Daily Inspiration: Meet Cindy Emch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindy Emch.

Hi Cindy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Growing up in a rural farm town in Michigan, I learned how to make music pretty early on singing along with my mother when she would practice her accordion. Later when I moved to the West Coast and founded my own open mic/poetry series I was bitten by the music bug again when a wonderful musical saw/accordion duo featured at my show on their west coast tour. Within a few days someone gifted me an accordion, a friend of a friend asked me to jam, and suddenly I had a band and a new path in life.

That was back in the mid-2000s and these days I primarily lead my own queer country band, making music at the crossroads of Buck Owens, Nick Cave, and Billy Bragg. Lucky me that this particular road keeps leading me back to Nashville. It’s become an annual pilgrimage to come to town for AmericanaFest, to stay in Five Points/East Nashville, grab a drink at The Lipstick Lounge, and always make time for a stop at Robert’s Western World for some music.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Creating music hasn’t always been the easiest road, though I have to say sometimes it feels like the universe intervenes and gives me a little push when things get the hardest. Back in my 20s, when I would have been at my most likely ingenue phase I was focused on writing poetry, making rent, and supporting my friends at punk shows. I really had it in my head that because I was plus size and didn’t see myself as “traditionally pretty,” making music just wasn’t an option for me.

Even after I got the accordion and the bands, it still felt like it was mainly a “for me” endeavor. Once we started playing out and I saw the reaction to my songs, to my voice, well after that I was hooked. Once I started the Secret Emchy Society and booked both solo and band shows, things quickly ramped up to where I was playing 50 – 100 shows a year. Talking to audiences after the show, having them cry on my shoulder, and seeing the impact the music had on them – made me worry less about the superficial.

I mean, sure, I still worry about it. I’m an almost 50-year-old plus-size queerdo that makes country music. On paper, it doesn’t seem very possible to make it work. But I believe in the music my band creates, I believe in the power of getting on that stage and being seen for the folks like me coming up now that might not believe it’s possible, and honestly – I don’t know how to stop. I’ve battled anxiety, depression, and self-doubt – you name it – and it’s driven me to unspeakable lows, so sure I’ve thought of quitting. Usually that lasts about 2-3 days and then I get a burst of creativity – the muse doesn’t start speaking to me, she starts YELLING at me, and so it’s on again.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I make country/American music for all kinds of people. I made a joke recently that my songs were for gay cowboys, queer witches, and everyone who likes a foot-stompin’/heart-breakin’ good time. Playing all over the US and Western Canada I’ve really seen first-hand how it doesn’t matter how you identify – if the songs are good – then the music is for everyone.

As a queer person of course I write from my own experience, but love is love. If I ever doubted that – watching a genderqueer couple full of tattoos and piercings slow waltz next to a straight couple in their 70s in their pristine western wear in an old country roadhouse in the Sierra Nevada foothills, absolutely convinced me.

My job is to stay honest, vulnerable, and true in the music that I write and perform. As long as that is my North Star – then I’m doing something right.

What’s next?
The future these days feels like a big old pot of chaos soup. In the short term, I’m writing songs for the next album, slogging away at the day job, and looking forward to traveling and touring more this summer and fall.

After the pandemic though it feels like two years got stolen from me. Just this blank blip in life. So my wife and I have been talking about moving, but we haven’t quite sorted out where we want to head out to.

So we keep just throwing ideas and ingredients into the pot and soon hopefully we’ll see what bubbles to the top.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.emchy.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/secretemchysociety
• Facebook: facebook.com/emchymusic
• Twitter: twitter.com/secretemchysoc1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6G_jTLX-NoH7gbllhF8nig
• Other: emchy.bandcamp.com

Image Credits
Margot Duane