October proved that Emma & James could fill a calendar. November is making us think more about what we actually want to fill it with. After full-band shows, songwriter showcases, new fans, new releases, and some unforgettable reactions to our original music, we are becoming more comfortable choosing quality over quantity.
Last month I compared our summer to basketball preseason.
We had spent months conditioning, drilling, rehearsing, rebuilding businesses, learning equipment, and preparing for the moment when the schedule finally arrived.
October was game time.
And it absolutely felt that way.
For the first time, Emma and I had performances on back-to-back days. We had full-band shows again after not performing with the complete band since June. There were songwriter showcases, open mics, recording experiments, releases, rehearsals, and more dates appearing on the calendar.
For a moment, it felt like our own little version of being touring musicians.
But after actually living through that schedule, November has us thinking about something slightly different.
October showed us quantity.
November feels like quality.
The Full Band Snapped Back Into Place
One of our biggest questions going into October was how the full band would feel after several months without performing together publicly.
The answer came pretty quickly.
It snapped back.
Our October 10 show at Arizona BBQ Shack in Scottsdale ended up with a full house and people at nearly every table.
Dave and Sarah opened the night with guitar, vocals, and violin, followed by Vincent Braun on guitar and vocals.
Then we took over for the final two hours with PA Dave on trombone, Tim Sadow on violin, and Chef Joe jumping onto the drums whenever the kitchen gave him a chance to escape.
A packed restaurant is great for business.
Unfortunately, that also meant Joe was needed in the kitchen more than any of us would have liked.
Still, whenever he could get behind the drums, we were happy to have him there.
We played mostly original music with a handful of covers mixed in.
And one particular original reminded us why we keep doing this.
When an Original Song Finds the Person Who Needs It
A couple we had never met had originally planned to see a Stevie Nicks tribute concert at Talking Stick.
Traffic made them late, so instead they started looking online to see what other live music was happening nearby.
They found our event.
They walked into Arizona BBQ Shack right around the time we started and happened to get the last available spot near the front.
Within a few songs, they had their phones out recording.
Then we played an original called I'm Coming Home.
The song is built around a mother-daughter relationship and, eventually, having to say goodbye.
By the end of it, we noticed the woman at the table was crying.
After the show, she came up to Emma and explained why.
Her name is Carolyn, and her mother has dementia and is declining.
Something about the song immediately brought her into her own relationship with her mom.
She told us we needed to record it.
That was one of those moments when an older song suddenly becomes new again.
When Emma first started singing I'm Coming Home more than a year ago, it used to give her chills. But like most creative projects, eventually you write something else, then something else after that, and the original energy can get buried underneath everything that comes next.
Then someone tells you what your song meant to them.
And you remember.
Tim's violin fills and solo add another emotional layer to that song, and now I'm Coming Home has officially moved onto our growing "we need to produce this one" list.
We can already see the music video too.
Criminal Keeps Making Its Case
We also played our newest original, Criminal, with PA Dave adding trombone fills and a solo.
Once again, it landed.
At this point, we have heard enough feedback from musicians and non-musicians alike to be comfortable saying Criminal is a keeper.
People keep telling us the same thing:
Record that song.
That is an amazing feeling.
Emma and I understand why covers matter when you are getting started. Familiar songs can help an audience connect with you quickly.
But neither of us ever wanted the ultimate goal to be becoming cover artists.
Being an original artist is riskier.
Nobody knows the words.
Nobody has a nostalgic attachment to the song before you start playing it.
There is no famous recording in their head telling them they already like what they are hearing.
You have to earn their attention from zero.
That is why those reactions matter so much to us.
After performing enough times in rooms where people are yelling at sports on televisions, talking over the music, ordering drinks, or requesting a famous cover because they have no interest in hearing a song they do not know, you begin to notice the people who are actually listening.
The heads nodding.
The eyes closed.
The person recording an original they have never heard before.
The tears.
And maybe most importantly, the person who comes back to the next show and brings a friend.
That feels different.
Two Songwriter Showcases Taught Us Something
The following weekend gave us an interesting comparison.
We performed a songwriter set at North Mountain Brewing on Saturday and another at Pho Cao on Sunday.
North Mountain Brewing was not really the room for what we were trying to do.
We played approximately 40 minutes of originals as a duo, but most of the room was there to socialize and watch sports rather than listen closely to a songwriter performance.
A few people who had seen us at Arizona BBQ Shack came specifically to hear us, which we appreciated tremendously.
But the overall environment reinforced something we already suspected.
Not every gig is the right gig.
The following night at Pho Cao felt completely different.
The Kind of Room We Want to Build Toward
Pho Cao had marketed the night as a songwriter showcase.
We performed a 45-minute opening set of original music with Tim Sadow on violin and Stokes back behind the drums.
The room was packed.
Several familiar supporters showed up again—and this time some of them brought people we had never met.
There were also people who simply came in to eat and had no idea who Emma & James were.
By the end of the set, some of those strangers were coming up to introduce themselves.
One woman in nursing scrubs told us she had only stopped in for dinner after work. After hearing a couple of songs, she decided to stay for our entire set.
Then she came up afterward, told us she was now a fan, thanked us, and left.
That is pretty hard to beat.
Carolyn came back too.
She had now seen us at Arizona BBQ Shack, North Mountain Brewing, and Pho Cao.
This time, the song that grabbed her was "They're Comin' for You" (Wolves).
She suggested we contact a wolf sanctuary in the Sedona area about possibly collaborating somehow when we eventually create the music video.
We think that is worth exploring.
When the Band Stops Feeling Like Separate Musicians
The Pho Cao performance also reminded us why we love having Stokes behind the drums.
There is something that happens between his playing, my rhythm guitar, and Emma's vocals that is difficult to explain.
It even happens when the three of us rehearse at home.
My guitar starts to feel less like something I am holding and more like an extension of my arms.
Emma's years of dance and performance experience start taking over, and suddenly she is not simply standing there singing anymore.
She is performing.
And Stokes is watching all of it from behind the kit.
That is one of the things we love about playing with him.
He watches.
He listens.
And then whatever he is hearing seems to move through his mind, heart, and hands onto the drums.
He is not simply playing time underneath our originals.
He cares about what the songs are doing.
You can feel the difference.
Add Tim's violin fills and solos, and suddenly the whole room seems to be traveling through the song together.
Sometimes the Youngest Person in the Room Says Everything
Near the end of our Pho Cao set, Emma noticed a family that had come in to eat.
There were two girls with them.
One appeared to be a teenager and was filming portions of the performance. The younger girl looked to be around 10.
During Criminal, the younger girl repositioned herself so she could see us better.
By the first chorus, she was up on her knees, leaning over the chair, completely locked into the song.
She cheered when it ended.
Then we closed with As the Sun Goes Down.
That song began as part of a songwriting challenge early in 2026. We were given possible song titles and chose that one.
It has since grown into another original song people repeatedly tell us we need to record.
Tim plays a beautiful solo when he is with us. When he is not, PA Dave brings his own completely different trombone solo to it.
By the end of the song, the younger girl was standing on the seat, jumping and cheering until her parents calmed her down.
Later, as the family walked past us on their way out, I could see both girls turning their heads back toward Emma.
They looked like they wanted to say something but kept walking with their parents.
I wish we had gotten the chance to meet them.
Hopefully we will someday.
The IEM System Finally Proved Itself
Pho Cao also gave us another major win.
We finally used our full in-ear monitoring rack at a real show.
After spending what felt like the entire summer figuring out cables, routing, mixes, software, splitters, and everything else involved, it worked.
And it worked really well.
Emma, Stokes, and I each had our own IEM mix.
No floor monitors.
No feedback battles.
No asking the sound engineer to keep turning things up.
Each of us could adjust what we needed to hear without affecting anyone else.
Tim was the only performer still relying on the traditional monitor system, and watching the difference made the benefits even more obvious.
But there was another advantage we were even more excited about.
Our system recorded every individual instrument and vocal.
That means when someone films us on a phone or camera, we can replace the noisy room audio with the clean multitrack recording from our system.
Suddenly, a casual audience video can become a much better promotional performance clip.
Those recordings can also become demos for producers.
Instead of trying to explain how we envision a song, we can send them a live full-band performance and say:
This. This is what we are hearing.
That could make producing our original music substantially faster.
After months of learning this equipment, it finally feels like the investment is paying us back.
New Music Is Moving Forward
October ended with one of our biggest milestones of the year.
On October 30, Leopard in a Cage was officially released on all major streaming platforms.
We have a separate article dedicated to the story behind that song, so I will not repeat everything here.
But it feels good to have another original officially out in the world.
Next up, we are hoping to release I Need Another Hero in November—or at minimum before the end of the year. Once PA Dave's trombone parts are recorded, and the remaining production work is completed, that one should finally be ready.
Emma is also finishing an animated music video for Falling for You.
She is animating the entire project herself, and it is looking really cool. We hope to release it before the end of November.
Then there is Leopard in a Cage.
We are envisioning part of its music video in snow, which means Arizona winter may finally give us the environment we need to start filming.
Criminal is now firmly in line for professional production and a music video.
And Never Look Down will make its full-band live debut at Yucca Tap Room on November 22.
November Is Bringing a Different Kind of Opportunity
One November booking actually began with a random Instagram message.
On October 1, someone we did not know contacted us saying she was interested in our music.
Random direct messages from strangers always require a little caution these days.
But this one was real.
She was organizing a private networking event for business owners in Tempe and had been watching our videos, including footage from our ASU Kerr performance.
She specifically liked Emma's elegant stage look, the vintage-style microphone, and the original music.
She felt the entire presentation fit the atmosphere she wanted for her event.
So in November, we will be performing a private corporate event in Tempe with PA Dave joining us on trombone to add a little extra jazz and blues flavor.
We are excited about that direction.
It represents another type of performance where our actual style is the reason we were hired—not something we have to change to fit the room.
The Tech Work Is Becoming Part of the Journey Too
Something else continues developing unexpectedly behind the scenes.
Emma has now built new websites for Walt Richardson, Desert Vibe Podcast, Gary Beckert Custom Guitars, Glen Gardner, and is currently working on a site for Stokes and his production services.
Add those to Emma & James Music, Emma Mattison Fitness, ASOC, Ask Kiki, and the other projects she has built, and a pattern is becoming pretty obvious.
Musicians are looking for help presenting themselves professionally online.
We never expected technology and website development to become another way we could support people in the Arizona music community.
But it has been surprisingly rewarding.
When someone sees their new website and gets excited about finally having something that represents them properly, it feels good to have played a small part in that.
Quality Over Quantity
October taught us that we can be busy.
It also taught us that we do not necessarily want to be busy just for the sake of being busy.
We are incredibly grateful for the supporters who continue showing up.
But we also think about what would happen if we asked those same people to come watch us play a local gig every weekend.
Eventually, even your strongest supporters have other things to do.
And frankly, we do too.
We already know we are probably not built for three-hour bar gigs where the primary job is playing familiar covers in the background.
There is nothing wrong with that kind of work.
It just is not the thing we are trying to build.
We want the music to feel special.
We want to spend time producing originals.
We want to create cinematic music videos.
We want to develop the live band until an Emma & James performance feels like an actual show rather than simply another date on a calendar.
And if that means playing fewer local gigs, we are increasingly comfortable with that.
November includes the private corporate performance, our November 22 Yucca Tap Room show, continued recording and production, another music video, and hopefully at least one more release before the year ends.
There are also some larger Casa Grande opportunities being discussed for December and January.
We will share those once everything is official.
For now, we are becoming more comfortable building slowly.
You can build a chicken coop pretty quickly.
A skyscraper takes longer.
We would rather spend the time building something that is meant to last.
October showed us quantity.
November feels like quality.
And we are excited to see what happens when we stop measuring progress by how many dates are on the calendar and start measuring it by how much each one actually means.