Emily Smith

Emerging as a prominent voice in today's Scottish folk landscape, Emily Smith excels as a singer and songwriter who also plays multiple instruments and revives traditional material. Her roots trace back to Dumfries and Galloway, where childhood performances at her mother's dance school paved the way for a musical passion sparked by her adoption of the piano, snare drum, and accordion. Vocal talents surfaced during school choir participation, prompting a relocation to Glasgow for an honors degree in Scottish music from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Recognition arrived in 2002 with her victory in BBC Radio Scotland's Young Traditional Music of the Year contest, coinciding with the launch of her first record, A Day Like Today. Subsequent releases included A Different Life in 2005, Too Long Away in 2008, and the 2009 project Adoon Winding Nith, a joint effort with her husband, the New Zealand musician Jamie McClennan, timed for the 250th anniversary of poet Robert Burns's birth. Greater public visibility came through appearances on BBC programs Songs of Praise and Hogmanay Live, leading to the 2011 issuance of Traveller's Joy, her album with the broadest reach to date.