Emily Barker

Other projects include Vena Portae (with Dom Coyote and Ruben Engzell), Applewood Road (with Amy Speace and Amber Rubarth), and Room 822 (2022) with Lukas Drinkwater.

• Name — Emily Barker • Born — 2 December 1980 • Origin — Bridgetown, Western Australia, Australia • Genre — * Americana • country • folk • Occupation — * Musician • singer-songwriter • composer • Instrument — * Vocals • guitar • banjo • harmonica • piano • Years Active — 2003–present • Label — * Everyone Sang • Linn • One Little Indian • Website — www.emilybarker.com

Emily travelled to the UK in 2002, and was first based in Cambridge where she collaborated with guitarist Rob Jackson. They formed a band called The Low Country which released two albums, Welcome to the-low-country (2003) and The Dark Road (2004), tracks from which enjoyed plays on John Peel's BBC radio show. In 2005 Emily won Country Song of the Year and Regional Song of the Year awards at the annual West Australian Music Songwriting Awards.

In 2006, Barker released her first solo album, Photos. Fires. Fables. before releasing albums under the alias Emily Barker & the Red Clay Halo. • Illustration — Emily Barker & the Red Clay Halo filming the video for "Little Deaths" The song "Pause - The Shadow Line" from Almanac was the theme tune for a major 2011 BBC2 drama serial, The Shadow Line and received a physical release. Martin Phipps again adapted the song for the title sequence. In 2012, Barker recorded a new version of "Fields of June", which had first appeared on Photos.Fires.Fables. and was released as a limited 7-inch white vinyl on Xtra Mile Recordings. In July 2013, Dear River was released, charting at 99 in the official UK Albums chart. Will Hodgkinson from The Times gave the album a four out of five star review, saying it contained "heartfelt songwriting... bridging the gap between folk, country and Fleetwood Mac".

In 2014, Barker worked with Dom Coyote and Ruben Engzell and created Vena Portae. In 2015, release the EP Anywhere Away which was the soundtrack to the UK movie Hector, released in December 2015. In May 2017, Barker released Sweet Kind of Blue which peaked at number 88 on the UK Albums Chart. In 2020, Barker released A Dark Murmuration of Words. This album was inspired by a concern with the impact of climate change on the natural world. Barker explained, "Last year the climate crisis was very much at the forefront of all of our conversations and thoughts, wondering what we can do to adapt, and feeling helpless and guilty and angry and upset and all these things." In an interview with Bernard Zuel, Emily Barker elaborated saying, "It was really a response to a lot of what was going on in 2019 with the collective awakening of the environmental crisis. And it was terrifying. It's something that I'd been aware of before, and I was brought up by parents who were very conscious of that anyway, but I think a lot of people really looked at the personal impact in a big way and started realising the scale of this emergency. It's so hard to compute but for me, writing songs helps me to make sense of things that I can't process." In 2020, Barker covered the Billy Bragg song "Can't Be There Today" as part of a campaign to save musical venues during the COVID-19 crisis. In 2021, Barker released an alternative version of A Dark Murmuration of Words in 2021 – called Flight Path Rhymes. She discussed the reworking of the album saying "Recording A Dark Murmuration of Words was a wonderful immersive experience that involved my live band and multiple conversations with producer Greg Freeman. It was only as the album was coming together that I realised how all the songs intertwined...how, despite their different subjects, there was an underlying theme that tied them all together." In January 2022, Emily Barker and Lukas Drinkwater released an album of covers called Room 822.

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions • Title — Details — Peak chart positions • UK — UK Indie • Credited as The Low Country (with Rob W. Jackson) • Welcome To... — * Released: 2003 * Label: Now Recordings (NOW2003CD) * Formats: CD — — — — • The Dark Road — * Released: 2004 * Label: the-low-country (LOW-CO-02) * Formats: CD — — — — • Credited as Emily Barker • Photos. Fires. Fables. — * Released: 2006 * Label: Iguana Productions (IP006) / Everyone Sang (ES2007) * Formats: CD, digital download — — — — • Credited as Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo • Despite the Snow — * Released: 2008 * Label: Walking Horse (WALK002) / Everyone Sang (ES2008) * Formats: CD, digital download, LP (2016) — — — — • Almanac — * Released: 2011 * Label: Walking Horse (WALK015) / Everyone Sang (ES2011) * Formats: CD, LP, digital download — — — 37 • Dear River — * Released: July 2013 * Label: Linn Records (AKD 505) * Formats: 2xCD, LP, digital download — 99 — 23 • Credited as Vena Portae (with Dom Coyote and Ruben Engzell) • Vena Portae — * Released: August 2014 * Label: Humble Soul Records (HS418CD) * Formats: 2xCD, LP, digital download — — — 26 • Credited as Emily Barker • The Toerag Sessions — * Released: April 2015 * Label: Everyone Sang (ES143) * Formats: CD, CD+DVD, digital download — — — 25 • Credited as Applewood Road (with Amber Rubarth and Amy Speace) • Applewood Road — * Released: February 2016 * Label: Gearbox (GB1531CD) * Formats: CD, LP, digital download — — — 19 • Credited as Emily Barker • Sweet Kind of Blue — * Released: May 2017 * Label: Everyone Sang (ES153) * Formats: CD, 2xCD, LP, digital download — 83 — 11 • A Window to Other Ways (with Marry Waterson) — * Released: April 2019 * Label: One Little Indian (TPLP1482) * Formats: CD, LP, digital download — — — — • A Dark Murmuration of Words — * Released: September 2020 * Label: Everyone Sang (ES158) * Formats: CD, LP, digital download — — — 7 • Flight Path Rhymes — * Released: 2021 * Label: Everyone Sang (ES159) * Formats: CD, digital download * Note: an alternative version of A Dark Murmuration of Words — — — — • Room 822 (with Lukas Drinkwater) — * Released: January 2022 * Label: Emily Barker and Lukas Drinkwater * Formats: digital download * Recorded during hotel quarantine in Room 822 at The Westin, Perth. — — — — • Fragile As Humans — * Released: May 2024 * Label: Everyone Sang (ES163) * Formats: CD, LP, digital download — — — 13

List of live albums, with selected chart positions • Title — Details • Credited as Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo • Live At Swindon Arts Centre — * Released: 2014 * Label: Emily Barker * Formats: digital download * Recorded November 2011 • Credited as Emily Barker • Live At Brunel Goods Shed — * Released: October 2022 * Label: Everyone Sang (ES160) * Formats: CD, digital download * Recorded November 2020

List of compilation albums, with selected chart positions • Title — Details — Peak chart positions • UK — UK Indie • Credited as Emily Barker • Shadow Box — * Released: November 2019 * Label: Everyone Sang (ES157CD) * Formats: CD, digital download * Compiles Songs Beneath The River, 5x tracks Live At Union Chapel and 7x tracks Pebbles, Shells And Other Memories — — — 32

List of EPs, with selected chart positions • Title — Details — Peak chart positions • UK Indi • Four Songs — * Released: 2005 * Label: digital download * Formats: CD * Note: UK Promotional release — — • Credited as Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo • Despite the Snow — * Released: July 2012 * Label: Everyone Sang (ES141) * Formats: CDr, digital download, 10" LP (2014 RSD exclusive) — 38 • Credited as Emily Barker • Coffee — * Released: February 2013 * Label: Everyone Sang * Formats: digital download * Note: Originally recorded to accompany the Square Mile-roasted Dear River coffee beans sold on the Dear River UK tour. — — • Credited as Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo • Songs Beneath the River — * Released: 2014 * Label: Everyone Sang (ES141V) * Formats: 10″ Vinyl (limited edition) — — • Credited as Emily Barker • Anywhere Away — * Released: 2015 * Label: Everyone Sang * Formats: CD, digital download * Note: Recorded as soundtrack to Hector — —

List of singles, with selected chart positions • Title — Year — Chart positions — Album • UK Physical • Credited as Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo • "Pause - The Shadow Line" — 2011 — Almanac • Credited as Emily Barker and The Red Clay • "Fields of June" — 2012 — 24