Holler Nashville Sessions Presented by George Dickel: Emily Nenni

Since the release of her debut album On The Ranch two years ago, we've been devout followers of Nashville-based honky tonk serenader Emily Nenni.

Having now treated us to her sophomore effort, the supreme Drive & Cry, in May this year, we felt it was nigh on time Nenni joined us for her first Holler Live Session in Music City.

Performing two songs from the second record and one from the first, Nenni treats us to a set we won't quickly forget.

'Lay of the Land' is a winsome and beautiful exploration of self, Nenni's poetic imagery taking you places you never even thought you could visit. It's escapist, but in the aspirational sense - the desire to find both home and your feet. Nenni possesses that same worn spirit as a songwriter as someone like Colter Wall, a poet who captures sage tales in a bottle and mixes them with longing and hunger for fulfilment.

Speaking of Colter, it feels pertinent then that Nenni would be joined by her pedal steel player Muskrat Jones, who also plays steel with the 'Sleeping On The Backtop' singer. His atmospheric steel playing adds waves of emotion to Nenni's session, no less than on her second song 'We Should Could Two Step'. Playful yet laced with a sorrowful bow, Nenni latches onto the fading notions of a love that couldn't work out, simply left with the steps they traced as they danced together, arm in arm.

Closing out with the apt 'Leavin'' from her first album On The Ranch, Nenni displays just how stirring and poignant a songwriter she can be, even with the heartbreaking finality of a song like this. Away from the honky tonks and dive bars, Nenni's music is candid and intimate, tales of forlorn love and finding yourself the order we keep taking away.

For more Holler Nashville Sessions, see below: