A short interview with Portland's touring and performing dynamo!

Emilia's two CDs are available at Bull Moose Records, and at CD Baby, Publik Music, and iTunes.

Emilia Dahlin has been brewing up a great career for herself over the past few years, in Maine, and across the country. Her self-titled first full-length album established her as a strong songwriter and performer, and got her out on the road, where she’s been working hard ever since.

Emilia Dahlin

This past fall, she produced and released her second album, “The God Machine”, most of which was recorded and engineered here in Portland by Jim Begley at The Studio. She’s got a review of her album coming up in the March/April issue of Performing Songwriter magazine, and her song “Loneliness Is..” was chosen from among 14,000 entries to advance to the semi-finals in the jazz category of the International Songwriting Competition.

Emilia is a one-woman musical enterprise, as she does her own booking, promotion, and management, in addition to the creative side of her job. I sat down with her for a cup o’ jo (actually, cocoa) at Zarra’s in Portland’s Monument Square this past week and asked her a few questions. It was a real pleasure to spend some time with her, and I appreciate her making the space in her busy schedule.

In Tune: My perception is that we don’t see you all that much here in Maine – how do you decide what gigs to play and where have you been touring?

Emilia : I’ve been trying to get a little more focused on my career when choosing venues; there aren’t that many opportunities in Maine to play listening rooms, and I’m trying not to play bar gigs if I can avoid it. I’ve got this new set of criteria for booking gigs: The gig should advance my career in some way; it should pay well; and it should be fun! If the gig scores two out of the three points, I’ll consider it. I love playing The Big Easy, because it’s intimate, and has a great stage and sound system. I would love to play The Kennebunk Coffee House, but haven’t been down there yet. I also love playing house concerts, and just did a great one at a bed and breakfast in Gorham.

As far as touring, I’ve been all over the north east, and I just finished a tour in the mid-west. There is a great music scene out there, and maybe a little less competition in the acoustic genre.

In Tune: Your new album, “The God Machine”, has a lot of jazz influences, which is a little different from your earlier, more traditional singer/songwriter material. Where did that influence come from?

Emilia: I think I’ve always had a little jazz influence in my music, but since the first album, I’ve been influenced in a few ways that have made me explore that more. I’ve been listening to a great radio station in Yarmouth, Heritage Radio WYAR, 88.3 FM. It plays lots of great music from the 1920’s to the 1940’s. I’m also influenced by music from people like Andrew Bird, and also The Squirrel Nut Zippers. I’m really happy about the results, and it’s nice to see my song advancing in the jazz category at the International Songwriting Competition.

In Tune: You write songs that are story songs about other people, like Black Water (from the first album), and Sad Affair. But other songs seem as if they might be a little more close to your own experience, like Daughter of Soil, Home to Grey, Black Sheep. How much do you bring your own life into your songwriting?

Emilia : I do that a lot; even in songs that involve several characters, each character may be based on me in some way. I like to move away from the one person / ”I” point of view and write several characters into a song. And, since I feel that the most successful songs are those that are the most heartfelt, I try to project myself into all of the characters in the story, so that they come across in an authentic way.

In Tune: Your new album was funded in part by the Maine Arts Commission “Good Idea” grant program. Can you describe the process, and whether you think that’s a viable route for funding for songwriters and performers?

Emilia : I developed a grant application that focused specifically on the style and design of my album; I wanted to create a sense of aged and worn leather, which would also be reflected in the tone of the music. I pitched this idea to the commission, and was successful in securing a small grant. It’s a juried process, and I think I was successful because I had a very in-depth, focused proposal that they could grasp quickly. The grant did help me fund the album, but it was a very small part of the cost. What’s important is that this was a preliminary step; it made me eligible for more types of grants.

In Tune: You do your own booking and management; what is your process for finding venues? How much were you on the road this past year?

Emilia : I use a couple of methods for booking gigs. Sonicbids (an on-line tool for creating and distributing Electronic Press Kits) is great, because it saves me money on promotional material. I also subscribe to the mailing lists of other artists whose music is compatible with mine. This allows me to see where they are playing, and get ideas for where my music might be well-received. I use other artists that I know as references. I also focus on the college circuit, especially in the northeast and mid-west. When I go on tour, it’s typically for three weeks or so at a time, and I’ll try to book four to five shows a week. I have to make some sacrifices in order to do that in a healthy way, which is very difficult!

Emilia is a lot of fun to talk to, mostly because she is so enthusiastic about her life and her music. She is looking forward to this next year, when she will be attending several music conferences, including the National Folk Alliance conference in Memphis, TN and the SXSW (South by Southwest) music conference in Austin, TX. She wants to develop the business side of her job a little more, perhaps taking on a manager or booking agent to help with the scheduling. And, she’s becoming more open to the idea of signing with an independent record label. She’s very attached to her songs, and wants to be the one performing them; performing is her “church”, she says, she truly loves it, and loves traveling and meeting people at the shows.

Emilia kicks off another tour with her band, at Space, 538 Congress Street in Portland, on Friday, February 16th, at 8:30 (also appearing is Audrey Ryan). I recommend buying the CD, and definitely suggest that you go to the show. You want to take every opportunity you can to see this busy, talented woman!

And now for a little shameless self-promotion! I'm going to try for an open mic set at the Free Street Acoustic Open Mic, at the Dogfish Bar and Grille (128 Free Street in Portland), this Wednesday evening. Sign-up is at 6:30 and the music starts at 7:00. The food, drinks and service is top-notch at the Dogfish, and Michele Arcand and Mark Lembo do a great job of co-hosting! The open-mic talent is always the best in town (OK, I'm a little biased, since I used to co-host this open mic!) Mark Nelson is the featured performer (he's great!)
See you there!

All the best to you!
Bob McKillop

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