Meet Swallowtail!

Emele Clothier can’t recall when she wasn’t involved in music. Her mother was a pianist and from the earliest age, Emele would reach up to the piano keys to play along. Music was part of her life and it was rarely silent in their house with Chopin, show tunes and popular music regularly tickled from the piano. In this environment, Emele started piano lessons, with little patience for the standard repertoire she took to improvisation. By age 10 Emele had expanded to playing violin as well.

Soon after Emele moved to Death Valley. Violin lessons stopped choir began. It was at this time that Emele started listening to country music on the radio and she soon purchased her first Johnny Cash 45.

At 12 she discovered the women in music that would be life long influences: Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Sarah Vaughn among others. Emele listened and sang along with all of them never putting thought to a stage career. Just being able to make the music was her love. Eventually Emele’s talent was realized by the people around her and they, “kicked me out there on the stage!”

With her son’s guitar, Emele started learning the rudiments from Mel Bay publications. She later went to music school and studied voice, theory, piano, guitar and clarinet and also founded the vocal improvisation class on that campus. In this environment songwriting became part of her life as well as singing with the guitar and piano.

Emele performed for several years around Eugene,Oregon until she moved to Wenatchee in 1978. During the 1990’s she recorded two albums on cassette: Woman on the Run and Tailspin, currently being remastered for an upcoming re-release. In 2001 Emele recorded Emele – A Time in the Day.

Throughout her career in Washington, Emele frequented the Folklife Festival in Seattle as a performer. She also performed around the country including for the State of Kentucky in a special concert for people learning new skills.

A founder of the Horse Crazy Cowgirl Band (Horse Crazy), Emele toured with the group for 13 years as a vocalist and guitarist. A significant part of her life, they produced 5 albums and toured Eastern BC; Alberta; Branson, Missouri; and many Western states sharing a love for the Western way of life. Horse Crazy won several awards from the Western Music Association two of which were Best Harmony Trio and The Crescendo award for best up and coming group.

After Horse Crazy, Emele continued with solo performances for 13 years until she met Matt Armbrust. The rest is history and now there is Swallowtail .