Colorado songwriter Emily Scott Robinson beckons to those who are lost, lonely, or learning the hard way with American Siren, her first album for Oh Boy Records. With hints of bluegrass, country, and folk, the eloquent collection shares her gift for storytelling through her pristine soprano and the perspective of her unconventional path into music.

“I think that the thread running through the album is those things that call to us, and how we can't resist that call,” she says. “It’s about the siren songs that come up through our lives.”

Though not fully autobiographical, American Siren gracefully blends imagined characters with meaningful people she’s encountered on her journey. Showcasing her ability as a storyteller, “If Trouble Comes a Lookin’” invents a scene where a vulnerable priest and an unhappy wife meet in an Arkansas hotel bar. “Hometown Hero” is an emotional tribute to her cousin, a veteran lost to suicide. “Lost Woman’s Prayer” stems from the words of a sage friend she met while traveling abroad, while “Every Day in Faith” is a personal testament to seeing things through.

As the album’s lead track, “Old Gods” carries the siren concept to its fullest potential with beautiful three-part female harmony; she originally wrote it for a community production of Macbeth. Meanwhile, “Things You Learn the Hard Way” was completed after asking for relevant scenarios from her social media followers. Yet there’s a part of her own life in every song, too. That’s especially true in “Cheap Seats,” about a distracted waitress who’s bound (someday) to realize her dreams. Robinson wrote it after seeing John Prine and Bonnie Raitt sing together at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in 2019.

“If you make music that you love that tells the truth, or that tells a story, everything emanates from what you have inside,” she says. “I knew at the core that I love writing, I love telling stories and I love performing. I knew if I just kept doing that, even when I didn't always know what the next step was, that it would continue to grow and that the people who were meant to be a part of that would find me.”