JUNO-nominated and Maple Blues Award–winning Canadian blues star Miss Emily releases her second single, “Solid Ground,” from her upcoming studio album The Medicine. The single is available on all streaming platforms HERE. Watch the lyric video HERE.
Every mother wants to pave the way for their child, but few have done it as honestly and eloquently as Miss Emily does in this soulful future letter to her young daughter. “Solid Ground is one of the oldest songs on my new album,” admits Emily. “This song was written during an extremely vulnerable time when my daughter was incredibly young. We were very poor; I had no financial support and no close family living nearby. There was so much I couldn’t give my daughter during that time, but I knew I had all the love in the world for her and somehow, I would find a way to make her feel secure. This song is that promise to her.”
Emily’s new album, released by Gypsy Soul Records on November 7th, is produced by Grammy winner Colin Linden (Keb’ Mo’, Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Gregg Allman, Diana Krall), and is available to pre-order HERE.
The highly anticipated new album masterfully blends soul, blues, and roots, and features an all-star cast of musicians at the top of their game. Including players from Bob Dylan and Keb’ Mo’s bands, the new album pairs her thunderous voice with songs of truth and resilience. Known for her powerful voice and exhilarating live shows, Miss Emily channels two decades of raw experience into music that heals and uplifts.
Miss Emily has a voice that demands your attention. She is never predictable. She values community above all else. For more than 20 years, she has channeled those principles in her songwriting and performance, never shying away from an open conversation with her audience about the struggles she has faced.
Whether it was domestic violence or being a musical road-warrior and a single parent at the same time, Emily has always opened her heart in a communal invitation to share, heal, and celebrate.
During the writing process for The Medicine, that commitment was tested. “I wasn’t in a great head space,” she says, her voice cracking under the emotional weight of the memory. “Like so many of us, sometimes life brings you down. In one of my darker moments, I wrote an angry song. Then, as I continued prepping the songs, I realized I didn’t want anger to be a prominent theme on my new album. I wanted to celebrate community. I wanted to record music that made people feel better.”
“Miss Emily’s voice has got to be heard to be believed—raw, expressive, transitioning flawlessly from a plaintive cry to a sonorous growl, weaving blues, country, and rock while she does it. When she sings, she is unafraid to dig deep. She tackles big, messy feelings in her songs. You can feel it in every note.” – Rob Baker, The Tragically Hip
The Medicine is just that: a collection of soul and Americana-inspired blues. Produced by multiple JUNO and Grammy winner Colin Linden—the celebrated Canadian guitarist and producer based in Nashville—the album features a hand-picked team of incredible musicians including Linden on slide and electric guitar, Keb’ Mo’s keyboardist Michael Hicks on the Hammond B3, and George Receli, the drummer Keith Richards lists among his favorites. Receli’s résumé includes 20 years as Bob Dylan’s drummer.
“The talent Linden curated and Miss Emily’s passion for the music is front and center on this record,” says Linden. “Miss Emily is a tremendously passionate and supple singer, with a deep well of emotion. She is a truth-teller. Working with her was pure joy.”
That inclination toward joyful truth was cultivated over more than two decades of playing night after night in bars and nightclubs along the busy Canadian highway corridor between Toronto and Montreal. Along with exhilarating, heart-wrenching performances, Emily developed a work ethic that drew the attention of promoters at regional theatres and festivals. In 2019, Miss Emily won three Canadian Maple Blues Awards: Female Vocalist of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, and Video of the Year. In 2022, she was nominated for a JUNO Award for Blues Album of the Year and went on to win Maple Blues Female Vocalist of the Year in 2021 and 2023.
Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail summed it up perfectly: “She’s got a voice on her like big velvet thunder.”
That thunderous voice is highlighted on the soulful, anthemic first single “Stand Together, Band Together,” a celebration and reflection of community and humanity. These are the cornerstones of everything Miss Emily has been doing for more than two decades. At some point every night, on every tour, in every venue, she opens her arms wide and invites the people to join her in song. It’s a momentary risk—but as the voices fill the room in unison and celebration, it’s an affirmation that in this unpredictable world, the communal celebration of music is the medicine that binds us together.
ABOUT MISS EMILY
In the 1990s, 12-year-old Emily Fennell from Prince Edward County, Ontario, got an early education on the power of community. She spent the summer competing in—and winning—dozens of county fair singing contests. While other competitors chose standards like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” or “I Will Always Love You,” Emily stunned audiences into silent amazement with k.d. lang’s version of the Patsy Cline song “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray.”
That song choice, her spellbinding performance of it, and the venues in which she chose to display her talents tell you everything you need to know about the woman who would become Miss Emily. She has a voice that demands attention, she is never predictable, and she values community more than anything else.
For more than 20 years, she has channeled those principles in her songwriting and performance, never shying away from open conversation with her audience about the struggles she has faced. Whether it was misogynistic encounters with old-school promoters, domestic violence, or being a musical road warrior and a single mother at the same time, Emily has always opened her heart in a communal invitation to share, heal, and celebrate.
During the writing process for her upcoming album, that commitment was tested. “I wasn’t in a great head space,” she acknowledged, her voice cracking under the emotional weight of the memory. “Like so many of us, sometimes life brings you down. In one of my darker moments, I wrote an angry song. Then, as I continued prepping the songs, I realized I did not want anger to be a prominent theme on my new album. I wanted to celebrate community and record music that made people feel better.”
ABOUT GYPSY SOUL RECORDS
Miss Emily’s powerhouse voice and fearless authenticity make her a natural fit for Gypsy Soul Records, a label defined by soulful artistry and uncompromising vision. With her new record produced by Grammy and JUNO Award–winner Colin Linden, Emily joins a family of extraordinary voices including Samantha Martin of Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar and Meg Parnell of Bywater Call. These Canadian female artists are celebrated for their ability to channel raw emotion into timeless songs. This partnership amplifies Emily’s dynamic presence and ensures her music is delivered with the same spirit of integrity, community, and soul that has become the hallmark of Gypsy Soul Records in recent years
