Emily Nenni’s is hardly your typical country singer’s story. (Though what really is typical these days?) Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nenni was a self-confessed “music nerd” whose mom turned her on to Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter and Hank Williams. After a year in college, Nenni put a hold on her audio-engineering degree and headed to Nashville, where she bribed her way onto the stage at the iconic Robert’s Western World by baking cookies for the staff.
Of course, talent also had something to do with it—in particular, that voice, with its vintage warmth and easy charm. “Can Chaser” is a standout track on her upcoming full-length debut, On The Ranch, set for a November 4 release via Normaltown/New West. The song was inspired by Nenni’s stay at a Colorado ranch, where she worked for a spell with the wife of her producer, Mike Eli (who also plays guitar for Chris Stapleton).
“I lived in a wrangler house with five cowgirls,” says Nenni. “One evening, one of the wranglers played us some man’s song about barrel racers. It was rude and belittling, poking fun at women in the rodeo. The gals told me this was a very common view on barrel racers—or can chasers, as they’re also called.”
As it happens, Nenni also has a friend who’d once been a barrel racer with Dolly Parton’s Stampede Dinner Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. “I asked her to tell me all about the rodeo event and barrel-racing women,” she says. “It’s my ode to the women of the rodeo. I’m sure they put up with a whole lot, and I have the utmost respect for them.”
MAGNET is proud to premiere “Can Chaser” today.
—Hobart Rowland
