Emma Jacob

There is a lot of great talent floating around town in Nashville and one artist who has grown up right before my eyes and ears is Emma Jacob. Previously known as Emma Mae Jacob, Emma has recently released her debut album exclusively to iTunes. Titled, 2,232 Miles, the album represents the distance between Emma Jacob’s hometown in California and Nashville, Tennessee. From the opening fun that is “Crazy Summer Nights” to the equally fun “Sunday Paper” closing the record, which was released by the Black River Music Group label, immediately shows off an enormously talented young woman who has (finally) found her voice.

“Julianna” is the lead single from the album and while it’s struggling to find an audience at radio as of this review’s writing, the song is nonetheless an important song for young girls and women to listen to. The chorus of the song says “Julianna, you don’t have to do that to be loved, Juliana, Oh I wish you knew you were enough” as it details all the things women do to ‘feel beautiful’ and ‘pretty.’ It’s a song of empowerment and also shows off the power that is present in Emma Jacob’s voice (it’s like a cross between Martina McBride and Jo Dee Mesina). “Walking Shoes” is a song that’s as fun as the previously mentioned songs and while it’s completely different from “Julianna,” the song too is a strong message of female empowerment as Emma sings about a woman who won’t take the load of crap her soon-to-be-ex is trying to tell her. The song features a punchy, rhythmic melody that recalls Miranda Lambert’s style of country music without ever feeling like a copy-cat. If this one gets released after “Julianna,” I’d be surprised if it didn’t gather some sort of audience at radio.

Written by and originally recorded by Rachel Proctor, “Didn’t I” is a track that finds Emma questioning what went wrong in a relationship as the song describes an often told feeling that women have when a relationship comes to an end, that they are the reason for a relationship when, really, if a guy breaks up, it usually isn’t the woman who is the problem but rather the fact that the man wasn’t ready to commit to the woman for what may be a variety of their own personal reasons. One of my all-time favorite Blackhawk songs, written and originally performed by principal songwriter Dave Robbins, is the tender ballad “If That Was A Lie.” Here is a song where Emma Jacob’s voice shines as she sings sweetly heartbreaking lyrics, over cascading steel guitar. There truly isn’t a ‘bad’ song on 2,232 Miles and if Emma Jacob can connect with radio and fans with the right song, there will be another truly talented (and deserving) vocalist with the vocal power of a Faith Hill, Martina McBride and Carrie Underwood along with the strong song-picking and interpretive skill of a young Reba McEntire or Jo Dee Messina. - Roughstock.com

Dover, Del. —

Q You’ve said you love R&B and gospel music although you chose to pursue a career in country. What is it about country music that appeals to you?
A I came up not only listening to Patsy Cline, but also Aretha Franklin. My parents had such an array of music choices, there’s not a specific genre I love. So when I decided I wanted to make a career of it I was like Oh my God, what do I choose?
The thing I love about country so much is that it tells a story. With pop, you get a basic idea, but pretty much a country song is a movie in a three-minute song. I love to have people enticed by my songs, and think “Oh that’s what she meant, that’s what that song means,” instead of “Oh, that’s catchy.”
I love singing ballads, and country has some of the bets ballads out there.
Mainly, growing up my mom always taught me to believe in God and listen to these inspirational, powerful songs, and I kind of got that R&B tone in my voice. Every now and then in the country music industry people come up to me and ask me “Have you sang R&B before?”

Q It seems as if you’re playing a lot of camping and NASCAR venues, but it doesn't seem that you’re that outdoorsy. Are you?
A Here’s the thing: To the naked eye, because of how I dress onstage I seem like a really big girly girl. But when we’re not onstage, I put on some sweatpants and sneakers and throw the football around with the boys. I didn’t get to go camping a lot as a kid, so this is kind of my catching up to do. I’m a little bit of both, I’m a little bit outdoorsy and a little not.

Q How do you feel about these venues, where the fans are so close to you?
A It’s amazing, this is the first time that we’ve actually done something like this where you go do a different place every weekend. It’s not like you go on and perform and never get to meet anyone. This is like, you see them Friday through Sunday, so you take time and they take time to have those one-on-one talks with you. It’s vital not only for them, but for us to see our fans and what they like and what they’re like.
It’s a really a humbling experience for us. This is one of the best opportunities we’ve gotten. A couple years ago I got to open for Jason Aldean, but this is our first get-in-the-bus, go-out-every-single-weekend tour. It’s just been so much fun and it’s long, it’s been a really long process, but I know once November comes it’s going to be really sad to see it end.

Q The cover of your CD “Strong Like Me” is you posing in the image of Rosie the Riveter. Tell me a little about that cover.
A We had chosen all the songs and recorded them and everything, and after all that was done we were like, “We need to do a photo shoot.” The moment I heard Strong Like Me, I thought that’s what I wanted the CD to be named. So I was brainstorming with my family and I was like strong, how about Rosie the Riveter, it’s such an iconic image and everyone agreed, and we tried it and it was a hit. We get a lot of compliments, and I’m like yeah, that’s my idea.

Q Whose career would you like to emulate?
A I admire Keith Urban, and not because I’m in love with him. I went and saw one of his concerts a couple years ago and he is just so, no matter how big he gets he’s just so down to earth. He’ll put on this amazing show – and I took away so much [from his show] – but he’ll perform with millions of millions of people, but then I’d see him hanging out with his wife in Starbucks in the mall.
I never want to lose that down to earth humbleness. I always try, no matter how busy I get, no matter how many people tell me I’m great, I’m going to go play softball now.

Q You were nominated for two Inspirational Country Music Awards. What has that experience been like?
A There were two processes, the top 10 and the top 5. The first time I found out I was in the top ten, I freaked out a little bit and thought this is a really cool chance to be a nominee. The moment we got the email that I was in the top 5 and they were going to be announcing my name as a nominee, my mom got the email first and when I got home she said I have something to show you. And then she started crying, and I thought someone had died. But when she read it and we both broke down, it was the most exciting moment of my life.
If I don’t win, the top 10 would have been amazing. The top five is more than I could have asked for.
It’s kind of a reality check, because you never know where life takes you. It’s sometimes one step forward and two steps back, but now it’s really like, wow I really am getting somewhere.

Q What is your advice to other young musicians?
A The main thing that I can say to young musicians is patience is definitely a virtue. We’ve had a lot of struggles in the five years we’ve been in Nashville, and we said let’s just give up, but we reconsidered and we stayed, and it’s working out.
If this is something that you really love, you should stay and fight for it because it almost always pays off.

Q What do you enjoy doing when you’re not performing?
A I’m a very avid texter. Between April and May, I sent 24,000 text messages. Reading, I love to read, I love to watch TV, anything a normal teenager would like to do. I’m taking Japanese class on Tuesday, because I love Japanese culture. - Dover Post

Now here’s a song that all women could do well to pay attention to.

A gentile fiddle and piano intro moves into a humble, propulsive melody that swells into a spot-on chorus. Everything about “Julianna” as a production feels top-notch and that’s before even listening to the lyrics.

“Julianna” is a powerful meditation on this vicious cycle that some women and teen girls often find themselves in in order to ‘feel loved’ by somebody. They think they need to wear a tiny dress and eight-inch Jimmy Choo pumps with the right Gucci purse in order to be loved. But the true fact is that they don't. What better way than to deliver this message to teens than to hear it from a teenager herself. At 18-years-old Emma Jacob (who was known previously as Emma Mae) certainly is a great spokesperson for this kind of message.

Clothes and highs and appearances and such things don’t make a person beautiful, their essence, their being is what makes them beautiful and the things that some girls do ‘to get ahead’ don’t really add-up in the end and end up hurting the girl, in this case “Julianna” more than they help her the way she had hoped.

Emma Jacob’s vocal performance is powerful and hopefully radio will allow this song to slide in next to the sillier fare that gets played in the summer and fall. It’s a message that is worth hearing over and over again, no matter if you are the girl like “Julianna.”

Oh, if you don’t believe in the power of this song to connect to audiences you don’t have to take my word for it; you can take a look at a comment a young girl named Jessica left on the comment thread for the audio preview of this song: - Roughstock.com