Emerald City, the sophomore effort from Livingston, Montana-based singer-songwriter Lena Rich, is a splendid listen.
Rich is a songwriter at her core, and that strength carries throughout the record, but she also shows a firm handle on honky-tonk country. Tracks like “Gas Is Cheap” and “We’re All Gonna Die” lean into that side of her musical personality, while other moments wander into a reflective, quiet space.
Emerald City holds its own both lyrically and musically. Mike Eli LoPinto, who also produced the album, handles guitar alongside Eddy Dunlap on pedal steel, Dominic Billett on drums, and Jesse Noah Wilson on bass. Recorded at Rancho Deluxe in Nashville, the performances have a loose, organic quality that allows each song to come to life.
The arrangements are where Emerald City really opens up.. Traditional country gives way to indie-folk, with sweet banjo, layered guitars, and pedal steel weaving in and out of the songs. On tracks like the title track, “Emerald City,” and “Lottery in Fargo,” there’s a distinct indie sensibility – the kind of atmospheric, genre-blurring sound that might have comfortably landed alongside Cat Power or Feist if this were 1999.
Rich describes Emerald City as “a vast spectrum of introspection, optimism, and timely snapshots of a country on the precipice of something new,” while also calling it a deeply personal record about her own story and reclaiming her creative path “for me and me alone.”
That combination of the personal and the panoramic is what makes the album work. Rich draws from the classic ’60s and ’70s songwriters she grew up with, while also citing influences ranging from Gillian Welch and Adrianne Lenker to Elliott Smith. Those reference points make sense, but Emerald City ultimately sounds like its own thing.
Whatever genre box you decide to drop these songs into – Emerald City is simply a genuinely great album.
