High Resolution Photos by Kristi Jan Hoover

Biography

Songwriter Emily Pinkerton crafts music that “unites the traditional and the modern in a stunning, beautiful fashion” (PopMatters). She is a founding member of The Early Mays, an old-time, vocal harmony trio that topped the National Folk-DJ charts and was featured twice on NPR’s Mountain Stage. Emily is currently creating a collection of piano songs that explore voice and gender, with riveting depictions of breaking silence. The themes of gender and autonomy are also at the heart of Ephemera Ballads for fivebyfive chamber ensemble (premiered in March 2025).

The roots of Ephemera Ballads stretch back to Emily’s research in South America in the early 2000s. She documented the work of women in Chilean canto a lo poeta, a musical community that is historically masculine. It is a style of sung poetry that was once printed as “broadside ballads” in the 18th and 19th century: large sheets of paper with news, stories and social commentary in rhyming verse. Drawing from the special collections of the New York State Library, Emily studied balladeers in the U.S., weaving together tales from the Hudson Valley to create a new song cycle. Ann Eliza Smith—-wife of broadside poet Henry Backus—and Anna Dorothea Swarts—an indentured servant to the Salisbury family—are the protagonists of Ephemera Ballads. In the three movement piece, vivid poetry and instrumental textures fill the spaces left in the historical record.

Past chamber music projects include Rounder Songs (New Amsterdam Records, 2017; Independent Music Awards, 2019), and Looking for Violeta, a folk opera about Chilean songwriter Violeta Parra in partnership with Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA. In addition to performance and composition, Emily is a passionate educator. She has worked as a Music Industry professor at The College of Saint Rose, an Ethnomusicology Instructor at The University of Pittsburgh, and an ENL Teacher at Albany High School. She serves on the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Composition and Songwriting Committee which provides creative opportunities for K-12 students across the state.

 

Press HIghlights

…banjo against a vibrant backdrop of pulsing rhythms and chamber colour

…the dream-like reverie mesmerizes in the way banjo picking blends with a rich and ever-coursing swirl of woodwinds and piano.

—textura

…unites the traditional and the modern in stunning, beautiful fashion.

 --Andy Jurik, Pop Matters

I first encountered Pinkerton as part of the marvelous trio The Early Mays and was struck by what she brought to that Appalachian string band, a kind of New England classicism that lent an incorporeal feel to the otherwise traditional sound.

…I hear a Copland-like yearning, and she describes it as being '21st century post-minimalist classical music and North American old-time.' Whatever you call it, it’s also timeless.

—Amos Perrine, NO DEPRESSION

The best of two cultures and songwriting styles.

…Pinkerton's songs employ earthy metaphors that reflect her spiritual and emotional world.  

--NUVO, Indianapolis, IN

It's hard not to be enchanted with Emily Pinkerton's music…

--Cleveland Scene, Cleveland, OH

Pinkerton …sings it with an understated passion that accents the desperate emotion of unrequited love.

 --Sing Out!

Career highlights

  • New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Artist Grant, 2024 | Ephemera Ballads

  • New Music USA Creator Fund, 2023 | Ephemera Ballads

  • USA Songwriting Competition Finalist | Folk/Acoustic Category, 2023

  • IAMA Best Duo/Group | The Early Mays, 2023

  • NPR’s Mountain Stage | The Early Mays, 2022

  • Independent Music Award Winner | Rounder Songs, Eclectic EP, 2019

  • Associate Professor of Music Industry (Songwriting/Composition), The College of Saint Rose Music (2018-2025)

  • The Heinz Endowments | Pittsburgh Foundation Creative Development Grant for composition, performance of Rounder Songs

  • NewMusic USA Award for composition of "Three Forks of Hell"

  • Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, Roster Artist

  • Appalachian String Band Music Festival, 1st place in Neo-Traditional Band Competition, 3rd place in Flatfoot Dance competition

  • West Virginia State Folk Music Festival, 3rd place in Fiddle Competition

  • Uncle Dave Macon Festival, 3rd place in Fiddle Competition

  • Official Showcases at NERFA, SERFA and FARM Conferences

  • Chilean-American Fulbright Association and the Organization of American States Grants for study of Chilean Canto a lo Poeta

Sound and Tech

Contact Emily for stage plots and tech for...

  • Solo Concerts

  • Ephemera Ballads + Rounder Songs

Selection of past venues

WXXI Live from Hochstein, Troy Listening Room, Song City, Mountain Stage, National Sawdust, TUTTI Festival and Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series with NOW Ensemble; NPR's Mountain Stage, Appalachian String Band Music Festival, HOTA Fest and Fiddle and Bow Society with The Early Mays; Merkin Hall with Eddy Marcano, SongSpace, Acoustic Music Works