Last Thursday night Music Farm of downtown Charleston played host to Emily Hearn with M.T.’s Saltwater Sound and Tyler Boone as the opening acts.
The show started with M.T. Bourque of M.T.’s Saltwater Sound, a seventeen-year-old musician from Charleston. She played very well, covering songs like The Beatles’ “Come Together” and John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change” as well as originals like “Mad Love” and “Crazy Seventeen.” M.T.’s look and voice reminded me of an early Janis Joplin, she’s very charming, has a raw, soulful voice and has great guitar skill. After M.T., Tyler Boone took the stage. Not one to disappoint, he and his band put everything they had into their performance, playing original songs like “Don’t Forget My Name” and having full on jam sessions in between songs. Tyler’s skill as a guitarist once again blew me away, as did the skill of the three other musicians playing on stage with them. The opening act ended with Tyler, in a show of true camaraderie, inviting M.T. back on stage to jam with them before Emily Hearn took to the mic.
Emily Hearn, a native of Griffin, Georgia, was playing at Music Farm to share and promote her newly released record Red Balloon. She began the set with “Not Walkin’ Away” from the new album. Other songs she played from the record include “Love Charade (Uh Oh)”, “New Orleans”, “Fall”, “Can’t Read Your Mind”, and a ridiculously amazing acoustic version of “Like Ships Need The Sea,” the harmonies provided by her bassist and guitarists were near-perfect. If Emily’s voice were a portrait, the harmonies would be the frame surrounding it. She played an adorable song written about “the boy that used to sell [her] peaches” when she worked at a peach stand during a hot Georgia summer as well as “Rooftops,” an awesome nostalgic romp, the video for which was filmed in Charleston with Bill Murray as a guest star.
Emily also performed a few covers, all of which were outstanding. She put her own spin on “Best of You” by Foo Fighters, taking the fast-paced rock track and successfully turning it into a haunting, wistful ballad. Emily performed this as a condition set by the guys accompanying her on stage, humorously explaining that they only agreed to play with her if they covered a rock’n’roll tune. She also tackled The Dixie Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces,” which she blew out of the water. The cherry on top of this trio of covers was her rendition of “The Scientist” by Coldplay. Never before has there been such a variety of genres so successfully covered by one musician in one set.
All in all, Emily Hearn is a force to be reckoned with. She has the face of an angel and the voice to go right along with it. Her music is so relatable and true to life; while listening to her sing it’s difficult not to feel whatever emotions the song carries with it. Some of her songs have the power to make you feel like crying into your favorite pillow but others make you feel like going on a bike ride, making s’mores, or playing Monopoly with your best friend. Emily Hearn has the potential to land high in the ranks of female singer/songwriters with the likes of Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles, and judging by the show that she put on last Thursday at Music Farm there is no doubt in my mind that she can make it there.
