[Cover photo credit to Fernando Rodriguez]

Columbus, Ohio-based Americana band Hello Emerson have shared To Keep Him Here, an autobiographical album released via Anyway Records. Telling the story of a serious and sudden accident suffered by primary singer-songwriter Sam Emerson Bodary’s father, the record is interspersed with audio from an interview conducted with NPR’s StoryCorps about the incident and its aftermath.

To celebrate the release, the band will play a special seven-piece set at Rumba Cafe with Chamber Brews on April 14th, 2024. They’ll then travel to Chicago later that month for a show at Judson & Moore with Marvin Stumbles and Holy Joke on April 27, 2024. More information is available here.

As a final preview, the band has shared the album’s title track which paints a picture of “the fear and uncertainty” that Bodary felt for his father after he was discharged from the hospital.

Hello Emerson was formed in 2015 and draws on the Midwestern songwriting tradition of acts like Bright Eyes and The Mountain Goats, including “homespun lyrics” and “baroque arrangements.” A collaborative act inspired by the local artistic community of their home base of Columbus, Ohio, their 2020 sophomore album, How to Cook Everything featured contributions from 50 local musicians.