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she was a natural, and soon she could
play mandolin and guitar, too. “she

teaches herself chords,” says hill. “she

took a few lessons, but she hasn’t done
that in a long time. her grandma and

great-grandma were singers, her brother
is a musician, and her dad sings and owns

a recording studio. she grew up around
musicians. Music is in her blood.”

now that she could play instruments,

itwastimetomakeaband.“iwas7
or 8 when we started the band,” says

sunshine. “i don’t even remember our
first performance, though. that was a

long time ago.”

sunshine’s band, the rain, consists
of her dad randall hamilton, who plays

upright bass; her uncle bobby hill, who
plays drums; and her brother Jonathan

letner, who plays guitar. sunshine says
she likes playing with her family because

perform at the grand ole opry. she’s they already know each other so well, so sunshine says she usually comes up

garnered a dedicated fan base, and the it’s easy to mesh together on stage.
with a melody first, and then the words
national traditional Country Music seem to follow. “i can write a song in a

association named her 2014’s rising Budding Songwriter
day or two,” she says. When asked how
legend. but now her powerful vocals, in January, emi sunshine and the many songs she’s written in her life, she

heartfelt lyrics, and foot-stomping rain released Black Sunday ’35, an thinks for a second, tapping her boots on

rhythms are bringing her international 18-song album written almost entirely the ground, attempting to calculate the
attention. and she’s showing no signs of by sunshine.
number in her head before losing count.

slowing down.
“songwriting comes pretty naturally to “a lot,” she says with a smile.
me,” she says. “i get my inspiration from Mark harwell, a family friend who

A Family Affair
whatever is happening around me. if i see handles some of the booking and business

as far back as sunshine can remem- something, it might become a song.”
details for emi sunshine and the rain,
ber, music has been a major part of her says that sunshine is always writing new

life. “When i was little, my grandma songs. “she’s incredibly prolific,” he says.
used to sing to me,” she says with a “she doesn’t seem to get tired.”

charming southern accent. “one day i the songs on Black Sunday ’35 reveal
just started humming right along.”
a thoughtful and emotionally mature

sunshine’s aunt kristal hill says even songwriter who could easily be mistaken

when sunshine was cooing as a baby, for a bluegrass star at the end of a lifelong
she was always trying to sing. sun- career. she writes songs about places

shine used to help her dad, who owns
she’s never been and things she’s never
a recording studio, run the studio’s been through.

soundboard as a toddler.
“a lot of her song topics come from

she sang at her first gig, a wedding, things she learned about in school,” says
when she was 4 years old and wrote hill. “it’s how she learns—she turns it

her first song when she was 6. singing into a song.”
wasn’t enough though; she wanted
but as a 10-year-old with plenty of

to learn to play the music she loved, formative life experiences ahead of her,

too. “there was this old ukulele laying harwell thinks sunshine’s music is going
around my house, and i picked it up to become increasingly relatable and

one day and started fooling around honest. “she’s never even fallen in love
with it,” says sunshine. “My daddy before,” he says. “imagine the songs she’ll

helped me a little bit.”
write when that happens.”

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