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Emily Wolfe on recovery, reinvention and making music in Austin

Austin-based musician Emily Wolfe is working on her second full-length album but it is going to be significantly different from her first. The out singer-songwriter is writing, for the first time, while in recovery, and she said it’s been a scary but ultimately rewarding process.

“My records previous to now, I had a struggle with addiction. So when I would write, it just kind of came out because I was so hopped up on drinking that words just came out,” Emily said. “And now, it’s hard for me to write and I do enjoy it, though, because it’s more of a game and it takes more, I guess, practice. I don’t know, it’s weird but I’ll be interested to see what this record will entail because it’ll be written totally sober, which is amazing.”

Emily’s music is lush rock n’ roll with compelling lyrics and a voice to match. Songs like her latest single “Cigarette Burns” are perfect for driving fast with your windows down, dancing in your kitchen or sitting with your eyes closed and your earbuds in. She’s like a friend who will tell you the truth, but it sounds way more appealing coming out of her mouth and guitar.

We talked with Emily about making music in Austin, coming out and what we can expect from her upcoming album.

AfterEllen.com: What’s it like to be coming up in a music town like Austin? Is it easy because there’s a lot of opportunities to play or is it hard because it’s oversaturated?

Emily Wolfe: I’d say a little of both. It’s easy in the way that if you want-if you’re an up and coming artist like me, I think it’s easy because you can just go to shows and experience what professional musicians do on stage and kind of take advice from them by watching them, going to shows and seeing what do’s and don’ts are of being on stage. It is hard because it’s just saturated. If you want you can get on stage anywhere any night but not everybody’s lucky enough to get gigs where you can get people to show up. [laughs] But it’s fun. I like it here and I think it’s the perfect city for me and what I’m trying to do. I’ve made lot’s of really good friends and allies here.

AE: Have you always written and recorded there? Do you find that it changes your music if you go outside of Austin?

EW: It might, actually. I’ve only recorded here. I normally record with a guy named Mike McCarthy and he’s done Spoon and Patty Griffin and a ton of big bands. He’s really great. It’s really funny though because his studio is right off I-35-a major highway-and his studio feels kind of like an underground no man’s land. But, you know, if I were in the hill country recording, I’d probably do more acoustic stuff. I’ve recorded here in Georgetown, which is an hour outside of town. That’s where I recorded my first record.

AE: How did you come to develop your sound?

EW: Well, I’d say the sound kind of grew with where I lived in terms of housing. My first record was very much acoustic, slower stuff and more quieter, I guess, because I lived in a third story apartment. I wasn’t allowed to have drums or have an amp so that was just kind of-I just used whatever I had. Then I moved to a duplex and started playing with a band, and luckily, a lot of musicians live around me so I don’t get noise complaints or anything when we have band practice. Yeah, I’d say that had the most do with it. And the band I play with now, interestingly enough, they all knew each other before the band from like childhood and stuff, and then met up later and they’re the band that I formed.

AE: Since you have a band, why did you decide to call it Emily Wolfe instead of, like, The Wolves or something? [laughs]

EW: Well I write all the songs, I write all the lyrics. The musicians that I play with, actually I can’t really tell it’s that they’re excited about the music or they really like writing their parts-could be both. But I think it’ll always be just my name because that’s what I want. I want it to be a solo project and I’ll play with the band whenever I want and solo the rest of the time. I think it’s fun to change it up.

AE: How did you decide you would be out in your career?

EW: Well, you know, it’s been kind of a long journey. Like I always knew I was gay since I was, like, five years old. I knew I was not straight. I didn’t know what I was, but I knew I was not into the boys. So my whole life, I’ve just known, “Okay, I’m interested in women. I’m going to have to come out sooner or later.” I came out to my parents when I was 20 or 21 and they’re great. They’re really supportive. They were kind of shocked, which I don’t know how, but they love me and they’re great and I’m super lucky to have a family that supports me no matter what I do or feel or believe in. I think Austin, too-there’s such a huge gay scene here that it’s just really common. You can walk down the street and hold hands with whoever you’re with and nobody really cares. And so at shows, just having my girlfriend there playing, people still show up to shows and don’t care. It’s kind of nice, not having to worry about it. But going on tour through the West Coast and everything, we’re fine there but little towns you stop in, you kind of realize we’re spoiled in Austin. I feel like where I live had a lot to do with me being as comfortable as I am with my sexuality. Everyone here is so open-minded and a lot of my friends are gay. It’s not even really anything people seem to focus on really.

AE: On tour, did you find anything out about your music when you were playing in front of different kinds of crowds? Anything that surprised you?

EW: I think I was surprised in the very first show that I played. I played with a guy named William Elliot Whitmore. He was cool, I liked him a lot. I was like “Well, maybe I should just play solo, because he’s playing solo and it might be weird to have full band energy before a solo act.” So I decided to play by myself and it went really great, surprisingly. I thought a packed room-I didn’t expect anybody to really listen because I was the first one up and nobody would heard of me so I generally felt they’d be kind of at the bar and not really listening, but the crowd was amazing. I just sang to them and they all listened.

AE: Are you planning on touring again soon? What are you working on now?

EW: Well, right now I’m finishing writing for a full-length I want to put out, probably next year.

AE: Have you noticed any differences in your writing now that you’re in recovery, outside of how easily and quickly you used to be able to write?

EW: Yeah, I have learned a lot about my addiction before recovery and when I would write, I would really feel-because if you numb one thing you numb everything. But now when I write, I get really emotional and have to take a break because I cry while I’m writing and singing. It’s like “Oh my god! What an estrogen fest!” I definitely get more emotional when I’m writing which is actually nice. It kind of feels good to feel that much.

AE: Were you nervous? I can imagine it might be kind of nerve-wrecking to make such a big change.

EW: Yeah, totally. For a while there, I was like, “Oh man, I hope that wasn’t a phase, that writing wasn’t a phase.” But I have written songs since then so I just have to remind myself, “That was just a little bit of writers’ block. Get back on the horse and you’ll be fine.”

AE: Is there anything else you’d want people to know about you?

EW: I used to be a comedian, for about a year in college. I entered this contest called Funniest Person in Austin and I was a finalist and then I didn’t ever really intend for it to be like that, but I did pretty well and went far so after a while I started to realize “Okay, I probably did this so I could get comfortable on stage.” It was hard. Whoever can make a career out of that is just, like, some kind of being from another world. I had this one show that I opened for a guy named Jon…Jon something-I don’t remember his name. [laughs] But I just totally bombed and I gave up on being a comedian. But I thought maybe I could tell jokes in between songs.

Follow Emily Wolfe on Twitter and Facebook.

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