Soulful, Gritty and Brazen: Colorado Musician, Emma Wallingford, has THE Voice

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap radius”]D[/dropcap]enver has no shortage of musical and artistic talent, and in addition to all the other wonderful local scenes, there is also a strong scene of local vocalists with talent to spare, spending their time playing with groups and working on their solo material. Emma Wallingford, one of Denver’s premier voices, is a vocalist who is working to bring both her craft and music to the next level.

“I have a loud voice,” Wallingford proclaims. “It’s something like Aretha Franklin meets Joss Stone. Soulful, gritty, brazen. To be honest, I asked my voice teacher and my mom for help with describing how my voice sounds. They are very important women in my life.”

Wallingford has been singing since she was very young, and since then has also gotten comfortable with performing. “I started putting on shows in my living room to Now That’s What I Call Music! at a young age,” she explained. “It’s funny because I don’t have many performers in my family, so it was kind of an odd hobby for me to take on. Regardless, I really started to become serious about it in high school, which led me to obtain my Vocal Performance and Music Business degree at the University of Colorado, Denver.”

She also plays shows regularly around town and has a variety of interesting projects in the works. “I gig with my cover band Wash Park every weekend; I’m happy to say I’m a working musician,” she states. “It is possible, folks. We gig around the Denver area, and we’re in wedding season now. But I also do some solo gigging and backups with local artists like Turner Jackson, and I’m trying to form a band of my own again and get back to writing.” Wellington also plays with a local a cappella group called MIX, and she is releasing a video this summer, as well as working on writing new music.

As far as advocating for cannabis, Wellington is very in favor of legalization. “I advocate for the use of marijuana for anyone who likes to indulge,” she tells us. “For personal preferences, I am only an occasional smoker. However, I have seen marijuana benefit many people close to me who suffer from cancer, anxiety, stomach pain, ADHD, etc. I’m fascinated by the movement, and I guarantee I’ve seen every pot documentary on Netflix.”

She also feels that in addition to recreating, legal cannabis is necessary to help the economy and those who are sick. “The amount of lives ruined I’ve seen from the use of other legal substances (alcohol, cigarettes, prescription pills, gambling, etc.) is millions to zero when up against marijuana,” she states. “I’m just surprised it took as long as it did! The legalization is an incredible boost in economy, school funding, employment and healthy medical alternatives. The only thing I think that could be done differently is the inevitable stigma and ‘unsuccessful burnout’ stereotype that goes along with it. But that will come with time.”

Wellington is always out and about playing music in Denver—go see her every weekend with her cover band or check her out online via the Twitter handle @emmaners to see what she’s up to musically.