Emily Smith is a Scottish folk singer from Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway. Born in 1981, she works in folk and Scottish traditional music and also performs as a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

Career

Smith wins the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Music of the Year Award in 2002. She also receives the Citty Finlayson Scots Singer of the Year award in 2008. After the 2002 award, she releases several albums, tours widely with her band on the international folk circuit, and becomes known for interpretations of traditional song as well as her own writing.

She gains an honours degree in Scottish Music from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2003, after spending six years living in Glasgow. She later returns to Dumfries and Galloway, where local history and the landscape strongly shape her songs. Her work often combines traditional material with new songs, and she collects old poetry and songbooks as part of her writing process.

Releases and collaborations

One of her songs, “Edward of Morton”, wins the folk section of the USA Songwriting Competition in 2005, making her the first winner from Scotland in that competition. Another song, “Always a Smile”, about her Polish grandmother, is shortlisted in the final ten. Both songs appear on her second album, A Different Life.

Alongside her solo work, Smith writes, records and tours with artists including Eddi Reader, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Karine Polwart, John McCusker, David Scott and Phil Cunningham. She also records as Emily Smith & Jamie McClennan with New Zealand-born fiddle player and guitarist Jamie McClennan.

Other work

Smith is a member of Scotland’s folk orchestra, The Unusual Suspects, and is included in the Scottish Women group, which features leading female vocalists from Scotland. She records live sessions for BBC Radio 2 presenters Bob Harris, Aled Jones and Mike Harding, and receives regular play on BBC Radio Scotland. Her television appearances include BBC One Scotland’s Hogmanay show and Transatlantic Sessions.