One of my favorite artists currently producing work is the multi-talented, Canadian artist, Emm Gryner. Hard to believe, but I’ve been enjoying Emm’s music for over 20 years now. I’ve had the honor of meeting Emm a few times, enjoying her live performances and even hanging out with her!
We are very lucky that Emm is a very prolific songwriter and releases a lot of product, both under own name, but as part of many other projects, most notably Trent Severn, her outstanding Canadiana trio. At any rate, Emm is so prolific, and I am such a bad music listener (I rarely take the time to sit and just listen to music so I can learn titles and remember individual songs) I decided to go through Emm’s entire catalog and note my favorite songs — imagine my surprise when my listed ended up numbering 40! It’s my own personal Emm Gryner Top 40!
I’m going to do a series of blog posts sharing my favorite Emm Gryner songs, probably 5 at a time so you can all experience her outstanding pop songwriting skills and wonderful musicianship. And this is just her solo stuff! But you’re not getting any of her top 40 yet. I decided to leave her cover songs off this list. Emm is famous for her amazing cover songs, and how she reinterprets them in her own style. For this first post, I’m going to share my favorite Emm Gryner covers (of those she has officially recorded). Four out of five came from her amazing 2001 album, Girl versions, and the fifth from her 2012 EP of Hall & Oates covers, She’s Gone.
#5 – The Day We Hit the Coast
Released in 1999 by Nova Scotia band Thrush Hermit, The Day We Hit the Coast is a surprisingly tuneful, grungy rocker. Of course, when Emm gets her hands on it, she turns it into a haunting piano ballad about the cycles of life and love. Like many of Emm’s song, I love how it reference sCanada with it’s Lake Louise mention.
#4 – She’s Gone
Okay, I might be biased. This is without a doubt my favorite Hall & Oates song, and Emm kills it. And as a gay man, I do love hearing Emm sing about losing the love of another woman.
#3 – Straight to Hell
With Straight to Hell, Emm takes a hard-hitting, quirky, political diatribe from punk band, The Clash and turns it into a hard-hitting, gorgeous, political diatribe, piano ballad. Got to hear her do this one live in the Courtyard of the Boston Public Library a couple of months ago. That was quite a thrill.
#2 – Pour Some Sugar On Me
Perhaps Emm’s most well-known cover, and certainly the one I use most often used to entice non-Emm fans to give her a chance, this beautiful rendition of Def Leppard’s bubble-gum, hair-band rock ‘n roll caught the attention of lead vocalist Joe Elliott who later recorded a duet with Emm, and had her pop metal band Tapper open for Def Leppard.
#1 Straight to You
Emm has done more than one of her own apocalyptic love song, in fact, one appears on my Top 40 from her very early days. But this gorgeous song by the dark, goth, poet himself, Nick Cave (along with the Bad Seeds) is skillfully interpreted by Emm, maintaining the longing and doomed romance so well-captured (like the singer) in the original. Bravo, Ms. Gryner!
https://youtu.be/CYbOHXMtelU
Come back to check out my personal Emm Gryner Top 40 over the next week or so!