An up and coming music artist hopes her music can help heal hearts still broken following the Jan. 23 shooting at Marshall County High School.
Emilie Hamilton — better known to her fans as EmiSunshine — is a 13-year old musical prodigy, performing with a band comprised of family members and writing songs with her mother. She may also be a familiar face to a national audience, appearing in an upcoming episode of the NBC show Little Big Shots.
Between performances earlier this week, Emi said she can’t wait to come and offer her talents in support of local efforts to raise funds and spirits. She reworked one of her songs in honor of Bailey Holt and Preston Cope, the two students killed in the shooting.
“It bothered us — the shooting — it really hit us hard,” Emi said. “We thought we would write a song about it, but we just couldn’t at first. It was hard to do.”
Emi said she and her mother then decided to change up a song they had already started, Give Me Grace.
“We started to add a verse or two to connect it with Marshall County,” Emi said. “We kept thinking about songs and we wrote one called It Could Have Been You, that is about the shootings and things that have been going on in this world. It’s kind of saying ‘it could have been me, it could have been you.’ We’ve got to be thankful that it wasn’t us. We need to be kindhearted and supportive. I hope it’s a song that’s going to help a lot of people.”
Emi said she regularly writes songs with her mother, starting when she was five with a gospel song. Songwriting serves as a connection for the two.
Friend of the family Tammi Schott has been helping to coordinate the concert, which will be held at Kenlake State Park on June 3. Schott is friends with the Hamilton family and said she ran into them at a ukulele festival in Brown County, Indiana on Jan 25.
“Emily hadn’t really heard of the tragedy,” Schott said. “She learned of it that weekend. She saw me become upset talking about it.”
Schott said EmiSunshine was later contacted by members of Holt’s family, who said the MCHS sophomore had been a fan. That led the Hamilton family to reaching out and offering a to take part in a fundraiser concert by EmiSunshine and the Rain on behalf of families impacted by the shooting.
From there, Schott contacted the state park, food vendors and other musicians in order to make the concert a reality. Organizers are also contacting area businesses to donate prizes that will help raise funds.
Volunteers are needed, along with sponsors to help promote the event. Schott said funds will go to the Marshall Strong fund managed by the Marshall County Rotary Club.
“I as an individual can’t do all this,” Schott said. “The plan for the concert is no admission charge. We don’t want anybody in Marshall County to feel like they can’t come to this concert. We want everyone to come. When we discussed the admission, none of us wanted to charge the people of this county, so the decision was made to charge for parking and rely on donations.”
Schott said there will be a $5 parking fee.
With nearly half a million followers on Facebook, Schott anticipates a large crowd to travel to hear the performance. She said EmiSunshine will be available to meet with students and family members from 1 p.m. until 2 p.m. before the show at the Kenlake Tennis Center, and will likely meet with fans after the performance.
“I want to be there to support everybody,” Emi said. “I really want my family to be able to wrap our arms around the community and try to help out.”