If I asked, “Could you use some funky, groovy country songs in your life?” that would presuppose something weird — that there is a possibility you do not. Emily Nenni’s third LP Movin’ Shoes, released via New West in May, satisfies that just-about-universal need and then some.
Lyrically, Nenni focuses on personal growth and lessons she’s learned about accepting herself as a human, flaws and all. When we experience realizations like this, the magnitude can be overwhelming, and songwriters can be forgiven for sometimes being a little overserious when putting them into a song. Nenni and company go a different route.
Catching up with the outstanding singer-songwriter ahead of her second LP
The sonic foundation of Movin’ Shoes is rocking old-school country circa the early 1970s, in the wake of the explosions of country-rock, soul and psychedelia. Think “session superstars getting weird” as in Area Code 615’s Trip in the Country. And it pairs perfectly with the subject matter. In “Take My Money,” Nenni gets rolled by a greedy partner and comes to the conclusion that the time lost in the relationship stings more than the long-gone money. The song swings, bounces and slides as the singer takes the L graciously and moves on.
It’s also worth noting that Nenni would be a boon to someone as an A&R adviser with respect to her choice of covers. On Movin’ Shoes, she continues a tradition she established with putting Abba’s “Does Your Mother Know” on her 2022 debut On the Ranch by taking on Paul Simon’s “Tenderness” and Delbert McClinton’s “Honky Tonkin’.”
