Emily Nenni

Hailing from California yet now rooted in Nashville, Emily Nenni has carved out a distinctive niche as a singer-songwriter whose alt-country approach blends sharp twang with a richly resonant vocal style. Attention built around her 2022 debut album On the Ranch, issued by East West, and she followed that project two years later with Drive & Cry.

San Jose, California, marks her birthplace, while the coastal community of Orinda served as her childhood home, where her parents first sparked her interest in music. During those formative years she absorbed the work of country figures such as Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, and Emmylou Harris, alongside Bruce Springsteen and other rock acts, as well as Motown recordings and pop from 1960s girl groups. Local performances and original songwriting began in her teenage years. At twenty-one she relocated to Nashville, immersing herself in the bar circuit and open-mic stages while supporting herself through waitressing shifts and ranch labor. Her first album, the independently produced Hell of a Woman, appeared in 2018.

New West Records later took notice, offering her a contract and issuing the follow-up On the Ranch in 2022. After sharing stages with Kelsey Waldon and Joshua Hedley, she returned with her next New West release, Drive & Cry, produced by John James Tourville in 2024.