who’ve supported her in making the album. Without hesitating, her friends and fellow musicians lent their talents to help create Something to Say without asking for anything in return.

Sort of.

“That’s not a joke,” she says while reading the liner notes as she holds a physical copy of her own album for the very first time, laughing about how her friends have supported her and in return have requested homemade pickles, jam and even eggnog as payment.

This article appeared in Volume 65, Number 21 of The Uniter, published March 3rd 2011. - Lauren Parsons (Beat Reporter) The Uniter, Winnipeg.

Within seconds of sitting down with Emma Cloney, you realize two things about her: she is a determined woman, and there is nothing that can stop her.

The Woodlands, Man., folk singer sipped a chai latte at Soma Café and described what she’s currently feeling about her life as a “pinch-me moment.”

It wasn’t too long ago that Dan Frechette took Cloney to Tim Butler’s acoustic open mic night at Bella Vista Restaurant on Maryland Street and said, “Listen to her—listen to what she does.”

What she did that night landed her a chance to make a demo CD that would sell all 150 copies within three days. That led her to making her debut album, Something To Say, taking the music she was making out of the comfort of her living room.

A mother of two young daughters, a full-time nursing student with a 4.0 GPA, a full-time horse rancher and a wife, it’s easy to wonder how she even has time to make music.

“I drink unicorn blood and don’t sleep,” Cloney says with wide eyes and a laugh. “But really, I need music.”

For Cloney, music is what calms her down and keeps her going.

“Some people take long baths, some people read romance novels and some people run around the block – I need my guitar.”

I drink unicorn blood and don’t sleep.

– Emma Cloney, musician

-Emma Cloney performs at The Gas Station Theatre (445 River Ave.) on Tuesday, March 8
-Dan Frechette and The Old No. 3 Trio will also perform
-Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m.
-Tickets are $10 at the Winnipeg Folk Festival Store or $12 at the door
-Visit www.myspace.com/emmacloney

Music has always been a big part of her life.

Her dad played guitar and she has been attending the Winnipeg Folk Festival since she was in the uterus.

Each track on Something to Say tells a story about people and places in Cloney’s life that have influenced her and moved her.

Picking a favourite is not an easy task, especially for Cloney, who’s been working on the album for months.

As with anything you work on constantly, she says there are moments when she loves them and moments that she hates them; her favourite track changes every week.

“Right now, it’s probably Glory Bee,” she said. “I love it because it’s one of the first songs I had written a few years ago and it was written for my grandmother. ... The way that Patti Lamoureux played the fiddle to go with the track has this beautiful Celtic inspiration and my grandmother and that entire side of the family were born in Ireland.

“So, she almost intuitively picked up on the Celtic spirit in the song and added that flavour for me. “

The album maintains a consistent flow of high-energy sounds mixed with traditional folk roots. Cloney describes the album as a chapter in her life that she’s finished and sealed and ready to deliver to the world.

One of the things in life Cloney is most grateful for are the friends who’ve supported her in making the album. Without hesitating, her friends and fellow musicians lent their talents to help create Something to Say without asking for anything in return.

Sort of.

“That’s not a joke,” she says while reading the liner notes as she holds a physical copy of her own album for the very first time, laughing about how her friends have supported her and in return have requested homemade pickles, jam and even eggnog as payment.

This article appeared in Volume 65, Number 21 of The Uniter, published March 3rd 2011. - Lauren Parsons (Beat Reporter) The Uniter, Winnipeg.

Emma Cloney has had a passion for music ever since she was a little girl, and soon she'll get to share that passion all across the country.

Cloney, 27, who lives south of Warren in the RM of Woodlands, is releasing her independent debut CD, Something to Say, at a launch party at Winnipeg's Gas Station Theatre on March 8. Though the CD is Cloney's debut album, she's been immersed in music for most of her life.

When she was around eight years old, a red velvet rope at the Winnipeg Art Gallery wasn't enough to separate her from a baby grand piano, and her work on the ivories was good enough to keep the gallery's security from intervening.

"The first time I ever touched a piano, I got underneath the little red ropes at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, there was this baby grand in this huge room," she says.

"While my mom was looking at something I started monkeying on this piano. It was cute, she told me later that security came over and was going to kick me off, saw that I was having a good time and was playing rather well, and they left me alone. I think I stayed at the art gallery for about an hour."

Cloney's passion continued to grow, and she began writing music, and playing to audiences, at age 11. She was discovered by a choir director who overheard her singing, and had her enter into an arts festival, doing a solo showcase.

"At the time, I didn't know what any of these things were," she says.

She's gone on to perform at different bluegrass festivals, and has done national TV spots for City TV, and has received a lot of local and "not so local" radio play.

She counts Stan Rogers, The Weird Sisters, and Allison Crowse among her musical influences, and feels her style isn't limited to a single genre.

"I think it's hard to pigeonhole what I do, because even when you listen to the album, you say well this would be roots, this would be folk, this has some country feel to it," she says.

"So there's a quote I like about folk music, which is the genre that's closest to my heart, how 'folk music is just music that's played by folks.' I think for everyone who hears my music, it means something different to them."

She was "discovered" last year. While jamming one night with friend and fellow musician, Dan Frechette, Frechette suggested they check out Winnipeg restaurant Bella Vista to musician Tim Butler's jam night.

"We went, and it was Tim Butler's jam night on the Wednesday, and Dan asked (Butler) if he would let me play, he said 'you gotta hear this girl,' and they did," Cloney says.

"There weren't that many people left, but the people that were there, they were really enthusiastic, and Tim Butler was really excited. So we went on our way and I didn't really think much of it."

Cloney decided she'd give future open mics a shot, believing she could play with a little anonymity. But when she played at Winnipeg's Le Garage Cafe, Butler was there and recognized her immediately.

"He asked me if I'd come back to the Bella Vista, and that he was going to have a whole bunch of people that he wanted me to meet," she says.

The people Butler wanted her to meet included local record producers and studio representatives. They all asked her for her information and booked her at different venues.

"This was all in the span of 20 minutes after getting off the stage," she says.

Within a few days, she was recording a complimentary demo album at Studio 11 Audio with producer Jason Gordon, which Gordon offered to do at no cost, a kind of offer "unheard of" according to Cloney.

"The demo did really, really well of the 100 or so copies I made, they were all sold within three days," Cloney says.

They decided, instead of making more copies, that they should go ahead with making a full album. With a lot of support from her friends, she compiled a debut that consists of almost entirely original material. Only one track is a cover- Cloney performs "Down to the River to Pray," a song she had originally heard performed by Allison Crowse, though the song itself is much older.

They began recording Something to Say in November 2010. The majority of the album was recorded during December and January, though they did a little work on it this month as well.

She says her original songs were influenced heavily by life experience, as well as experiences others have shared with her.

"Each one of the songs by itself almost reads like a journal entry," she says.

"I've been very fortunate to know a lot of amazing people, and to get to have people be open enough with me to share some of their experiences."

She uses one of the album's tracks "The Anthem" as an example.

"The (tracks) that are the most impactful are ones like The Anthem, which was written for a friend who survived breast cancer," she says.

She says the experience was intimidating at first, but she got the hang of things quickly.

"At first it was really intimidating. I remember going in and thinking, I'm not sure how t - The Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times -- Darren Ridgley

Emma Cloney has had a passion for music ever since she was a little girl, and soon she'll get to share that passion all across the country.

Cloney, 27, who lives south of Warren in the RM of Woodlands, is releasing her independent debut CD, Something to Say, at a launch party at Winnipeg's Gas Station Theatre on March 8. Though the CD is Cloney's debut album, she's been immersed in music for most of her life.

When she was around eight years old, a red velvet rope at the Winnipeg Art Gallery wasn't enough to separate her from a baby grand piano, and her work on the ivories was good enough to keep the gallery's security from intervening.

"The first time I ever touched a piano, I got underneath the little red ropes at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, there was this baby grand in this huge room," she says.

"While my mom was looking at something I started monkeying on this piano. It was cute, she told me later that security came over and was going to kick me off, saw that I was having a good time and was playing rather well, and they left me alone. I think I stayed at the art gallery for about an hour."

Cloney's passion continued to grow, and she began writing music, and playing to audiences, at age 11. She was discovered by a choir director who overheard her singing, and had her enter into an arts festival, doing a solo showcase.

"At the time, I didn't know what any of these things were," she says.

She's gone on to perform at different bluegrass festivals, and has done national TV spots for City TV, and has received a lot of local and "not so local" radio play.

She counts Stan Rogers, The Weird Sisters, and Allison Crowse among her musical influences, and feels her style isn't limited to a single genre.

"I think it's hard to pigeonhole what I do, because even when you listen to the album, you say well this would be roots, this would be folk, this has some country feel to it," she says.

"So there's a quote I like about folk music, which is the genre that's closest to my heart, how 'folk music is just music that's played by folks.' I think for everyone who hears my music, it means something different to them."

She was "discovered" last year. While jamming one night with friend and fellow musician, Dan Frechette, Frechette suggested they check out Winnipeg restaurant Bella Vista to musician Tim Butler's jam night.

"We went, and it was Tim Butler's jam night on the Wednesday, and Dan asked (Butler) if he would let me play, he said 'you gotta hear this girl,' and they did," Cloney says.

"There weren't that many people left, but the people that were there, they were really enthusiastic, and Tim Butler was really excited. So we went on our way and I didn't really think much of it."

Cloney decided she'd give future open mics a shot, believing she could play with a little anonymity. But when she played at Winnipeg's Le Garage Cafe, Butler was there and recognized her immediately.

"He asked me if I'd come back to the Bella Vista, and that he was going to have a whole bunch of people that he wanted me to meet," she says.

The people Butler wanted her to meet included local record producers and studio representatives. They all asked her for her information and booked her at different venues.

"This was all in the span of 20 minutes after getting off the stage," she says.

Within a few days, she was recording a complimentary demo album at Studio 11 Audio with producer Jason Gordon, which Gordon offered to do at no cost, a kind of offer "unheard of" according to Cloney.

"The demo did really, really well of the 100 or so copies I made, they were all sold within three days," Cloney says.

They decided, instead of making more copies, that they should go ahead with making a full album. With a lot of support from her friends, she compiled a debut that consists of almost entirely original material. Only one track is a cover- Cloney performs "Down to the River to Pray," a song she had originally heard performed by Allison Crowse, though the song itself is much older.

They began recording Something to Say in November 2010. The majority of the album was recorded during December and January, though they did a little work on it this month as well.

She says her original songs were influenced heavily by life experience, as well as experiences others have shared with her.

"Each one of the songs by itself almost reads like a journal entry," she says.

"I've been very fortunate to know a lot of amazing people, and to get to have people be open enough with me to share some of their experiences."

She uses one of the album's tracks "The Anthem" as an example.

"The (tracks) that are the most impactful are ones like The Anthem, which was written for a friend who survived breast cancer," she says.

She says the experience was intimidating at first, but she got the hang of things quickly.

"At first it was really intimidating. I remember going in and thinking, I'm not sure how t - The Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times -- Darren Ridgley

THREE WOMEN WALKED INTO A BAR: As part of a casual girls' night out, country singer Stacey Terry, award-winning fiddler Patti Lamoureux and Prairie folksinger Emma Cloney, waltzed in the door of the Bella Vista acoustic jam Wednesday after Big Dave McLean had just finished a surprise guest spot. The three women blew the house down, one after the other. Country singer Terry, of the Old No. 3 band, took the stage alone -- barely bigger than her guitar -- her melodic booming voice hitting the back wall. Lamoureux, the three-time grandmaster Canadian fiddling champion who just moved back to Manitoba and has 50 fiddling students already, joined her onstage. The duo played a thundering Orange Blossom Special with lifelike train whistle sounds from the fiddler's instrument. Not to be outdone, Cloney strutted up to the stage, guitar in hand, and let fly with her soaring country/Celtic voice. Oh, the amazing music scene in Winnipeg, for the price of a drink!

Cloney's first CD is being released nationally in the new year. Meanwhile she's waiting to hear back from all the great folk festivals. "It's always been my dream to play the Winnipeg Folk Festival -- ever since I was four. I found that was the happiest place to be on Earth. Once I play that festival, I can die." Cloney is a U of M nursing student with two children who lives on a farm and commutes to the big smoke for school and gigs. No stopping her! - The Insider / Maureen Scurfield

THREE WOMEN WALKED INTO A BAR: As part of a casual girls' night out, country singer Stacey Terry, award-winning fiddler Patti Lamoureux and Prairie folksinger Emma Cloney, waltzed in the door of the Bella Vista acoustic jam Wednesday after Big Dave McLean had just finished a surprise guest spot. The three women blew the house down, one after the other. Country singer Terry, of the Old No. 3 band, took the stage alone -- barely bigger than her guitar -- her melodic booming voice hitting the back wall. Lamoureux, the three-time grandmaster Canadian fiddling champion who just moved back to Manitoba and has 50 fiddling students already, joined her onstage. The duo played a thundering Orange Blossom Special with lifelike train whistle sounds from the fiddler's instrument. Not to be outdone, Cloney strutted up to the stage, guitar in hand, and let fly with her soaring country/Celtic voice. Oh, the amazing music scene in Winnipeg, for the price of a drink!

Cloney's first CD is being released nationally in the new year. Meanwhile she's waiting to hear back from all the great folk festivals. "It's always been my dream to play the Winnipeg Folk Festival -- ever since I was four. I found that was the happiest place to be on Earth. Once I play that festival, I can die." Cloney is a U of M nursing student with two children who lives on a farm and commutes to the big smoke for school and gigs. No stopping her! - The Insider / Maureen Scurfield

Three weeks ago, Emma Cloney, a 26-year-old University of Manitoba nursing student who only wrote and sang her songs "to relax," stepped up to a Winnipeg open mic with a just a few people left in the room and sang. She was shockingly good -- prairie folk roots, Celtic-sounding voice (plays fiddle, piano and violin too.)

Emboldened, she went to Le Garage open mic on a Tuesday and blew the bigger crowd away. People said she was good enough to record. So the very next week, the young wife, mom and horse rancher hauled her guitar and original songs to Jason Gordon's Studio 11 on Henderson Highway and laid down four tracks for a self-titled demo CD. Experienced musicians Dan Frechette (guitar) and Jeremy Rusu (bass) backed her up. Yours truly caught her Wednesday night showing her newly minted CD demo to pals at the Bella Vista after playing a stellar set. No red tape, ridiculous costs or long wait. Only in Winnipeg. - MAUREEN SCURFIELD, Winnipeg Free Press

Three weeks ago, Emma Cloney, a 26-year-old University of Manitoba nursing student who only wrote and sang her songs "to relax," stepped up to a Winnipeg open mic with a just a few people left in the room and sang. She was shockingly good -- prairie folk roots, Celtic-sounding voice (plays fiddle, piano and violin too.)

Emboldened, she went to Le Garage open mic on a Tuesday and blew the bigger crowd away. People said she was good enough to record. So the very next week, the young wife, mom and horse rancher hauled her guitar and original songs to Jason Gordon's Studio 11 on Henderson Highway and laid down four tracks for a self-titled demo CD. Experienced musicians Dan Frechette (guitar) and Jeremy Rusu (bass) backed her up. Yours truly caught her Wednesday night showing her newly minted CD demo to pals at the Bella Vista after playing a stellar set. No red tape, ridiculous costs or long wait. Only in Winnipeg. - MAUREEN SCURFIELD, Winnipeg Free Press