Auntie Em and the Tornadoes
Auntie Em and the Tornadoes thrive on the creative tension between a thoughtful folk songwriter and a trio of energetic bluegrass players, releasing a sound defined by kinship and good will. The band—featuring Emily on guitar, Bo Brown on mandolin and Dobro, George Horne on bass, and Rick Davidson on drums—finds a "happy medium" by infusing Emily’s folk compositions with a delicate rhythmic drive and increased tempo that encourages dancing without sacrificing the clarity of the lyrics. By blending traditional bluegrass influences with a bluesy, understated edge, they create a seamless and high-energy live experience that respects the songwriter’s roots while getting people out of their chairs.
Interview Q/A with Emily Higgins of Auntie Em and the Tornadoes
by Brooke Palmer (with a couple bonus questions by Mike Apinyakul of HLMF act Shoeshine Blue)
Brooke: While you're the primary song composer for Auntie Em and the Tornadoes, how do the bandmates contribute their own unique sound and talent to the songs and performances?
Emily: The band from the beginning focused mainly on my original songs as I was launching “91 Acres,” but as the years rolled on, we added more of Bo and George’s songs. They are both incredibly talented songwriters. The instrumentation we use and our arrangements in general help us to capture that Ozarkian sound. It’s roots, acoustic, down home. Once in a while my brother John Higgins will bring his pedal steel guitar or his acoustic guitar to a gig and sit in on a few songs with us. That just takes us to an even more unique sound. John will be joining us for a few songs at the festival this year! More than anything, the subject matter in the lyrics of the songs we perform is what gives us our own unique sound. It’s so fun to be performing in the Ozarks while standing in the Ozarks overlooking the landscape. I wrote my song “Ozark Bluff” while sitting in a kitchen overlooking a bluff on the James River in the Ozarks. This region always has and always will inspire me!
Mike: How did you envision the band you would become when you started playing together as Auntie Em and the Tornadoes? How is that vision different than the band you have become?
Emily: We started playing together in 2014 when I was recording my record “91 Ares.” My recording engineer Rick Davidson (now deceased) would end up becoming our drummer and Bo Brown (guitar, Dobro, mandolin and vocals) and George Horne (bass, vocals) did some work on the record so we started the band with intention of performing original Ozarks music. We have stayed true to that intention and perform just a couple of cover songs. Our focus remains original music.
Brooke: What are the current creative inspirations influencing your songwriting and your band's music or performance style?
Emily: I have always written more songs about nature than anything else. With Bo being a master forager and both Bo and George being members of the Undergrass Boys, we have been focused on bringing our love of nature and the Ozarks, and appreciation of friends and family into our music. Currently we are considering capturing our music in recordings. We are all very busy individuals, so our challenge is finding the time. Wintertime may be the best time for that.
Mike: How often do you write music? Do you rely on inspiration or discipline, or some combination of both?
Emily: I am always in songwriter mode, gathering tidbits to weave together for a song, much like birds gathering material for making a nest. Like most songwriters, I stop to catch my breath now and then but the door is always open to ideas and collaborations! Bo and George and I always bounce ideas off each other when we rehearse, and some of those ideas are in the form of new songs we will perform at the festival this year.
Brooke: You live in the Missouri Ozarks so you have some real cred as a performer at this Ozarks music festival. How do the natural environment and the culture of the Ozarks influence your music? In what way do you consider yourself an Ozarkian folk singer?
Emily: I definitely have chosen my love of the Ozarks to be ever present in my songwriting. My album “91 Acres” was commissioned by a rural Ozarks landowner in Douglas County who asked me to write a collection of songs about his acreage. He had purchased it in a very run down condition and reclaimed the land, making it an incredible place of peace and solitude for himself. The songs are reflections of the geographical features of his land, and his hobbies such as apiculture and building rock walls and structures from native stone found on the property. The Ozarks have always awakened the songwriter in me. It’s a pleasure and privilege to tell stories of this region in the format of a song. So for that reason, I consider myself an Ozarkian folk singer.
Brooke: While listening to various Emily Higgins songs on Spotify, I am most taken by your piece Singing River. I love that tune and the juxtaposition of the sense of peace that is also a bit haunting and uncertain that is conveyed through the lyrics, pace, and tone. That initial chord change to the minor chord gets me every time! You recently told me this was the first song you ever wrote. How did this song come to be? What is the connection between the flow of the river and the human experience over time?
Emily: Thanks for loving that song, it’s very special to me, too! I had been playing the song as an instrumental I wrote on my guitar for a very long time, since I was a teenager. From its beginning it had no lyrics at all. Then one day, on my niece’s birthday, I was supposed to be at her party down the street in 15 minutes. I picked up my guitar for a moment and started fingerpicking that piece when all of a sudden, lyrics flooded into my head! I wrote the lyrics in 10 minutes and still made it to the party in time! The song is both truth and metaphor, about going on a float trip both in reality and spiritually, and how that makes me feel. Also, it’s an analogy about the songwriting journey and performing my songs for folks. If you listen to the words now that I’ve explained that, perhaps you’ll see what I mean. “Singing river, share your words and soothing rhythm, and friends will gather at your shore…”
Brooke: If you could use your music to influence any one thing about the world, what would that be?
Emily: I have worked with PTSD war veterans for the past few years in helping them purge their pent up emotions by co-writing a song with them. The song becomes a tool for them, a chant in a way that they carry with them when they need encouragement. This is how I see my music and music in general influencing (at least a part of) the world. I have the opportunity as a songwriter to paint a picture in someone’s mind that can take them to a difference place and space. The music can be uplifting, calming, make you get up and dance. It’s that one unique thing that binds us together no matter how troubling or difficult the world can be.
Brooke: As a returning musical act, what do you most enjoy about performing outdoors at the Highlonesome Music Festival in the Ozarks?
Emily: This is an easy question! Dockley Ranch is a place where my music fits into the landscape and with the people just perfectly. When I perform on the stage or just on a bench somewhere on that beautiful piece of property, it feels like I’ve brought my music “home.” Of course, looking out at the beautiful, big oak tree while you perform a song on stage is absolutely magical. That tree is like a huge, giant festival goer standing up on the hill with outstretched arms taking in every word and note and in turn, sending it back out over the other festival goers and the land. Myke and Claire and the family have become part of my life in such a beautiful way. They hold out their outstretched arms in a similar was as the oak tree, and give everyone at the festival a welcoming experience that they will never forget. It’s the perfect gift.