Today we are talking with the singer-songwriter, Emily Lynch Capelli. Over the past ten years, she has written songs with some of Nashville's most well know writers and even featured Vince Gill on her last album. Check out the show as she talks about how to make it in the music business and how to develop your craft.

Find Emily's Music Here: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/emily-lynch/416670411

"Hand Me Downs" Single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ey7lRb6ED4

Mentioned in this episode:

1on1 App Information

https://www.thinkmovethrive.com/1on1-app/

Hey, everybody.

Well, Coach D's got a little bit of laryngitis today, but no worries.

The show must go on.

We are talking to Emily Lynch, Capelli today.

She is an amazing person.

She's been a professional songwriter, a touring musician, worship leader.

She's a great new friend of mine.

You don't wanna miss.

This conversation.

Welcome to the last 10%.

Your host, Dallas Burnett, dives into incredible conversations that

will inspire you to finish well, finish well and finish strong.

Finish strong.

Listen as guests share their journeys and valuable advice on living in the last 10%.

If you are a leader, a coach, a business owner, or someone looking to level.

You are in the right place.

Remember, you can give 90% effort and make it a long way, but it's finding

out how to unlock the last 10% that makes all the difference in your life,

your relationships, and your work.

Now here's Dallas.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the last 10%.

I am Dallas.

I'm in Thrive Studios, sitting in my 1905 Koch Brothers Barber chair.

More importantly, talking to Emily Lynch.

Capelli Today, professional songwriter, has an album, has

featured Vince Gill on it, has had a really, really well known artist.

Just pick up her latest song, which we'll get to in just a minute.

But man, we're just so excited to have you on the show.

Welcome to the last 10%, Emily.

Emily Lynch Capelli:

So honored to be here.

Awesome.

We just want to hear, I would love for you to tell the listeners, you know, you know,

what was your process and what was it like when you actually got into songwriting?

You've written with some great songwriters, you've got some great

songs out, cut your own albums.

You're an artist as well.

Tell us the process that went from like, you know, nothing, not really aware of the

music business to professional songwriter.

How did that kind of weave in and out?

Thinking back to when I first started writing

songs, I was always creative.

You know, it's funny to just think back how everybody had influences.

I dated a guy who wrote poetry and that like influenced me to write.

And then, you know, in college I taught myself a, my dad taught me

a few chords on the guitar and.

I literally couldn't play the songs I wanted to play cuz I couldn't

play a B minor or whatever it was.

So I was like, well darn, I'm gonna start writing songs with the chords.

I do know . So, you know, that got me going.

And then I remember the first song I wrote, I showed it to my parents, I

was in high school and, and my dad was like, Well that's cool, that's good,

but you're gonna have to write a lot more if you wanna be like Dolly Parton.

. Anyway, I played sports, I did a lot of things.

So kind of, you know, dabbled here and there with songwriting.

It wasn't till my senior year I was at Clemson, I was a communications major.

I was trying to decide what I was gonna do when I graduated and talked

to our internship coordinator and he's like, Well, what do you wanna do?

And I was like, Well, you know, I really wanna sing and make music

Which of course, you know, that's, it takes a lot of courage

to even say that out loud.

So that was the first time I was like, Ugh, okay, what are we gonna do here?

And he hooked me up with a internship.

With a local studio in Greenville at the time it was called OMG Entertainment.

OMG.

Yeah.

Edwin McCain's group there.

Yeah.

Edwin McCain's Studio and Jean Crisilick, um, was the president of the little label.

They had a band called Chase.

It was a Christian band that was doing pretty good.

So I mean, I literally went and took out the trash.

I did all the brunt work.

Jean, you know, I got to know him and he started giving me more

responsibility to listen through music, you know, on my space and all

the other platforms where local bands were putting out music and to just kind

of sift through CDs and stuff that.

People had brought to him and um, so I got more experience

with the business through that.

He did allow me to use the studio to record a few songs, which,

oh my gosh, they're so bad.

But I got that first experience, you know?

Anyway, I talked with him a lot and he was like, you know, I have a

friend in Atlanta who's a producer who likes to work with developing.

You know, his name was Dan Hannon.

I graduated from Clemson.

I moved to Charlotte cuz my parents were there.

I tried to find a big girl job that didn't work out, so I ended up

moving there and working part-time at a church leading worship there.

And had met Dan, who's in Atlanta, a producer, and had a couple of just

meetings with him, and he started giving me some homework for how to develop my

craft and how to develop as an artist.

I was over here in Charlotte developing as a.

Performer as an artist, as a musician, leading worship

for kids with high schoolers.

So, you know, learning how to be on a stage, learning how to play with

a band, like not a good band , but still just learning how to talk.

And that was going on and, and I only recognize all this in hindsight,

Julie, I don't really know that I knew all this was happening at the time.

I was developing over here making some money.

That developed into a full-time job, so I did have some good income coming

in and then traveling to Atlanta and writing songs with Dan and he was.

We were talking on the phone.

I mean, it was daily and he was challenging me to write a song every day.

That's hard.

That's actually hard.

You know, there's some days it just doesn't come.

I mean, that's a discipline practice, you know, a song a day.

It was definitely growing just at a faster pace

than normal because I had, at the time, I, that was my sole focus.

I mean, I had nothing else except for music and my job, and I was.

Live at home at that time.

So I wasn't, it was kind of sad.

I really just didn't have much of a life, so I was going home and writing

. Dallas Burnett: I would just love to

doing this, You know, you said, I just really didn't have a life at the time.

I'm just going home every night and writing music.

But did it feel like that to you or did it feel like invigorating

to be developing your craft?

I mean, or is it like, some days there are grind and some days

are great or it was like, No, I, Every day even bad days were good.

How, what was your mindset in that period?

Oh man.

No bad days were great.

It was, um, , I, I was just soaking it up because, you know, I grew up in a home.

We all love music.

My dad played by ear, guitar, piano, sang, my mom played piano,

sang I wasn't a student of music.

We listened to whatever was on the radio.

I didn't really know what a good songwriter was.

I, I never studied.

You know, and Dan was sending me albums.

I mean, he was, I just dove hard into Patty Griffin, who's one of my favorite

artists, started really recognizing like what great songs were, and that is just

as important as writing it may be more important, is listening to good stuff and

really, you know, growing in that, in your taste and learning how to put your story.

I mean, Dan Hannon was.

Such a critical part of my development and growth, and he would not only

challenge me, but he would encourage, I knew he believed in me, so that

lit a fire under me for sure.

That's super important though when you're

starting out, especially in the music business, the dream industry of

the music business, because there's plenty of people, I mean like.

Layers and layers of people that will come in and dash your hopes and dreams

and just like pour cold water on anything you've done in terms of creative process.

So to have somebody that's backing you, that's developing you in your corner,

it's like throwing gasoline on the fire.

It just keeps you going and kind of keeps you trudging through the, through some

of the mess, you know, in the industry.

It's a gift and it's part of Dan's calling is just that

he just loves working with developing acts and he's got a gift for it.

So I'm just thankful.

You know, our paths crossed and he took time with me and we'd kind of hit it off.

Just, we enjoyed working together.

We were good.

You know, you, it's in music.

Somebody, my husband makes fun of me for saying this, but I remember

somebody said this and it's so true, like, Half of it's about, you know,

writing a good song together or producing good music together, whatever.

But really half is of just about the hang . Yeah.

Just about how much do we enjoy hanging out with each other, you know?

That's so true.

Isn't it true though?

Cuz I mean, it's, at the end of the day, you just kind of hit it off with

certain people and you just enjoy it and you have this bond connection through

music, through songwriting, but it makes it so much easier when you're just

hanging out, just enjoying each other and then get to write some songs too.

Who doesn't like this?

What's not to like?

This is awesome.

. That's awesome.

That's cool.

I like that.

So he pushes you and you co-write with him and you're moving forward.

What was the point where you were like, did you get to the point

where you're like, I'm at a place in my development where I think I'm

ready to take it to the next level?

What did that look like after you've been meeting with Dan and going forward?

We recorded a, a little EP album.

It was just a Christian niche, kind of Christian country type deal, five songs.

That was a good kinda like foundation for me.

And then he started putting me with other artists in Atlanta.

We started co-writing.

So I would go to Atlanta, have, I mean, it was insane.

I would have like three hour blocks of different writers and it was just

like speed dating, you know, Or I don't know the right analogy, but it.

Speed development and, and we wrote toward a debut full length album

was what we were writing toward.

For me, it wasn't trying to be a songwriter at that point.

It was, you know, we're trying to be an artist and do a record.

Micah da Nathan Angelo, Ryan Horn, trying to think like a lot of local Atlanta

guys who are still my good friends today.

And then Dan and I continued to write and we wrote a whole first full length album.

I was able to finance that myself.

You know, again, just living at home and working, but also doing this on the side.

It was just really a cool experience.

But it wasn't until after we made that album that's just debut self-titled album.

That was amazing.

But I felt like, looking back on it, it was, I was being held up

by a lot of other, Great writers and musicians and everything.

It was my first experience truly recording like with band and all of that.

And so then that, it really gave me a love for co-writing and songs in general.

And so then I, The Nashville story is kind of a evolution of a lot of

other pieces that came together.

But You want me to go there, ? I can just dive in.

I'm trying to think.

So I had Dan, you know, I had all these Atlanta guys and then.

I had, my mom's family is from Sumpter, South Carolina, so small town, Sumpter.

You know, there were two guys that had made it big and music out of

Sumpter, and one was Rob Crosby.

He's an artist songwriter.

Had number one songs with Martina McBride and my family knew him and he was.

I'm not really afraid to call people.

So I picked up the phone, and I called Rob Crosby and I said, or maybe I emailed

him, I can't remember, but I was like, you know, I'm gonna come to Nashville.

I had justified a trip because I was like, a guy from high school lived

there and I was gonna, he had a place I could stay and then there was, Dan

had set me up with a couple of guys and then Rob, I was gonna meet with him and

then, um, anyway, it was just kind of this, Okay, we're going to nashville.

And Rob was really the most professional guy that I got the chance to talk with and

we had breakfast that first meeting and he was like, Well, let me hear some music.

And I, I showed him some music.

I think this is a lesson of like, you gotta have good songs and you

gotta have something, some raw talent to be able to get in rooms with

people, but then you also just have to like take the step of calling.

Seeing what happens.

And so he was like, Well that's write.

We hit it off.

And we wrote, um, a lot.

And then he's like, Well, I want you to meet so and so.

And then it, that's how it happens in Nashville.

It just starts snowballing.

So then I, you know, started meeting with other people and they know people.

And then really how it gets is to where, well, if my friend's telling

me about you, you must be good.

So I'm gonna sit with you.

It's a small world.

It's like this community, once you break in, it's like everybody knows everybody.

It's unbelievable the networks that in that town.

It's incredible.

And I like it because when you talk about it, you're talking about it like, um, you

are ambitious in terms of calling Rob.

And you were like, I'm gonna take the step.

But it's not like you did that when you moved to Charlotte and you're like, Hey,

I'm leading worship with this, you know, at this church with the kids department.

I think I'll call Rob.

It was like you took.

An amazing step.

You took amazing jumps in your career.

You were going and doing the work way beforehand, going to Atlanta.

You had already produced a whole album of songs and worked on

your craft for all this time.

And then at that point where you felt like, Hey, my stuff is definitely maturing

and I'm maturing as an artist, as a writer, all right, now I'm gonna call Rob.

You know, So it's, I love how that went.

And so I had, you know, totally him, like tracking with everything you're saying

because I, my experience was very similar.

I started.

Guitar in high school and was inspired by some artists that were just rock solid

songwriters, and you just kind of, and I totally had no life, you know, and

sit at home and, and write songs on.

I would have no problem doing that on a Friday night whatsoever.

It's very cool.

So you tap into this network in Nashville, you're meeting with Rob, then

he introduced you, all his friends, and you start building this network in n.

How does that progress?

It was like, you know, Dan had, I knew that I wanted

to meet with some publishers and I wanted to meet with ASCAP was my p o,

so my performance rights organization.

At that point, I hadn't gotten paid for anything, but I was a member , my

dad signed me up when I was 16.

Hilarious.

Oh my gosh.

How about that?

So, you know, I had some understanding of how all that worked and I was

learning about co-writing and learning about how you can, other

people can record your songs.

And I enjoyed being an artist, but I really love the idea of not

having to be the face of the song.

And I am an artist, but I just, when it came to the commercial thing,

I found that a bit exhausting.

And so at that point, I think I was having some revelation of like,

okay, this is, this is a huge.

Commitment, and I wanna have a family.

I wanna be married.

I'm a homebody at heart, you know?

And I was just kind of like, eh, I don't know how far I wanna dive into being the

artist, but I, you know, I would love to write songs and be in this industry.

So one of the key things that happened as I got to know people was ASCAP.

Leanne Faylem, she's a big awesome lady in Nashville.

She was the leader.

I can't even think of what her title was, but she was a big person at ascap.

She had just gotten that job because BMI and ASCAP are like the two

big pros, and BMI was crushing it.

Let us talk one second about what that is.

For our listeners that are not familiar with the business of music, when you

say BMI and ASCAP and P R O, what you're saying is BMI and ASCAP actually are

the ones that if a song is played on the radio, Or on Spotify or anything

like that, anywhere in the world that payment is sent to these entities.

And these entities then distribute those funds to the artists

that they represent their cuts.

So it's almost like the pace.

So if you're a songwriter, you're very interested in these organizations

because these are essentially the people that cut your check.

If your song goes on the billboard charts and it's number five or number two,

or number one, That money doesn't just show up in your mailbox, it goes through

these two large organizations and then it pushes down to the actual writer.

Yeah.

Csac is another one.

It's a little bit smaller, but um, yeah, so they all have different,

they're very much the same.

I feel like they ebb and flow, but the percentages of the payouts, you

know, might ebb and flow and BMI might give a little more one year, but ASCAP

might give a little, one more one year.

They have different leadership come, you know, it's business.

At the time I was with ASCAP and I had done an artist's showcase and my

friend, I had a friend who had done a BMI showcase and I had gone to the BMI

Showcase and it was like so much better.

They were really talking about the artist.

They were playing it up.

There was like press.

It was really good.

The ASCAP one just felt like such a letdown.

I was a little bit of a fiery, not and not disrespectful or anything, but I was

just like, I had some courage I guess.

I was vocal about how disappointed I was and that I was considering

jumping ship and going to bmi.

And Tracy Gurshon, she's another just amazing manager, She's managed

tons of bands in Nashville, Talent Finder, worked with Faith Hill and

anyway, she was managing my friend.

I talked to her and she's like, Well, before you jump ship, why

don't you meet with Lee Ann?

She just got this job and she's really has a good vision to turn ascap.

So I started meeting with Lee Ann and she became a champion for me.

So she started a program for ascap, young unsigned ASCAP writers that

were identified by publishers or you know, people in the industry.

And it is called the GPS program.

And I forgot what that stood for.

Gps, it was something, But you meet with two publishers each month.

It's like you have an initial meeting and then you have a follow up meeting

and the publishers are all on board to meet with you and give you good feedback.

And anyways, this whole, whole setup thing for a year.

So I was asked to be a part of that program.

It's funny, the other people in my class, Hailey Whis, she's

an artist, country artist who's just put out a couple records.

She was in my GPS class.

Ryan heard, he was a good friend of mine.

We were in that class together.

There was another guy, oh, I'm blanking on his name, but he's an artist now.

So anyway, it's just really cool to.

Where everybody went because there was such good talent in that class.

But anyway, that was a huge jump off for me cuz I continued to

meet more people through that.

You know, I got big meetings that I probably wouldn't have been able to get

otherwise with, you know, the bigger names, Sony Warner Chapel, all the

people and go to shows with people.

Just build relationships and so, yeah.

I wanna take a second though and just share

with the listeners, like, I don't think most people realize this.

I think that people have assumed.

The music business is like you just put something out on YouTube or

you, you know, win American Idol and all of a sudden you're this,

you know, the next biggest thing.

And they hear and they see these artists that come out and they're like

quote unquote overnight successes.

And the people in the business know and have seen them working

it out for over a decade.

It's unbelievable the amount of work and effort to become

a quote, overnight success.

Just hearing you talk about the process and all the effort

you put in behind the scenes.

We're not even talking about writing at this point.

We're talking about networking and we're talking about understanding the,

the structure of the business and we're talking about finding champions in

the industry and getting in front of publishers and navigating all these,

these circles that you're doing for years.

I'll have a lot of respect for you on that and other artists, cuz.

I don't think most people understand how hard and how much work it is to

break in and break through like that.

I never moved to Nashville, which is probably a lot of

people would say was my biggest mistake.

But you know, we all have our own path.

But it's interesting cuz in those days I was writing with Nicole

Gallion and I remember sitting with her and she's written most

of that Miranda Lambert album.

But I mean, I remember writing with her at that time, she was asking.

How to do an artist thing and how to put out a record.

Cuz I had done that.

I remember her saying, you know, we just don't have a lot of money.

How do we do?

You know?

And now she's like, just killing it.

And so it's just cool to see Haley Whis.

I mean, I remember talking to her and you know, they called

Nashville a 10 year town.

I feel like it is nothing short of that.

It takes time.

You know, Even Marrin, Morris, like I remember meeting her in a publishing house

and she was writing for other artists and.

All of a sudden she decided she wanted to do something for herself.

Ryan heard, he was not an artist, he just was a great songwriter, great friend.

He co-wrote one of the songs on my album with me.

But you know, I remember when he decided he wanted to be an artist, and I mean,

it's years and years and years after.

You know when people are like, Well, maybe I'll put out my own stuff or

whatever, and then all of a sudden you're hearing them on the radio,

but they've been grinding for.

Now you've got this album, now you've got Vince Gill featured on

How do You Get Vince Gill on your album?

I mean, this is incredible.

God is so good.

Just all the networking.

It's so fun to think back on this, you know, so the way that the publishing

world works in Nashville, Really all the worlds, but you're, Hey, I think you

would work really well with so and so.

Hey, I think you would work really well with so-and-so.

So you're, you're getting set up with people that you've never met.

And it's such a normal thing.

It would be, it's not very normal in the real world, but for co-writing,

you know, you say, Oh, hey, I'm Emily.

What's your name?

You know, you talk about your, whatever's going on, you kind of try to make a

connection and then you write a song,

Hopefully that's the goal.

So anyway, I got to do that with a ton of amazing people and one of them ended

up being, um, Vince Gill's daughter.

And so we kind of hit it off.

And the fir, I remember the first day she was like, the publisher called us and she

said, um, Hey, all of our rooms are full.

Do y'all have somewhere else you can write?

Which if I would've lived there, she could've just come over to my house

or whatever, but I didn't live there.

So she's like, Hey, my house is being renovated.

Let's just meet at my dad's house, . So I'm like, Oh, meet at your dad's house.

Okay.

So yeah, we met over there and we wrote a song up in one of the rooms and she was

married, had had her own house, had kid, and anyway, we come downstairs to get

some water and Amy Grants in the kitchen.

It was wild.

I mean, I was just, Talking with her in the kitchen, and Vince came in and

I had actually talked to Vince on the phone through another friend because

when we were dreaming about this, you know, collaboration, you know, I mean the

connections are coming from everywhere.

But I got to hug his neck and he was just sitting on the couch playing guitar.

And I was like, Hey, I'm Emily.

We talked and we, you know, he gave me a big hug and we just chatted

for a moment, but, so, so cool.

And Jenny and I wrote a few more times, and actually when Amy was opening for,

I think it was Steven, Curtis Chapman here in Greenville, Jenny got up,

my husband and I some tickets and we got to go backstage and Amy was like,

Oh, Emily, I thought that was you.

Hey.

And Kimmy gave me a big hug and.

Oh my goodness, my like 12 year old self is dying

. Dallas Burnett: That is, I know.

Isn't that the truth though?

You do feel like that?

I was in school with Lee Bryce, and we were actually playing together

in college, and so one day I'm going over to his apartment, I show up,

we're practicing for this thing, we're gonna play downtown or whatever, and

he'd been telling me for a while.

He's like, Man, I'm gonna go to Nashville.

I'm gonna go to Nashville.

I'm like, All right, man, whatever.

Just you're a junior.

Let's just, let's just graduate and then we'll go, Well, we'll all go.

You know?

Let's do, let.

Well, I show up his apartment and his roommate's sitting there and

he's like, Uh, at least not here.

I'm like, Well, I can see that all his stuff's gone.

I was like, Where did he move across town and did he get better rent?

You know, whatever.

He's like, Nah, he left.

He's, I said, Well, where'd he go?

He's like, He left.

He went to Nashville last night and just packed up his car and drove to Nashville.

I was like, It's like mid-semester, bro.

Are you serious?

He's like, Yeah, he's done.

He's gone to.

And so I lost connection.

You know, I didn't have a, you know, cell phone for him or anything like that.

And then we reconnected about four or five years later and he had just signed an,

um, songwriting deal with Aris of Records.

And then about a year and a half after that he, he was able

to get his own record deal.

He came in tour and he was open up for some.

Female artist.

And he came back to Clemson in Little John, and it was, they had just

cut Little John in half, so it was only just a few thou, like maybe a

couple thousand people at the most.

And he's playing the opening act for some female artist.

I can't remember.

But anyway, I emailed him and said, Bro, I got to come and see you.

And he, he did the same thing.

He was like, All right, come on up.

So we hopped in the car, drove up and saw me.

He brought us backstage and was like, Hey man.

And we were sitting in the back, in the girls' women's basketball locker

room hanging out before the show.

It was so much.

But you're just sitting there like, this is the best.

This is awesome.

So you're in Vince Gill's house, you're talking to him.

He ends up, you know, doing this song with you, like features is

featured on your song on this album.

This album is, this is your second, this would be your second album.

Did you fund that as well, or did you go through another

label or, Or how did that work?

Well, this is a crazy situation.

So my first album, Was released in 2011.

My self-titled album that I did with Dan between 2011 and 2015.

Those years I was really, really in the Nashville world and I was

writing for other people, but also, I mean, songs that I loved.

I hit a point where I just felt like I was.

I had had a lot of, almost, you know, I had had a lot of songs on hold and fell

through or whatever, and I was, okay.

I had gotten married in 2012, so I was living in Greenville.

You know, I felt like it wasn't moving as fast as I wanted it to, you know, I

wasn't having any major cuts and I had been asked to lead worship at some stuff.

Like I'd always led worship at women's events.

You know, it's just to be able to play guitar and sing at women's events.

I did a lot of.

Women's retreats and stuff like that.

So I remember feeling this kind of like, Well, maybe I

should do a project for myself.

And it like, I know who I am as an artist a lot more now than I did then.

I know who I am as a songwriter.

You know, I feel like I'm getting more life out of writing songs.

Out of the overflow of, of my heart fully for myself versus trying to

write a commercial song for this guy who's, you know, country radio

is such a bro thing right now.

I was like, Ugh, I can only do that.

It's something that I could enjoy, but I just wasn't, Oh, you know,

for years on end it was like, okay.

And that wasn't all that I was writing, but you know, I just felt

a sort of a tug of like, well, maybe I could do something for myself.

I had this other author friend who was writing, and we had talked about doing

some events together and really thinking about, okay, how could we leverage

our gifts and do something that is.

Makes money that we can make some money, we can have something

to offer people, you know?

Anyway, it really inspired me to start writing for an album for myself.

And I had a, you know, I probably had 25 or so songs that I was, I

was thinking about that would be fitting for that, and the vision

for it was kind of coming together.

And then I was like, Well, how the heck am I gonna pay for this , You know, I wanted

to do, I wanted to record it in Nashville.

We had recorded my other one in Atlanta.

I just knew a lot more, so I was able to dream a little bigger.

I was playing the 30 a songwriter festival, which is, I had played every

year in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, and I had, the first year I played

it, I, they had set me up with this couple to stay in their guest house.

They just housed all the artists that way.

So I got to meet this couple amazing couple, Bill and Renee in Florida.

They're like huge music fans and Bill is just like such a sweet little

nerdy guy who just loved my music.

And so they came to all my shows down there.

And anyway, after I think this was like the third year, I had stayed with them

and played that in January my husband was with me and I had been thinking about

doing a Kickstarter, you know, raising money for a campaign, for an album.

And you know, I just felt so, I think those are great.

I've given to those, but I just felt.

Ugh.

I just didn't feel like that was the right thing for me.

And I literally, you know, woke up and I remember telling my husband, I was like,

I'm not gonna do a Kickstarter if this album is meant to happen, the Lord, it

will provide and it will just happen.

And I mean, I was just full of faith and like it's gonna happen.

So went through our day, I played whatever show I was playing.

And then that night we were hanging out in Bill and Renee's house and

they had gotten home and it was late.

I mean, it was probably after midnight cuz the shows had gone late.

And Bill's like, Well Emily, when are you gonna make another record?

And I was like, Well, it's funny.

Like I'm ready for it.

I just don't know how I'm gonna fund it.

Like, I've got songs, I'm, I'm ready.

I'm excited about it.

And I just said that in an honest.

You know, that was what was happening.

And he was like, Well, I'll pay for it

And I was like, Okay, well you don't know what you're offering,

but, you know, and it, it was late.

I mean, I, you know, I think they had had some drinks and so I was

just taking everything with a grain of salt, you know, like, okay.

And, um, and he's like, No, I'm serious.

Write me a proposal.

Let's talk about this.

And so, The next morning, you know, I think I was just like, Are you serious?

You know, this is expensive, you know, to do it right.

You know, what do you, Anyway, he was like, Well, send me a proposal.

So my husband helped me, you know, write up a proposal and, um, with

all the costs, and I talked with one of the, my songwriter friends in

Atlanta, or in Nashville, Ben Cooper.

He was doing some production and I felt like at this point in my career, I really

wanted to have a hand in the production of it, so we were gonna co-produce it.

He was also, you know, not a big name producer, so I could get away

with doing it for cheaper and.

Anyway, Bill and Renee put up 25 grand for me to do that album.

So just crazy.

And you know, they won't see that money again, . But they had a blast.

They came in the studio with me, they recorded some claps

and like we had everything.

Just really, I just wanted to honor them cuz they've just been amazing for me.

And they, they did it cuz they love music and they love supporting artists.

So it was just amazing.

And I got to make all the Pauls, like Ben and I, we hired

Fred Etchingham, played drums.

He's Cheryl Crows band and plays on like Casey Musk, Graves, all that kind of vibe.

And Alre Fried, who plays guitar with Cheryl Crow, He played

on it like just a great band.

That was so fun in the studio.

And anyway, it was an amazing experience and I, listening back to

it, I'm like, it's not commercial.

It's not at all what it would've been or could have been in

somebody else's hands, you know?

I feel like maybe it could have gone more commercial, more radio friendly, whatever.

I had no plan for that.

That's not probably a good thing to share on this type of podcast cuz

it's not really smart business wise.

It was definitely a heart project I felt.

God just opened doors for me to make.

I just wanted it to be uplifting.

It's definitely like filtered through my faith, so there's a lot

of that in there, but it's Americana.

You know?

I got the McCrery sisters to sing on there, which was amazing.

Quick other little God thing about that, we had found out that the McCrery

sisters, so they've sung on tons of stuff.

They're a four piece gospel sister group.

They've sung with Carrie Underwood, a lot of the big names on records and.

So I found out they were available and willing to sing on a couple

songs, but it was gonna be like an extra thousand dollars or something.

And at that point I was like, I don't have that.

We haven't budgeted for that.

You know?

I came home and I was gone for two weeks.

I came home right in the middle and my husband and I were

walking downtown Greenville.

I was like, I don't know how we're gonna get this money, but we

gotta have them recruit sisters.

They're amazing.

Literally Dallas . I walked by a sign Mojo's coffee shop that's no longer

there, but it was downtown Greenville.

It said, Open mic contest winner gets a thousand dollars.

Oh, you're kidding me.

I am not kidding.

, my husband's like, Get in there.

And so if you know me, I , I hate open mic contests.

They're awful.

They're so bad and they're horrible to sit through.

And I was just like, Ugh.

I was like, All right, gimme a guitar.

Let's do it.

I won the contest and I got a thousand dollars . Oh my gosh.

Yeah, we got sisters.

So just so cool.

I mean, so many just little God winks throughout the whole process.

I think it's really refreshing from an artist's standpoint.

There is, and I respect this a great deal cuz I feel like I came from the same cut.

You get to a place where it is a music business, right?

So people don't understand that.

I think on the outside sometimes it's like this is an industry and

they create things to make money.

That's what they do.

And so there's a always this tension and you can hear it because

some artists will come out with.

You know, song that's like, you know, stick it to the man, you know,

they're like, you know, throwing under their own label under the bus

on the song almost, because they're just mad, can feel that tension

between the artist and the business.

And so I think that it's really refreshing that you were

like, Hey, I'm gonna do this.

It's not commercial.

It's not meant to be commercial.

It's meant to be an expression that I create for myself out

of myself that I feel proud of.

That's a representation of me.

I think that's, Really good.

And I think that it speaks a lot to progress, you know, on the last

10%, you know, we're creating a, you know, and you're a craftsman

of a trade in this situation.

You, you have a craftsman mindset around songwriting.

I think there's a lot that goes into that, that speaks to what you just did.

And that being an artist on the flip side is not just, the craft is not just about,

you know, And I was sitting there talking to, um, Greg Hill at the Hill Management,

and then he took me over to EMI and we sat down and, you know, it was one of those

situations like you're talking about.

And he's like, Well, the guy in EMI's like, Well get out your

guitar man, We'll see what you got.

And so you just kind of sit in the room with this publishing

company and you're like, Uh, okay.

And you play the songs.

And he's like, Oh.

This is totally different.

He's like very interesting, and he's like, Okay, cool.

Play this, play that, you know, and you're just, you're just kinda going back forth.

We hit it off and go back and Greg's like, Hey, he's gonna give

you a rec, a songwriting deal, but let me tell you how to do this.

And so he's kinda sent me down, but he just told me, he said,

Look, you've gotta decide.

He goes, I love David Wilcox.

I love that I in the hurricane song, It's in my car right now.

But he's never gonna be a commercial success.

He's just gonna tour with his album, but he gets to create the

albums that he wants to create.

He's just never gonna pack out a stadium.

That's just what he wants to do.

He has his sound, his way, he's gonna do it.

He said, You gotta decide if you want to go into this and make money, or if

you want to go in this and be an artist.

And that is so true.

I found that to be very true.

And for me, I just, you know, I got to a place where

songwriting was more of a release.

I like a good commercial song that wasn't my goal.

And so it's cool to hear that you had the same experience where you just got there

and said, I want to create something.

Reflection of me.

So well done.

Well done with that.

Well, and I will say, you know, I don't think anybody

who's has that genuine, you know, need for creativity and artistry like, I feel

like if God gives you those gifts and talents, you aren't doing it to get rich.

Cuz if you are, you burn out really fast.

And even to, you know, a lot of people are like, Oh, I'm just gonna write

songs for other people and make money and not have to tour and all that.

And it's like, well it's not that easy, especially in 2022 is streaming . But

I will say, you know, in hindsight there's a lot of, I'm just thinking

about the listener, if there's anybody.

Wanting to go for it.

You know, there's so many things in your life besides your job and you know, for

me, who I am, my faith really grounds me.

And you know, I wanna be around people who are gonna lift me up and encourage

me, and I wanna be, you know, I wanted to have a family and have some balance.

I remember a producer told me early on like, Well, Emily, if you want

balance, you're never gonna be great.

And that was so discouraging to me because I was like, Wait, what I.

I've always felt like I was well rounded and like I pride in myself in that and

that I want, I wanted to be balanced.

And you know, I started looking at the Patty Griffins of the world,

these songwriters that I idolized and the artists that I loved and,

and they didn't have balance, but it was in a way that I was like,

you know, I don't want their life.

I wanna be married, I wanna have a family, I wanna.

You know these guys even played in the studio, Ottley Freed.

I remember him telling me like, Man, I had just craved sleeping in my bed and

going to the grocery store sometimes cuz I'm just so tired from the road.

So just to have that perspective.

I mean, I look back at some moments.

In my days in Nashville and that I, for years, I felt like I had

some regret around, like I remember doing a guitar pool with Casey

Musgraves at Warner Chapel, and she had just released Mary Go Round.

She had just released that and we were talking afterwards with another

friend and they were talking about going bowling and all this, and like

we exchanged numbers and I just.

Felt like I vibed with her very much and I, I mean she just

really, it wasn't my people.

She's an amazing artist and, but I was always like, gosh, I should have went

to hang out with them, but I didn't.

Anyway, I don't know what that means, but there's other, other songwriting thing.

Even just moving to Nashville, I thought, gosh, I sold myself short

and whatever, but you know, that wasn't what the Lord has for me.

Like I know 100% we're supposed to be in Greenville.

I'm supposed to be doing exactly what I'm doing right now.

I just think sometimes we view success as how the world views it, as, you know, a

measurable on a chart or getting whatever cuts or, you know, fame or whatever.

And it's so not that, cuz I have so much satisfaction and fulfillment in

what I've been able to do and what God's been able to do in my life.

So for whatever that's worth, like it's easy to get that regret and think like,

Oh, I should've sold out, I should've done that even though I didn't want to in

order to gain whatever there was to gain.

I think you're spot on with that.

And I think what you're speaking to is it's a level of clarity that you had

that kind of cut through the static.

And the static is social media, likes and followers.

It's, you know, hit records.

It's the CMA awards.

It's like all these things on these pedestals, you know, kind

of in front of everybody that.

This is the beautiful, successful people and this is what that looks like.

And if you want to have success and be fulfilled and be happy,

then this is what you need to do whatever it takes to get that.

Because unless you get this, you're not happy.

And I just think that what you have and what you experienced is just a level of

clarity that kind of cuts through all that static and says, No, I know what I want.

This is what I want.

This is what's gonna give me peace.

This is what's gonna gimme a great found.

And I think back to my experience as well, and I came to that same

point as you did in my music career.

It was a situation where it was like close as I can possibly

be without going full in.

Like all in making that commitment, like you said, no boundaries,

let's go full tilt ahead.

But I got to see, you know, like you did, you get to see all these people and all

the, you know, what's behind the curtain?

I think for me, and I have so much more clarity on it now looking

back than I did even in my twentie.

But I think for me, I'd have been a complete train wreck.

Like I think my, I think I would, even if I had been successful,

I think I would completely be addicted to either drugs or alcohol.

There's no doubt my personality is, has that bent anyway.

And I just would not have any kind of community or foundation

or grounding or accountability in my life cuz you're on the road all

the time, you know, around people.

You would have to cope in some way and I just think I would be unhealthy.

I really like to my core know that I'd probably be in a bad

way right now if I followed that.

And I don't know that I would be just, like you said, have peace,

you know, cuz it's not what I want.

Now, some people, that's what they want.

They're going after it.

And I, and I don't think we're, neither one of us are saying that anybody who's

made it and I'm pumped, I'm like, I'm pumped for everybody who's put that.

Cuz I know how much effort they've put into that and how much time

and energy it puts into it.

It's just for me, I think.

And also I think for you, you just said we needed to have some real clarity.

So if you're listing the last 10% and you're trying to go and you're

looking at, you know, you've got a big decision in your life to

make and it's kind of left or.

You've got to try to cut through the static and look at what the end

game that you're trying to create, what's the end goal that you're trying

to create, and does the reality of that line up with your decisions?

Does the reality of what you're trying to create, is that gonna

give you what you're looking for?

Cause I think if I would've created that career in music, I could have been quote

unquote successful in music, but it would not have created the reality that I

really like everything that goes with it.

You know what I mean?

Like everything that goes with a career in.

I just don't think that would've been good for me.

One question I asked myself was like, and this might

sound silly, but like, let's say you wanna go be a famous singer, so you're

considering going on American Idol or The Voice or something like that.

All right, well let's assume for me, I, I thought, let's assume you win the voice.

Do you want that ? Do you want, What comes with that?

You know, for me it was no and I, like I said, I'm a homebody.

I, I do like balance.

I wanted to have a family.

I wanted to, Not that you can't have those things, but it's hard.

And anyway, everything you said was spot on for sure.

So now you have had this kind of library of songs

that you wrote back when you were going back and forth to Nashville.

And recently you got a call that an artist has picked up one of your songs.

So tell us about that story.

In that span of writing as I was kind

of also compiling songs that I thought I could record myself.

I got a chance to write with an artist named Janelle Arthur, and she was, gosh,

I don't know what year, but she was like top five American Idol one of the years.

She's definitely a country artist, like amazing traditional country voice,

and she was singing at the Opry a lot.

Just had a lot of attention in Nashville.

I got to write with her and I took her an idea that I felt like would

be down her alley, and she and I have very similar tendencies vocally.

And you know, I just thought, I didn't know her, but I was like, Let's

just see how she likes this idea.

And I had written a chorus for this song called Hand Me Downs.

We wrote the verses and we finished it together.

She loved.

And that was, gosh, that was 2014, 15, something like that.

She was kind of dealing with some label stuff and not sure she really

wanted to have the song and she, anyway, she never put it out.

So I ended up recording it on my Light Shine in album and she sang background

vocals on it and it was so fun.

It was great.

And she had talked about like through American Idol and all of her ends, she

had a relationship with Dolly part.

And she had said, Man, it would be awesome to have Dolly sing this with me.

And I was like, That would be awesome, . But you know, in Nashville there's,

there's so much talk always, you know, there's so and so's gonna do this, and

until it's done, just don't believe it.

So I was just like, Oh, that's cool.

Years and years went by, I started having kids and we keep in touch via

social media, but I hadn't written with any of my Nashville friends in a while.

And yeah, last year, At my parents' house and I saw Janelle was putting

out these obscure, her manager had sent me some paperwork about hand

downs that they were recording it.

I sent it to my husband to print out for me and so I could sign it.

And anyways, so we have this whole deal.

I send that back.

So put that in the back of your mind.

So then this is like two weeks later, I'm seeing Janelle posting these like obscure

things on about an announcement coming up.

I told my mom, I'm like, Gosh, I feel like handing downs

might be a single or something.

I don't know what.

That's cool.

Anyway, the day of the announcement comes out and Dolly Parton

pops up on a video and she's.

I am so happy to be singing this amazing song, Hand Me Downs with

my friend Janelle, and y'all get it, It's gonna be out, whatever.

And I was like, What?

Dolly Parton, literally just, she sang some lyrics that I wrote.

What?

And the funny thing, Dallas, I called my husband and I was like,

You're never gonna believe this Dolly Parton is singing on my song.

And he was like, Yeah, I saw it on the paperwork two weeks

ago when you sent this to me.

Like, did you not see that?

And I was like, No, I didn't see it.

And I was like, How did we not talk about this?

You know, you're too busy if you like somehow missed that conversation.

That's.

You missed Dolly Parton on your paperwork.

Yeah, that's such an awesome thing.

Last week I interviewed for the first time, I interviewed

my wife on the last 10%.

And at the end I ask every guest, you know, who's somebody that you

would like to have on the show?

And she said, Dolly Parton.

So I said, Hey look, make no promises.

We'll go for it, but I think you're gonna like the next guest

So at least if we can't have Dolly Parton, we can have someone who

wrote one of Dolly Parton's latest singles that she's co singing on.

So that's, um, that's.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Everybody should go check out.

They did a great job with the song, it's called Hand Me Downs and, um,

Janelle Arthur featuring Dolly Parton.

So, and Dolly's saying her butt off.

She's just amazing.

I feel so proud of it and it's such a full circle moment.

As I mentioned before, my dad saying, Oh, you know, when I was in high school, he

said, If you wanna be like Dolly Parton, you gotta write more than one song.

You know, So it's just another little god wink of like, you're doing it, you know,

So now I'd like to go ahead and transition a little bit.

This is kind of as we round out this episode now, we always ask the guest on

the show if there's anybody they would like for us to go and get on the show.

So who is the person that you would like to hear on the last 10%?

Well, I'd love to hear tons of great people,

but my immediate thought was Dabo, your Dabo Swinney, your

Clemson, through and through.

We have that in common.

So tell us a cool story cuz you have a really unique story about Dabo.

So tell us your story about Dabo.

Gosh, well he's such an amazing person and

getting to experience that firsthand.

We, my husband and I, were trying to get pregnant.

We were trying to have a baby, took a little while and we'd had one miscarriage

and had done some fertility treatment and we're really excited that we

had, you know, another positive test.

And this was right.

The Dashaun Watson.

What year was that?

The first national championship that we won with Davo.

We found out we were pregnant and had gotten like, you know, seen a couple

heartbeats and everything was great.

We went down to, Where was that?

No, Tampa.

It was in Tampa.

So my whole family went down to see the game and we were just, if you're

a Clemson fan, you know, that was just amazing and we were just flying, you

know, orange and purple, everything Clems.

So we were ecstatic.

So we drove home on Tuesday and then we had another appointment on

Thursday, and we found out there was no heartbeat on Thursday.

So that was devastating.

Friday I had to go in for a dnc.

It was just really, I mean, it was obviously just a huge bummer, but

it just felt it was really heavy.

And in the hospital, I didn't know this at the time, but my husband had

written an email to Dabo secretary just asking, If Dabo had extra time

to sign something or send me a little note, you know, of encouragement in

the mail or something, just cuz we were so thrilled for Clemson, so proud.

And then we had had this devastating moment and he thought

maybe that would lift my spirits.

I guess he left my phone number and she wrote him back and said

like, Oh man, we're so sorry.

I'll definitely get this to Dabo.

And that was all he knew.

So he didn't tell me any of this at the time.

I had the dnc, so we were just relaxing at home.

The parade in Clemson was that Saturday the next day.

So we were at home watching it on tv, like we were planning to be there, but

we were recovering, so just relaxing.

And that night, about eight o'clock my phone rang and it said, private

or unknown, something like that.

And my husband's like, You should answer that.

Anyway, I answered it.

And he says, Hey Emily, this is d.

And I was like, Somebody's pranking me.

What's happening?

You know?

I mean, I, I didn't believe him.

And I was like, What?

And he said, No, no.

Your husband wrote the sweetest email and I just had to call you because I

just wanted you to know that, to hang in there and keep pressing on and God's

got you and you know, don't give up.

And just was quote in scripture.

And he just shared with me that he and Kathleen had two miscarriage.

He shared some of the details of those situations with me and before they had

their first and you know, to just hang in there and that he shared a few other

coaches had gone through some infertility and I mean, he was just talking to me

like a mentor and a friend and he was coaching me up really just like, you

know, You're gonna get through this and, and don't give up and God's got

your back and just really, really sweet.

And my husband and I were both just sobbing on the couch cuz

it was, it was so emotional.

I was just so, I felt so seen by God and just very blessed.

And you know, Dabo is, is a wonderful person, but he's just a human.

So I was just really thankful that.

He followed the nudge from the Lord to pick up the phone and call us,

cuz it really meant the world to us.

And, and we did have more hope after that.

Truly it felt like a big hug from heaven and a a lift.

So I wrote him a thank you note and I included a few CDs in it and I

just told him, I was like, you know, I don't know if he like country

music, but this is some of my stuff.

And I mean, I just wanted to send some kind of gift.

I saw him at one of the ladies clinics the next.

And I was like, Dabo, it's Emily.

Thank you again so much.

And he like stopped everything, grabbed my shoulders and gave me the biggest hug.

And he's like, Emily, I love your cd.

It's in my truck.

I've been telling everybody about you.

And then he started telling all the ladies around me that I was

a famous artist and all this.

It was hilarious.

So we send him Christmas cards every year.

I got to see him again when I was pregnant with my second son.

And so anyway, just really amazing people.

Yeah, those, that was a special experie.

We'll have to work extra hard to see if we can get Dabo on the last 10%.

We got a few connections there, so we might be able to swing it

maybe, maybe not in the next few months, cuz he is a little busy right now.

But we'll see.

We'll see what we can do.

Just rounding it out.

Is there anything that you would like to speak to the listeners if they're thinking

about going to songwriting, what's one last piece of advice that you would tell

them maybe that you were given from Dan?

What was the.

Instructive thing because what you've talked about a lot today,

and I really have really liked how you've narrated the story.

It's a story that just shows how you just were willing to put in the work.

It was consistent effort over time, and it was just small games.

You staying in the game and just moving forward, networking,

getting better at your craft.

What would you say is big piece of advice to give anybody that either

is starting into, you know, wanting us to go into the career in music

or songwriting or just in general?

As it relates to working and fine tuning a craft, a lot

of practical things that come to mind.

I mean, with songwriting in particular, treating it as a

craft for sure is important.

Listening to good music, maybe finding a mentor that could

give you some real critique.

You know, don't be afraid to get, for somebody to say, Hey, this is kind of

cheesy, this is, you know, whatever.

Some kind of good advice, because that's what makes you better.

And encouragement, you know, sandwiched with encouragement and.

I have a, This is more practical things, but as you're thinking through song

ideas, Shane McInally is one of the most amazing successful writers in Nashville.

Brandy Clark.

I had the opportunity to write with them, and he told me, or no, I think

it was Lean Fallon told me when we were talking about getting with him, she's

like these writers, they'll do anything for a good idea, bring a good idea.

They can craft a song, but they need ideas.

You know, if you have a concept, like write those down in your

phone, try to work around 'em.

If you get an opportunity to co-write, you know, explore that.

That's a whole different type of craft that you gotta learn.

But, um, you know, if you don't have a good idea, then it doesn't

matter how good you can craft a song.

But those are some practical things.

And then the business networking side of it, I mean, I think people,

like in general, in everything, like, like being around genuine,

authentic people, so, Be who you are.

There's only, There's only one you, and that's why we need you to be you.

I know that sounds cheesy, but also one thing I was very intentional about with

all my meetings was asking people about their families and asking people about

things that I knew that they would wanna talk about, Not in an insincere way.

But in a true like effort to connect and build relationship that's so important and

not just try to go in and get something out of them because they can see through

that and then that just makes you another le that they're dealing with, you know?

So that was really important.

Yeah.

And just, and, and trying to stand out, you know, sometimes

I didn't always do that, right.

But make sure with emails or phone calls or conversations that you're

saying things and you're not shock factors necessarily, but you know.

Memorable.

There's a lot of people that come through these people's offices

all the time, and you want them to remember you with a positive light

if, if possible, so, but yeah.

Oh, I think that's great advice.

Oh my goodness.

I mean, we could do a whole show on just, they'll do anything for a great idea.

I mean, that concept alone is just, The importance of that, capturing those great

ideas, whether it's laying in the bed at night or in the morning in your shower,

whatever it is walking down, or if it's something you've crafted over time.

Those ideas are so important, cuz if you don't have that, then it's

like you said, What do you have?

So Emily, how do people connect with you and your music now?

What's one way they can connect with you and your music?

Well, I do have Instagram, but it's

pretty much about my kids.

You're welcome to come and hang out with me and my kids on

Instagram at Emily Lynch, Capelli,

But, um, my music is on Apple Music, Spotify, all that.

I've got three projects up.

There's the, a little more ep, which is old, Old, but it's still

sweet little songs that I love.

And then the self-titled album, Emily Lynch.

And then the, uh, most recent project, which is from 2015 Light Shin in.

Those are all up wherever you get music and yeah.

I so appreciate you having me.

This has been really fun.

I know it's been great.

Thanks for being on the show today, Emily, and, , we look forward to hearing

maybe even some more songs sometime maybe we get back in the rhythm of

writing on songs too, but you guys check her out on Apple and Spotify.

Emily Lynch Capelli.

Thank you again for being on the show today, Emily.

Thanks Dallas.

Thanks for joining us today on the last 10%.

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