You’re forced to search far and wide, and to fall feeling feeble-minded when trying to find a singer and a songwriter who can equal or even rival the works of Emily Scott Robinson. She’s a Saving Country Music Song of the Year winner for her classic “The Dress,” and the recipient of an unprecedented two 9+ rated albums. The warning of a new album from the North Carolina-raised, Colorado-based songwriter is definitely something to heed.
To be released on John Prine’s Oh Boy Records come January 30th, 2026, Appalachia promises to set the pace for high caliber songwriting in the new year. Produced by Josh Kaufman (Bonnie Light Horseman), the album was recorded in an old 1896 church on the banks of the Hudson River known as Dreamland Recording Studios in rural New York. The 10-track album will also feature a duet with John Paul White.
Robinson started her adult life as a social worker in Colorado. But after being turned onto songwriting, she discovered that music could be just as good if not better for addressing the ills of the world, and offering some help and healing to people.
“There’s this thing I do with every record I make,” Emily Scott Robinson says. “I knit a prayer into it, and I ask for all these songs to find their way to everyone who needs them. I ask these songs to be of service, to help people find and experience joy. If my music can do that, I’ll die happy. I hope that’s far in the future. But that’s what I want my songs to do. It’s like a ministry, my ministry.”
The title track for the album (listen below) is the perfect showcase for Robinson’s songwriting, soaring voice, and her elevated guitar playing skills. Strong in her passion for her home state of North Carolina, she was inspired to write the song in the aftermath of the devastating flooding caused by Hurricane Helene in 2024.
Oh, my heart swept down the river
And though it all be washed away
It’s not the first time I’ve had nothin’
and knelt to pray
My people came from pain and famine
A hundred days on a dark sea
You think I’d let some wind and water
tear the roots from me?
Many of Emily Scott Robinson’s songs are character studies. “Appalachia” is told from the perspective of a mother, about Mother Nature. “Time Traveler” is about her grandmother who is suffering from dementia. Every one of Robinson’s songs looks to shed some light on the tribulations and sometimes subtle victories within the human condition.
Appalachia is now available for Preorder/Presave.
TRACK LIST:
1. Hymn for the Unholy
2. Appalachia
3. Sea of Ghosts
4. Cast Iron Heart
5. Time Traveler
6. Dirtbag Saloon
7. Bless it All
8. The Time for Flowers
9. The Water is Wide
10. The Fairest View
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source savingcountrymusic.com ’
