{"id":24914,"date":"2015-05-31T10:10:33","date_gmt":"2015-05-31T15:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=24914"},"modified":"2015-06-05T11:53:18","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T16:53:18","slug":"emisunshine-10-year-old-prodigy-will-knock-your-socks-off-proud-larrys-thu-64","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/emisunshine-10-year-old-prodigy-will-knock-your-socks-off-proud-larrys-thu-64\/","title":{"rendered":"EmiSunshine, 10-year-old Prodigy, Will Knock Your Socks Off! (Proud Larry’s, THU 6\/4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s impossible to explain the exceptional talents of EmiSunshine<\/strong>, a 10-year-old East Tennessee prodigy who has captured the nation\u2019s attention as a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.\u00a0 Steeped in Appalachian music, she is a true vocal stylist, one who instinctively knows how to interpret the nuances of a song with her impressive range, even though she has yet to gain the life experience and empathy seemingly necessary to fully comprehend the words she sings. Despite a given name that reflects optimism, she is drawn to darker themes of pain, anguish and even murder, like that of The Louvin Brothers<\/strong>, whom she loves.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Fall<\/a>The Tennessean <\/em>is just the latest to describe her as \u201can old soul,\u201d noting, \u201cOnstage, this soul\u2019s presence is commanding and her singing voice authentic and folksy.\u201d While her youth might remind many of Taylor Swift<\/strong>, a more apt comparison would be to artists such as Dolly Parton<\/strong>, Alison Krauss<\/strong> or members of the Carter Family<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether she\u2019s performing on the Today<\/em> show or the Grand Ole Opry or taking the stage at Nashville\u2019s historic Ryman Auditorium, she is fearless, confident and firm in her musical direction. As she says, she sings \u201cold-time music,\u201d but it\u2019s her own unique blend of roots music that is equal parts Americana, bluegrass, gospel, and country, with a little bit of blues thrown in for good measure. Her talent is indescribable and inexplicable, but fortunately, it doesn\u2019t have to be understood to be appreciated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes me want to do this is I just love it,\u201d she says. \u201cI just really, really love it. I wouldn\u2019t trade anything not to do this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love how I get to sing to people and make them happy,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m really blessed that I get to do this. It makes me feel amazing, like I\u2019m touching somebody\u2019s life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Offstage, Emilie Sunshine Hamilton<\/strong> is a typical 10-year-old girl who loves video games, pets and colorful clothes. She\u2019s had a normal upbringing in Madisonville, Tenn., where her mother worked as a nurse and her father is a recording engineer. But when she begins singing, playing or writing, something else takes over, a phenomenon that began before she could talk.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before she spoke, at around 10 months old, she began singing pure tones and humming melodies from Tom Petty<\/strong> songs.\u00a0 She harmonized with her grandmothers and great-grandmothers, continuing a musical heritage to a third generation. Great-grandmother Wanda Matthews<\/strong> sang on the Tennessee Barn Dance<\/em> and gave Emi the same advice that June Carter Cash<\/strong> gave her: Don\u2019t let anybody walk all over you and don\u2019t think nothin\u2019 about what they say.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"an<\/a>
an earlier photo of Emi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As soon as Emi was old enough to walk down the aisle, she began singing in church. She was too little to know the words, but you could hear her harmonies over the others\u2019. At age 4, she sang \u201cYou Are My Sunshine\u201d at her aunt\u2019s wedding and learned how to sing the Dixie Chicks<\/strong>\u2019 \u201cTraveling Soldier.\u201d When she was three and four, her mother, who is a songwriter, created songs for her, but by age 5, she wrote her first song, \u201cMy Time to Fly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At age 7, she learned how to play the ukulele\u2014the guitar was too big for her little hands\u2013and used it to write \u201cLittle Weeping Willow Tree.\u201d That was the same year she recorded her first two albums, Strong as the Tall Pine<\/em> and Wide River to Cross <\/em>in her father\u2019s studio. She learned how to play guitar and mandolin at age nine \u2013the picks are still too large for her\u2013and has since picked up the xylophone. By age 8, she was stripping down \u201cHush Little Baby\u201d and rearranging the melody to sing to the pigs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her parents filled the house with music by Buddy Miller<\/strong>, Johnny<\/strong> and June Carter Cash<\/strong> and Emmylou Harris<\/strong>, and her musical tastes were formed. Those influences served as a foundation on which she built her own sound. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of what came out,\u201d she says of her sound. \u201cI always loved that music and I thought, \u2018That\u2019s what I wanted to play. This is what I want to do.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She performed in churches, festivals, theaters, and for a time, talent shows. \u201cOne day I decided I didn\u2019t want to do talent shows anymore because you could see the kids\u2019 disappointment and it didn\u2019t make me happy,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

She had no idea that someone captured her flea market performance of Jimmie Rodgers\u2019 \u201cBlue Yodel No. 6\u201d and posted it on YouTube in 2014<\/a>. \u201cIt went viral,\u201d she says. \u201cWe started getting a bunch of likes and we didn\u2019t really know where it was coming from.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, without the family\u2019s knowledge, the Today <\/em>show featured the video. \u201cWe were really excited and surprised,\u201d she says. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what to think.\u201d There was such a tremendous response to her performance that the show invited her on to perform live, a moment that changed her life because word of her talent immediately spread on Music Row.<\/span><\/p>\n

It led to performances on Marty Stuart<\/strong>\u2019s Late Night Jam <\/em>at the Ryman during CMA Music Fest, and then to ongoing performances at the Grand Ole Opry.<\/span><\/p>\n

She performs about 150 shows a year and touring is a family affair. Her mother took a leap of faith and gave up her nursing career to travel.\u00a0 Father Randall Hamilton<\/strong> plays upright bass, her brother is on mandolin, Uncle Bobby<\/strong> is on drums and Aunt Kristal<\/strong> sells merchandise. \u201cIt\u2019s fun, like how I get to be with my family all the time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Emi, who has 350,000 \u201clikes\u201d on Facebook, remains unaware of much of the whirlwind and demand swirling around her. \u201cWhen we\u2019re in Oklahoma and people recognize her, she doesn\u2019t get why they know her,\u201d says her mother, Alisha Hamilton<\/strong>. \u201cWhen they come up and say, \u2018My mama was dying and you gave her the best four weeks of her life. You comforted her and me.\u2019 She doesn\u2019t understand that she has made that impact on people\u2019s lives. I tell her some of it, but not all of it, because it\u2019s a heavy weight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

EmiSunshine\u2019s career moves will be dictated not by opportunities, but integrity. She knows who she is and what she wants her music to be, and her parents remain committed to ensuring that her wishes are not compromised in any way. After coming off a year where many of her dreams came true, Emi is quickly creating new dreams and plans. But her ultimate goal remains the same: \u201cI just want everybody to know who I am.\u201d\u00a0 \"The<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s impossible to explain the exceptional talents of EmiSunshine, a 10-year-old East Tennessee prodigy who has captured the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":25018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-shows"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/EmiSunshineFEATnew.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}