Emily Love
About
Emily Love and her band, The Highliners, are based in Portland Oregon. Fueled by a love of 90's country since before it was cool, Emily started the band in 2023 after playing solo for many years. Emily Love and The Highliners have been a local hit in Portland, bringing out a dedicated dancing crowd and folks who just like a good time. The songs are high energy and unaplogetically twangy without working too hard to prove themselves as "country". Love isn't afraid of taking well worn honky-tonk tropes and turning them on their head, which is probably why hardcore country fans and folks newer to the genre can all find something to love.
They independently released their debut full length album, "Heart of a Fool" in September of 2025 after releasing singles "Dance a Little Closer" , "On Like Neon" and the title track "Heart of a Fool" earlier in the year. The album has been picked up by local, national and international FM radio stations in places as far flung as Austin, Texas and Winnipeg Canada. The album is available for streaming on all platforms and a limited run of cassettes are available on bandcamp.
"Emily Love is a Portland-based country music maker. Unlike the genre-blending Youssi, however, Love’s lane is tried and true traditional country, accompanied by her band The Highliners, not to mention guest pedal steel guitar wizards Paul Brainard and Matt Peluso. Their playing is all over Heart Of A Fool, which features 10 good-natured tunes about love, loss, neon lights, and lonesome nights spent nursing a cold one at the honky-tonk. Whatever’s in the water in Portland, Love has downed her fair share." - Ben Salmon "The Best Country Music on Bandcamp, September 2025" https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-country/the-best-country-music-on-bandcamp-september-2025
"Heart of a Fool is a wonderful honky tonk album with a full range of songs — two-steppers, waltzes and rockabilly-inspired jams — all supported by incredible songwriting. No skips and perfect for a road trip with nice weather, four windows down rating." - Donnie C Cutler from 'Country Cutler: New Music Tuesday Vol 37- 2025' newsletter on substack https://countrycutler.substack.com/p/new-music-tuesday-vol-37-2025
"I can tell if I'm gonna like something within a few notes. The music just has "that sound" to it. Happy to say that Heart of a Fool has it in spades.
Excellent debut! Favorite track: Dance a Little Closer." - DJ Salty Cracker (both kinds of music, fresh from the underground, under the x in texas) from KOOP fm Austin https://bandcamp.com/bothkindsofmusic
