In a rare treat for them and for the audience, Emma Frances Sullivan, a 2015 graduate of Bromfield School now living in San Diego, California, will perform with her mom, Harvard resident Erin Ash Sullivan, in a program of folk music at Five- sparks Saturday, June 8, from 7 to 8:45 p.m. They will open and close with a duet, and in between, each will sing her individual songs. All their music is original, and they will share the history and inspiration behind some of their songs.
Emma Frances Sullivan. (Courtesy photo)
In a recent conversation, Emma Frances said how special it will be to be back in Harvard, singing with her mother, “the biggest influence in my musical journey.” Her mom was always playing the guitar around the house, she said, and “I have memories of us harmonizing to Simon and Garfunkel.” Both she and Erin are releasing new work this summer, which Emma Frances thinks “is very cool.” Emma Francis will debut her recording, “Caverns of Youth,” at the Fivesparks show. Erin’s release party for her second album, “Signposts & Marks,” will be July 13 at Club Passim in Harvard Square, an American folk music club, where musicians such as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and John Mayer got their starts.
Emma Frances talked about her early love of music, starting when she was a toddler passionately singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” She played classical piano with her mom and 1920s ukulele tunes with her dad, Danno, and at the age of 13 she learned fingerpicking on acoustic guitar. She sang in the musicals at Bromfield and at some events in town. Her parents kept her love of music going, she said, and she has always felt supported by them. Another early influence were “the interesting melodies of Regina Specter.” Later it was the music of Carole King and Bonnie Raitt.
Writing songs
Her songwriting can be said to have started at age 6, when she sang about her Polly Pocket dolls, a craze of the 1990s, and her mom wrote down the lyrics she made up. During high school she wrote a lot of music, and one of the songs on her new release is a revision of something she wrote then. She said it was interesting “to reflect on the head space I was in back then, to see what’s the same and also how I’ve grown.” She kept the part that felt relevant; there was much that was still true for her.
Her music was put on hold while she was at Dickinson College, earning a degree in environmental science, though she did sing in an a cappella group. After graduation she moved to Los Angeles; her family lived in California until moving to Harvard when Emma Frances was 10, and she had made visits back there when she was growing up. She got a job teaching third grade in the same elementary school she had attended. Once again she was following in her mom’s footsteps; Erin’s work is in education. One of Emma Frances’ songs is a reflection on the mother-daughter relationship and what it means to be following in her mom’s path.
Two years ago was a turning point, she said. “I was telling everyone I was a musician, but I wasn’t doing anything. I needed to show it.” She went to an open mic night that was very welcoming, and in San Diego she has found a community of young musicians that is inspiring and with whom she enjoys collaborating. She left teaching for employment with a consulting company where she works with cities to plan for transitioning to electric vehicles. It’s a remote position, and she balances work with a weekly open mic or gig appearance.
A name change and an EP
To signal this renewed seriousness about her music, Emma now goes by Emma Frances, “Frances” being her middle name and the name of her paternal grandmother. And for those who knew her, the “Frances” separates the teenager who grew up here singing for fun from the young California woman now releasing songs and doing shows. Emma Frances calls her style “coastal folk”—laid back but upbeat. Her website says, “ … her quiet yet soulful performances blend the softness of acoustic folk with the rhythmic intensity of pop music.”
At the Fivesparks program Emma Frances will sing songs from her debut album, “Caverns of Youth,” an EP being an extended play, a musical recording with more songs than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. Although she has written close to 30 songs and released some of them before, this is her first project since college and COVID-19 and her rebranding with a new name. She said the title is a line from one of the four songs, “Honey”: “Caverns of youth are gone/And now it’s got me thinking.” She said the line “shows the energy of what the songs are about”—growing up, romance, identity, reflecting.
The EP was recorded in Harvard last summer. Caleb Green, a fellow Bromfield alum, is an audio engineer with studio space. He put together a band—he on guitar and two friends on bass and drum—to accompany Emma Frances. The recording is on a CD and also available on all streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.
For all the Southern California influence, Harvard is still a big part of Emma Frances, and on June 8 she will be singing two Harvard songs that will be released early next fall. One is called “Home” and is “an anthem of appreciation.” For Emma Frances, born in New York, raised in L.A., it’s the “long country roads” of Harvard that are home. The second song is “Lulu Belle,” her nickname as a kid, and it’s about family. Told from her mom’s point of view, it reflects on what it means for a child to become a grownup. Both of the songs are “stripped down”—just Emma Frances and her guitar.
Emma Frances’ “dream” is a tour, “not to be a headliner, but just to show up in a city and have people show up that have heard my music.” And she’s on her way. On June 18 she will play at The Burren, an Irish pub in Somerville featuring live music, and she has a show booked back in San Diego later in the summer.
“Caverns of Youth” and Erin’s second album, “Signposts & Marks,” will be on sale at the Fivesparks show, which is a donation-based event.
