Back To My Roots

Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Emma Stevens may well have gained inspiration for her latest album from her favourite country artists in Nashville but her own roots remain very firmly in Surrey, she tells Andy Newbold

- Andy Newbold

IT’S just a few days after singer/songwriter Emma Stevens had released her third studio album and over a camomile tea in the Yvonne Arnaud Cafe in her home town of Guildford, I ask her about her style of music. “Sparkly Folk Pop would be how I’d describe it infused with country style instrumentation,” she explains.

The first time I heard an Emma Stevens song was back in 2013 when I happened upon a video on social media of her performing a song called, A Place Called You, at a Christmas event in Guildford High Street. Unable to get the chorus out of my head and hearing it sometime later in a department store in the town I realised she was more than just a local busker – so much more as it turned out.

As a listener I could suggest several words to describe her style, upbeat, magical, whimsical, poetic and full of love and positivity, she is quite simply naturally talented and a thoroughly nice person, a sentiment echoed by one of the staff in Guildford’s HMV store, who informed me she had played there often and was ‘very sweet’!

Emma Stevens is about as local a girl as you can get. Born in 1986 at St. Luke’s Hospital, Guildford, she grew up in Shalford and still lives nearby to this day. Now 31, her career is blossoming and is wowing audiences across the UK. With numerous appearances on Radio 2, an army of fans, festivals, supporting legendary bands such as Simply Red and Wet Wet Wet and three studio albums under her belt she has earned her place in the music industry and the future looks bright as her popularity grows.