Dreamin' Wild with Donnie & Joe Emerson

Pacific Northwest isolation mixed with wide-eyed ambition, a strong sense of family, and the gift of music proved to be quite the combination for teenage brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson. Spurred on by their high school’s music program, Donnie and Joe received a further push from their lifelong farmer father, who drew up a contract stating that he’d support his sons lofty ambitions with their very own recording studio as long as they focused on original material—sage advice for a man with zero experience in the music business. Originally released in 1979, Dreamin’ Wild is the sonic vision of the talented Emerson boys, recorded in a family-built home studio in rural Washington State.

Decades later, the album has now earned cult classic status, amassing fans the world over. The hit song, "Baby," has nearly 50 million streams and counting, and the Emersons' story even hit the silver screen with the eponymous biopic, Dreamin' Wild (2022) starring Casey Affleck, Walton Goggins, and Zooey Deschanel.

In this episode of Liner Notes, we go directly to the source and hear from the Emersons themselves along with record collector Jack Fleischer, who found that fateful copy of Dreamin' Wild displayed on a second-hand bureau in a Spokane, Washington thrift store. 

Liner Notes is a co-production of Light in the Attic and Ruinous Media.

Edited and Mixed by Chris Duryee and Joe Plummer.

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