Sheridan Opera House: An Evening with Emily Scott Robinson, 11/20!

19 Nov Sheridan Opera House: An Evening with Emily Scott Robinson, 11/20!

Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation’s presents “An Evening with Emily Scott Robinson.” The concert takes place Saturday, November 20, 9 p.m. at the historic Sheridan Opera House. Tickets are $20-$25, all reserved seats, plus a $5 ticketing fee at all sales outlets at www.sheridanoperahouse.com.

Colorado songwriter Emily Scott Robinson reaches out to those who are lost, lonely, or learning the hard way with American Siren, her first album for Oh Boy Records. With hints of bluegrass, country, and folk, the eloquent collection shares her gift for storytelling with her pristine soprano and her spin on her unconventional path into music.

“I think that the thread running through the album is those things that call to us, and how we can’t resist that call,” she says. “It’s about the siren songs that come up through our lives.”

Though not fully autobiographical, American Siren gracefully blends imagined characters with people Robinon has encountered on her journey. Showcasing her ability as a storyteller, “If Trouble Comes a Lookin’” invents a scene in which a vulnerable priest and an unhappy wife meet in an Arkansas hotel bar. “Hometown Hero” is an emotional tribute to her cousin, a veteran lost to suicide. “Lost Woman’s Prayer” stems from the words of a sage friend she met while traveling abroad, while “Every Day in Faith” is a personal testament to seeing things through.

As the album’s lead track, “Old Gods” carries the siren concept to its fullest potential with beautiful three-part female harmony; she originally wrote track for Telluride Theatre’s community production of “Macbeth.” Meanwhile, “Things You Learn the Hard Way” was completed after asking for relevant scenarios from her social media followers. Yet there’s a part of her own life in every song, too. That’s especially true in “Cheap Seats,” which is about a distracted waitress who’s bound (someday) to realize her dreams. Robinson wrote that one after seeing John Prine and Bonnie Raitt sing together at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in 2019.

“If you make music that you love that tells the truth, or that tells a story, everything emanates from what you have inside,” she says. “I knew at the core that I love writing, I love telling stories and I love performing. I knew if I just kept doing that, even when I didn’t always know what the next step was, that it would continue to grow and that the people who were meant to be a part of that would find me.”

Robinson grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, and turned toward guitar at age 13, after a summer camp counselor closed out the nights playing songs by Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, and Dar Williams. She taught herself to play in the early 2000s by printing guitar tabs from the internet and singing to CDs by Indigo Girls and James Taylor. But Robinson did not pursue songwriting until after watching Nanci Griffith perform in Greensboro in 2007.

“I went home and I wrote a really sad, beautiful country song,”Robinson remembers. “I was like, ‘Wow, that was easy.’ And then I kept trying to write through college and I realized, ‘This is not actually that easy.’”

Robinson received significant acclaim for her 2019 album, Traveling Mercies. And her long-held dream came true later that year when she sang on the Telluride Bluegrass Festival stage as  winner of the Telluride Troubadour Contest. A poignant standalone single in 2020, titled “The Time for Flowers,” prompted a private Instagram message from Oh Boy Records’ Jody Whelan, letting her know how meaningful the song was to his family. They struck up a fast friendship, then decided to partner for a release of American Siren.

“It is bigger and riskier and more expansive than my last collection,” Robinson says. “It feels like I wrote some songs that I’m going to grow into as I continue to perform them. I actually cried after I finished each and everyone. I was so relieved that I was able to write them. I carved out a little more of my own experiences into these songs. They’re excavating some deeper stuff than I’ve touched on before. I think they will have a healing quality for people who listen.”

Sheridan Opera House & Covid:

The Sheridan Arts Foundation values the safety and health of our patrons and staff above all else. In accordance with San Miguel County mask mandate, everyone must wear a mask when inside the Sheridan Opera House. Additionally, anyone attending a public event at the Sheridan Opera House is now required to bring proof of vaccination OR proof of a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours of the event. Additionally, Molekule air purifiers and hand sanitizer stations are dispersed throughout the building, and temperature checks are performed at the door.

Ticket purchasers must also agree to the Sheridan Arts Foundation’s COVID waiver, found here.

Sheridan Arts Foundation, more:

The Sheridan Arts Foundation was founded in 1991 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization to preserve the historic Sheridan Opera House as an arts and cultural resource for the Telluride community, to bring quality arts and cultural events to Telluride and to provide local and national youth with access and exposure to the arts through education. The Sheridan Arts Foundation is sponsored in part by grants from the Telluride Foundation, CCAASE, and Colorado Creative Industries.