Vincent Neil Emerson Announces New Self-Titled Album
Quickly emerging Texas singer/songwriter Vincent Neil Emerson will be releasing his new, self-titled album produced by Rodney Crowell on June 25th via La Honda Records. It’s the same label home of Colter Wall distributed by Thirty Tigers. The new title looks to pick up where Vincent’s debut record Fried Chicken & Evil Women left off, which was introducing Emerson as one of the premier storytellers in the emerging class of performers.
“If he grows on the public the way he’s grown on me, it’s possible young Vincent will plant the flag of his [songwriting] forebears firmly in the consciousness of a whole new generation,” Rodney Crowell says. Pretty resounding praise for sure.
From Fort Worth, Vincent Neil Emerson is familiar to quite a few after opening for Colter Wall, Charley Crockett, the Turnpike Troubadours, American Aquarium, and other bigger names over the last few of years. Charley Crockett recorded Emerson’s “7 Come 11” on his album The Valley. But its really been Vincent’s partnership with Colter Wall that’s put him in front of many people, including releasing a duet with Colter in 2020 called “Roadrunner.”
“It took a guy from Canada bringing me on tour for people to actually start paying attention,” says Emerson. “Before that it was a grind like anything else, just trying to make a living.”
Ahead of the new album Emerson has released the deeply-emotional song “Learnin’ To Drown” about his father’s suicide (listen below). “I’ve been trying to write a song about my father’s passing for a while,” he says. “I was just having a hard time processing that emotionally. Before I was always trying to find a way to kind of dance around it and not really give too much away. But there’s no beating around the bush here.”
Raised in Van Zandt County in East Texas by a single mother of part Native American Choctaw-Apache descent, Vincent left home at 16, working odd jobs as he traveled around, eventually taking up guitar. His Native American ancestry comes into play in the song “The Ballad of the Choctaw-Apache” on the new album.
Though some may gravitate to Vincent Neil Emerson from his smooth voice or country sound, it’s his songwriting that is really the centerpiece of his music—a sentiment producer Rodney Crowell shared. “Rodney is a hero of mine,” says Emerson. “He wanted to make something that serves the songs, as opposed to making a record trying to put focus on production or the playing. It was an honor to work with him.”
Emerson was also was a beneficiary of a big shout out by Aquaman actor Jason Momoa while on tour with Colter Wall and Ian Noe when they were all playing in Vancouver.
May 3, 2021 @ 8:02 am
Love this guy’s music. If the new album will be half as good as the previous one it’ll easily be AOTY.
May 3, 2021 @ 8:12 am
Pumped when I heard this. We just need a Mike and the Moonpies album this year, and I’m set
May 3, 2021 @ 8:24 am
Dang, not what I expected to hear from VNE. I thought he was going to be a novelty guy, but this is beautiful. And sweetly, sadly true.
Big fan.
May 3, 2021 @ 1:19 pm
Damn! What a song- the video intro was too long though
May 3, 2021 @ 1:50 pm
Excellent!!!! This guy is a true troubador, his writing and singing cut straight to the soul. Big things to come for VNE.
Vincent, next time you’re in El Paso, I’ll get you all another round.
Keep up the great work!
May 3, 2021 @ 1:57 pm
His first album is one of the best of the last decade.
May 3, 2021 @ 3:29 pm
Dude’s a little kiss ass jerk.He hasn’t made music as much as he has chased coat tails his whole “career”. He’s one of many Leon bridges bootlickers here in DFW, Yea he had to get far out of Texas because most everyone in this neck of the woods knows he’s a fake it until you make it little prick. He got his teeth knocked out being a dick in public. I don’t know how someone like Rodney Crowell would even think this dude is worth his time. I’m disappointed again in yet another so called Texas Legend I used to admire. It started with Rodney Crowell having Randy Rogers on his last album and now this.
May 3, 2021 @ 11:58 pm
The guy made an amazing album. So if he chased coat tails besides that then why should any care? We are fans of country music not of country musician’s personalities while they were growing up.
Seems like you have an axe to grind and maybe with good reason but this rant in no way invalidates the guy’s output.
May 4, 2021 @ 5:24 am
Good for him. I’m still not buying it nor am I invalidating it. 1st of all I care about the craft of songwriting and it is availability to anyone. ANYONE CAN PLAY AND SING. It’s not a specialized skill; it is literally something anyone can do. I’m certain so many entitled assholes take to it is because of the attention alone. Quit worshipping ARTISTS ! The more self centered they are they worst they are as people! I watched VNE firsthand for years as he spent his time kissing ass and trying to be famous. He was also consistently a dick. Maybe he is finally turning the corner creatively. Personally I think being a good person is a more worthwhile pursuit. A good album does not make a good person. The “Texas Music” scene is especially disappointing seeing how they are standing by a rapist and the scene it is literally void of POC much less any voices for the support of POC. FOR CHRIST’S SAKES BLUES IS TEXAS MUSIC! This frat boy rock whitewashes what is actually a colorful musical tapestry encompassing all genres and has a rich and detailed history. Sorry in this day and age there are a lot more important things for anyone to do than “Be Famous”. The fake it until they make it either end up not making it and always being fake or the become “BIG” and then we all find out they really had nothing worthwhile to say. GOOD DAY !
May 4, 2021 @ 5:52 am
I have no idea where to even begin with this.
Don’t know VNE. Love his music.
Don’t care if he is a “nice guy”. Love his music.
Don’t care that he is a “dick”. Love his music.
Don’t care that he “tried to be famous”. Love his music (and if he wanted to be famous he could have taken a very different approach to music.)
I am not worshipping artitst. Love his music.
I haven’t heard VNE discuss the rape allegations. Calling him a fratboy seems to not fit with the guy, at all. And your comments about his race… I am not even gonna dignify that with a reply save for wtf?
Don’t agree that anyone can play and sing. Not sure you yourself would agree with that either if you really think about it.
May 4, 2021 @ 6:24 am
I’m happy for you and him. I’m not knocking you being a fan, My 2nd comment today said this latest song of his was good. However it is true ANYONE can do it; it’s just that not everyone chooses to do so. I didn’t start learning guitar until my 40’s. It can be picked up by anyone at any age. VNE has my respect. He is and has been out there doing it. I know that and I respect that but it doesn’t mean I have to like him or his music. I’ve had too many personal interactions with the kid. However he nor you should give a shit about my 2 cents. I was throwing accusations at the entire Texas Music Scene. VNE is not a frat boy but he has sure grabbed onto some frat boy coat tails. Texas music begins with Blind Lemon Jefferson not Townes Van Zandt; ok? That’s all sir. Have a good day.
May 4, 2021 @ 6:27 am
I wasn’t looking for a history lesson. And whether Blind Lemon Jefferson was the first, the tenth or the one hundreth makes no difference to me. I like and respect him. I happen to like listening to Townes a lot more.
May 4, 2021 @ 8:27 am
Dale,
I’ve let you sit here and say your peace, but unquestionably you’re being a bit bitter and hyperbolic here. Maybe Vincent Neil Emerson is an asshole personally. I don’t know him, so I’m not in a position to make that call. But this isn’t a personality contest. He’s being praised for his music here, not if he’s worthy to date your sister. And no, not “everyone can play and sing.” Everyone can try, but some are better at it than others, and deserve to have a career in it.
Also, I haven’t seen anyone defend Justin Frazell, especially after the second accusation.
As for POC, I was just at a Texas music festival this weekend. You would be surprised at the amount of Hispanic influence in Texas music. Multiple artists performed songs in Spanish. No, there’s not a lot of black people in Texas music, but I don’t think we can draw the conclusion that’s because of exclusion. I don’t see any reason to believe if a black guy wanted to make Texas music, he would be disallowed. Also, Texas music is not just one thing. You have big rockin’ acts, you have singer/songwriters. You have everything in between. Of course there’s bad like with every scene, but it’s much better than the mainstream.
May 4, 2021 @ 9:22 am
Trigger, I appreciate the platform. I realize it’s actually a Popularity Contest more than anything. Again I don’t like the guy but I’m giving him props for this 1st song. There’s no hyperbole to the current social conditions wrecking the majority of people in our nation but especially POC. Our freedoms and privacies have never been under more attack than they are now. A person gets killed by the cops every day. This entire “scene” is SILENT on almost all the major issues these days; Justin’s perversions included. No one has defended him but no one has denounced him either.
Knowing the actual history of music anyone can easily find Tejano and Blues artists are very much a part of the very early fabric of Texas music and I can only think of a few artists that address that creatively. It’s not so much exclusion as omission especially within the capitalistic confines of payola which only caters to artists that already have money. The whiter you are and the bigger your platform; the more you should be speaking out against the police violence towards every one not white. White musical artists are usually the 1st to forget and or not consider their privilege.
May 4, 2021 @ 10:21 am
Look Dale, I appreciate your concerns, and I have raised many of them myself over the years. I am the ONLY music outlet that has even been reporting on Justin Frazell after all, as everyone else tries to sweep it under the rug, which is different from apologizing for it, BTW. But there is a time and a place. This was simply a news story informing folks that Vincent has a new song, and a new album coming. Going off on all these topics is not fair to his music. If you don’t like the guy for personal reasons, I totally respect that. But goodness man, we can’t expect him to atone for all the sins of the Western World. Of course there’s problems in society that need to be addressed. But this is a country music website.
May 4, 2021 @ 9:35 am
We’ve gone from “Vincent Neil Emmerson is a big doodoo head!” to “The police need to stop killing people and country music needs to take a stand against rapists” so awfully fast that my head won’t stop spinning.
Who is arguing against any of that???
May 4, 2021 @ 10:34 am
Trigger, LMAO Right on. I’m in no way putting all off on him alone though lol! No one artist can atone for the sins of Payola or prejudice alone. Speaking out is obviously more of a urgent matter for me personally; than it is the “popularity” scene.
Danny you’ve been arguing with me this entire time and not very well I might add. Blowing my mind how you can’t shut the fuck up. Speaking out against racism is the main message I’m spreading here. Why aren’t more white artists doing it? You tell me? This all only took the platform because of your tedious disapproval of my opinion. Speak out against racism whoever you are and wherever you are at. If you are gonna argue with me about that; you might be a fascist blue line bootlicker dude. Leave it at that. GOOD DAY !
May 4, 2021 @ 11:13 am
You started talking shit about an artist and I called you on it, somehow I am now a racist because you changed the subject to make it a race thing.
I had to check in the mirror to see whether my left check wasn’t hanging down, because the only way this would make sense is if one of us had a stroke. It wasn’t me.
“not very well”? I am literally laughing out loud at the glaring lack of reflection.
May 8, 2021 @ 2:11 pm
since ‘anyone can play and sing’ why don’t you dazzle us with your talent ? LOL you come off like a jealous ex girlfriend. and every interview and all footage i’ve seen of VNE he is very humble laid back and not at all arrogant nor egomaniacal, you on the other hand seem to have a deep rooted jealousy and you forgot to mention writing original music is the most crucial skill. something he excels at, including writing lyrics that connect to the listener on a personal and collective level simultaneously,if his music doesn’t appeal to you thats fine, keep moving along, he owes you nothing nor you him, but to try to discount his talent based on the fact it doesn’t appeal to you and the ‘anyone can do that’ cliche excuse of someone who would if they could but clearly hasn’t because they can’t says more about your failures than his success, but hey i’m sure you’ll prove me wrong with some links to the incredible songs you wrote sang and played, yeah? sure…
May 3, 2021 @ 3:36 pm
I’ll give him that this is his best song yet. It aint easy tackling a subject like that. He’s still a jerk.
May 4, 2021 @ 8:25 am
I wasn’t looking for a useless argument with cowboy boot licker either; however Music is history. I’m a Townes fan myself fool. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be into his own deification. I’m also certain if he were alive here and now he wouldn’t have anything to do with what they call “Texas Music” these days. Get a grip. GOOD DAY
May 4, 2021 @ 8:34 am
So now I am a boot licker? For what? For not jumping through the hoops you are trying to get me to jump through? For not having you decide what I get to base my taste on?
I guess if that is all it takes, then VNE probably isn’t such a bad guy either.
May 4, 2021 @ 9:25 am
I didn’t ask you to jump through hoops to defend your tastes? I don’t care what you like or don’t? That’s all you and doesn’t affect me at all. I don’t care what other people think nor should you.
May 4, 2021 @ 9:37 am
You just decided to call me a boot licker because you don’t care? Because that is how you address people? Well I won’t hold back then either. You appear to be jealous and it is not a good look.
May 4, 2021 @ 10:17 am
Wait, what’s going on?
May 4, 2021 @ 4:06 pm
It’s a wonder I ain’t the meanest son of a bitch you ever met.
May 4, 2021 @ 10:27 pm
You’d think Vincent Neil Emerson screwed this dudes mom. Wow I hope I never hate someone as much as Dale hates Ol’ Neil. Yikes! Save some of your hate for Cardi B or something.
May 5, 2021 @ 10:14 am
Almost liked this. But I actually like Cardi B!
May 4, 2021 @ 11:51 am
I like it a lot and have just pre-ordered his album on Amazon.
16. Don Williams
May 4, 2021 @ 4:04 pm
Wow. The meltdown in the comments section of this article have been… something.
I guess, “guy who really wanted to make it, made it” stories are a narrative of weakness for some? Let me tell you – if you really wanna make it in this life, you gotta kiss a little ass. We all do. Every record on your shelf – every one – was put out buy folks who kissed a little ass at some point. That ain’t a character flaw. That’s the game.
I thought “Fried Chicken…” was one of the best records of 2019. Looking forward to this one too.