Emily Poe on Grand Ole Opry Dec. 12, 2006
Dear Music Ranch Family,
I wanted to update you on Emily’s (Poe) music since you were always so encouraging to her by allowing her to play with the Classics all through high school. Emily is working very hard to graduate a year early from Belmont and will finish a degree in communications and music in May. She did this while cheering two years for the basketball teams and playing country music whenever possible
She auditioned for Trisha Yearwood in May and was very pleased with her audition losing out to a more seasoned fiddler. Trisha needed a triple threat—backup vocals, fiddle and acoustic guitarist. Emily had to work hard on the guitar parts, but if you know her she crammed for three weeks to prepare and gave it her best shot. She was most excited to spend the hour audition with Trisha herself, a former Belmont graduate.
Being at Belmont University in Nashville has made all the difference in Emily’s musical opportunities. Her fiddle teacher has been Tammy King, Reba’s fiddler and a classmate of Trisha Yearwood. Her classical ensemble opened for Josh Turner, another Belmont graduate. She was directed by a Belmont graduate. The video played on CMT this spring, but can now be found on the CMT website.
Emily’s next big break came in July, while teaching a fiddle camp at Belmont. She was given the opportunity to audition for a 16-year-old singer/songwriter named Taylor Swift. Her (Taylor’s) career has “exploded” so to speak as they have played the Grand Ole Opry twice and are scheduled for a third performance on Dec. 29. Emily plays fiddle, mandolin, and sings backup for Taylor.
They have traveled almost every weekend since July. She is in California this weekend for three concerts. Taylor has been the opening act for several different country artists. They just finished the Rascal Flatts tour in November and will be opening for George Strait in January, February, and March. They should hear soon about a summer tour and negotiations are to open for Brad Pasley.
All these great things have happened so quickly and in some cases seems unbelievable for Emily as she has struggled to keep her full time student status in order to graduate in May. She will finish work with some independent classes this last semester in order to graduate on time and then she will be with Taylor touring full time this summer.
If you are on the internet much you can keep track of Emily through Taylor Swift’s website calendar and George Strait’s tour schedule. There are photos of Emily under Taylor’s website gallery. You can see Emily playing for Taylor on CMT website “3:30 Sessions,” Youtube, and Yahoo videos. You can also hear their Grand Ole Opry performances at their archived shows for Sept 1, Nov. 14 and live again on Dec. 29.
It has been very exciting for all of the family to see Emily’s dream realized so young. Enclosed is a photo of her playing that fiddle on the Grand Ole Opry stage.
We are looking forward to being together for Christmas before Emily will be returning back to Nashville. This time we will be going with her to attend her performance at the Grand Ole Opry and spend some time sight seeing. Take care and hope to hear from you. Thank you again for being so supportive of Emily’s music.
Pam Poe
