Emma Cloney juggles music, motherhood and making money

Imagine learning guitar, fiddle and banjo all in a weekend. That's what singer/songwriter Emma Cloney set out to do, just four or five years ago.

Cloney has a deeply ingrained love of bluegrass and it all started with her father's 1972 guild guitar. "I found out that the best way to make sure your children turn into professional musicians is to own an expensive instrument and tell them that under no circumstances, are they allowed to touch it."

While she dabbled in music over the years, her grown up role as a mom and a nursing student took over. But she still sang and wrote songs whenever she could.

In fact, Cloney wrote many of her songs to provide closure to different chapters in her life. "My songs were this musical catharsis, basically. I think of my guitar like a six string therapist," she says with a smile. "I had expressed all of these songs and these lyrics but had never shared them."

Hear Emma Cloney sing at the Folk Exchange on Bannatyne Saturday night, March 2. Before that, hear her in conversation with CBC host Ismaila Alfa on SCENE On Air. The show airs every Saturday from 5 - 6 p.m. on CBC Radio One, 89.3 FM/990 AM/97.9 FM in Brandon.

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