Behind the Curtain: A Conversation with Emily Lehr

Emily Lehr is releasing her song “Friends” (feat. Aubrey) this Friday, and much like her music, Emily is a true gem. She is kind, funny, witty, and deeply admirable.

Emily works in music therapy, helping others through the power of music, while also pursuing her passion for creating and performing her own songs. I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Emily to talk about her work, her musical journey, her dreams for the future, and, of course, the upcoming re-release of “Friends.” Pre-save here.

Emily Lehr is releasing her song “Friends” (feat. Aubrey) this Friday. We sat down with her and Aubrey to discuss the rerelease.

Alt Revue (AR): When did you realize that you wanted to pursue music?

Emily Lehr (EL): “I’ve always wanted to do it, I got serious about it in college.”

Aubrey Beard (AB): “It was 2020 when we were quarantining that I decided I wanted to pursue a music career, and so now I've been going full force on that. It’s been really fun.”

AR: Was there a specific moment or a specific song that there was that lightbulb moment, and you thought, this is what you want to do?

EL: “I grew up listening to Christian music, and this was before I knew how to explain genre. There was this artist Rebecca St James, and she was my first CD and my first concert. And I called her soft slow music. I remember telling one of my friends in pre school that I wanted to be a soft slow singer when I grew up. I think my actual maybe I am good at this moment, I was in the bluegrass band in college, and my advisor, asked me to write a song for an EP that the band was gonna make with the schools record label, and everybody at the studio really liked the song, and I got to track the vocals. I felt it was something if I really worked at I could be good at.”

AR: A lot of your stuff leans on the side of folky, are there any folk artists or other artists that influence you?

EL: “Actually, for this song in particular, I knew I wanted to do something with Aubrey. I’ve been re-recording songs from my last record with a friend, or just an artist I admire. I sent Aubrey the songs that were left and she picked “Friends”. I equate it with like Disney Channel music, which is not typically what I make. But I love that music, so it made me very happy.”

AB: “I would say my early influences were Paramore, Hannah Montana. Hannah Montana made me want to be a star. I feel like when I was growing up, rock was like pop. At least what I listened to growing up was all kind of rock music.”

EL: “I remember when I was initially working on the record, and I wanted to make it a concept record. Like a breakup album, and I wanted it to feel like all of my favorite records. I was trying to be mindful of, I don’t want to censor my feelings here, but I do want to produce art in a way that if you listen to the whole thing, it doesn’t feel overly bitter or hopeless, and that there is some sort of direction.”

AR: What line in the song took longest to get right?

EL: “The whole song kind of spilled out of me. I wrote this after a messy breakup, and this breakup had a couple of post break up phone calls, where we were talking about maybe well get back together, maybe we won’t, and in the moment I felt very much like I was in the wrong or that nobody was in the wrong, and I kind of internalized a lot. I was like, you know what? Im going to allow myself this musical experience, I’m just going to let myself feel angry, and I don’t like to feel angry a lot. I’m just going to let myself feel all of the things, and it sort of just spilled out of me.”

AR: Do you have any shows planned?

EL: “I’m very excited about this. My band Foxglove Fellows is playing the Ruby Amphitheatre opening for Ashley Cooke on August 21^st. The song is coming out August 21^st as well.”

Music is meant to leave a lasting a impression, and Emily’s song “Friends” does exactly that. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself singing it for days after your first listen.

Check out “Friends” (Feat. Aubrey) is out today whevever you get music, and if you’re local to the Ruby Amphitheatre, check out Emily live opening for Ashley Cooke, FMI/Tix.