"As far as I'm concerned she can walk on water"
MIKE HARDING, BBC RADIO 2

"One of the leading artists of the contemporary folk scene"
MAVERICK

"Surely the most impressive young instrumentalist
and songwriter singing in English"
THE GUARDIAN ****
__________________________

Emily Smith is a leading singer of the Scottish folk scene. Her powerful, clear vocals have gained her award winning, worldwide recognition. As a songwriter Emily has been likened to 'a Scottish Joni Mitchell', but she is equally adept at presenting fresh and evocative interpretations of traditional songs.

Raised in rural Dumfriesshire in South West Scotland, Emily grew up dancing in her mother's dance school soaking up music from genres ranging from traditional music to show tunes. She plays piano and accordion but it's her outstanding vocals which have led her to be nominee for 'Folk Singer of the Year' and 'Best Traditional Track' for her song 'Sweet Lover of Mine' at the forthcoming 2012 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Emily first burst on to the folk scene when she won 'BBC Radio Scotland's Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award' in 2002 and since then she has won 'Scots Singer of the Year' at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2008 and was nominee for 'Live Act of the Year' at the same awards in 2011. Emily also won the folk category of the USA Songwriting Competition in 2005 with her song 'Edward of Morton'.

In 1999 Emily moved to Glasgow where she studied for a degree in Scottish Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Listening to archive recordings by day and enjoying Glasgow's thriving session scene by night, Emily gained the inspiration she needed to embark on a career in music combining her love of traditional song with contemporary songwriting. During her years in Glasgow she met New Zealand born multi-instrumentalist, and now husband, Jamie McClennan. Jamie has become an integral part of Emily's sound playing fiddle and guitar in her band and producing Emily's most recent albums.

Emily is currently touring to promote her new album 'Traiveller's Joy'; a beautiful collection of songs written and gathered on the road reflecting Emily's travels and ongoing respect for traditional material, much of which can be sourced back to the travelling people of Scotland. Covers include 'Somewhere Along the Road' by Rick Kemp and Richard Thompson's 'Waltzing's For Dreamers for whom Emily opened on his UK tour dates in 2009 and was subsequently invited to perform at Meltdown Festival during his year as curator.

Emily's previous releases include 'Too Long Away' (2008), 'A Different Life' (2005) and 'A Day Like Today' (2002) and a duo album with Jamie McClennan of songs by Robert Burns titled 'Adoon Winding Nith' released in 2009.

Emily has toured worldwide performing on the main stage of many of the world's most prestigious festivals including Cambridge Folk Festival, Celtic Connections, Denmark's Tonder Folk Festival, Canada's 'Celtic Colours' and the National Folk Festival in Australia. She has also taken her music to audiences in Japan, Russia, New Zealand and North America.

Alongside her solo career Emily has worked with an array of artists from the folk scene and beyond including Richard Thompson, Eddi Reader, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Karine Polwart, Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham. In 2005 she was one of eight UK songwriters commissioned to be part of collaborative project 'Burnsong' and in 2009 she was a writer in 'The Darwin Song Project' which produced a live album and DVD of newly written songs inspired by the life and work of Charles Darwin.

TV appearances include the award winning Transatlantic Sessions 4, BBC Songs of Praise, Scotland's 'Hogmanay Live', BBC Northern Ireland's Ulster-Scots series 'Santer' and an exclusive performance for Sky Arts Channel filmed at Cambridge Folk Festival in 2011. She has performed live sessions for Bob Harris and Aled Jones on their BBC Radio 2 shows as well as receiving regular airplay on BBC Radio Scotland and further afield.

Alongside singing in English, Emily is an ambassador for Scots language and is enjoying being at the forefront of the current resurgence of Scots. Emily has run Scots song workshops for adults and children and recently led a songwriting workshop for the TV programme 'Scots Scuil' which will be broadcast on BBC 2 Scotland in 2012.

Click Here to download Emily's biog as a text file.