SXSW Artist Spotlight: Emily Frembgen
The 2026 SXSW Music Festival will take place March 12-18 in Austin, Texas. 360°Sound is covering the festival as credentialed media once again, and we’ll be bringing you exclusive interviews with artists as part of our SXSW Artist Spotlight series.
First up is Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Emily Frembgen. A fixture on New York’s Americana scene, Frembgren co-wrote “Uncle Charlie’s” with country singer Paisley Fields, who we interviewed last year. The song will appear on Fields’ forthcoming album Are U Mad At Me.
Frembgen will be returning to SXSW for the third consecutive year as an official artist on the Don Giovanni Records showcase, which will be held March 14 at the 13th Floor in Austin.
Editor’s Note: This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. Scroll to the bottom to view the full video on our YouTube channel @360degreesound.
360°Sound: Please start by giving our readers a brief introduction to yourself and your music.
Emily Frembgen: I moved to New York 26 years ago, and I started writing songs around then. I was really influenced by the Americana stuff coming out in the early 2000s, artists like Kathleen Edwards and Alejandro Escovedo. I’m from Denver originally, and I moved back to Denver. Then I returned to New York, wandering around and playing my weird songs.
I started to do a series called Americana Monday at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. I met a lot of people through that and found my scene. I signed to Don Giovanni Records about three years ago, and I put out my last album on the label. The next album is going to be out on Don Gio. I’m very excited to be back at SXSW for the third time.
No Hard Feelings is your second and latest studio album. How do you think the album was a progression from your first studio album?
I wrote No Hard Feelings more for the studio than It’s Me or the Dog, the first studio album. It’s Me or the Dog was just songs I’d been playing around town for years, and I didn’t know what I was going to do with them. I just happened to meet this producer, and everything fell together. I made it during the pandemic.
Thematically, I kind of ran out of breakup songs to write. That got old for me. No Hard Feelings is much more introspective. It’s about my past and existential stuff. I think it’s less country and a little more singer-songwriter/indie.
Your forthcoming album, Little Stranger, is due out later this year. What can you tell us about it?
I’m making this album with a new producer, Quinn Devlin, and my friend Melody Stolpp. Her band is called Sweetbreads. They’re both great artists. Little Stranger is much more layered. There’s a lot more going on instrumentally.
I think the last two albums are a little more straightforward. It’s a different sound for me, a little more current. I’m hoping to make some fun videos for it. It’s a lot about my childhood, and it’s even darker and sadder thematically than the last two.
Give us some insight into your songwriting process.
It’s always different. With No Hard Feelings, I had a couple of songs, and I was just going to do an EP, but then I realized I should make an album because I had the studio time, and it was going to be out on Don Giovanni.
I did something I had never done before, which was regimented time every day. I was able to write the best songs on the album within a week or two. I just sat down at the desk first thing in the morning, and for three hours, I’d write and write. That was really different. I wouldn’t have thought that I could write that way, because I’m usually all over the place.
I used to write at the cafes that I worked at. I’d have little ideas I’d write in my notes, or I’d be playing guitar and come up with a little melody. It’s usually pretty mysterious. It was good to have a deadline to meet. I like the idea of treating it like a job, and I wish I could do that every day.
What can festival goers expect from your live set?
It’s going to be really fun. I have a cool little band, and I’m going to be playing almost all the songs that are going to be on the next album. Please come.
