Left: Lena Rich (Photo by Gillian Wormood)
Right: Emily Barnes (Photo by Angie Wilder)
GOLD HILL — The musical journeys of Lena Rich and Emily Barnes will cross in Colorado at an almost perpendicular point. Both seasoned songwriters with an established catalog of releases, Rich has just released her latest album while Barnes is currently working on her next one.
Rich released her latest record, "Emerald City," in September. The album title came from her experiences on tour in 2025. Driving alone through Wyoming, a glowing, multi-colored scene shone in the distant horizon, reminding her of the Northern Lights. However, when she got closer, she realized it was an oil refinery.
“Getting really close up, it was disgusting, gross, industrial stuff,” says Rich. “That experience, I feel like I needed some sort of metaphor or title to dive into the project and start writing those songs. Because it looked like an emerald city at first, that’s the metaphor that came into my mind and opened up these possibilities for exploration.”
The classically-influenced and roots-inspired musician explored the ideas of something looking different from up close than it does from far away. She wrote the majority of the material on the tour, which started the day after her life and musical partner broke off their relationship.
On interpreting the album’s title and imagery, Rich says, “I don’t care how anyone interprets it—and that’s cool, the endless possibilities—but I like that it feels like this personal experience that’s kind of just for me.”
Rich currently has four shows scheduled for the beginning of November. Two of those shows are performances with Barnes, who has been playing professionally since she was 16 and toured professionally full time since her 20s.
Barnes became driven to write songs in high school after receiving a mixtape that included a song by Brandi Carlile and diving into her full discography on YouTube.
“I feel like my songs are deeply rooted in folk traditions, but stylistically bend and weave between more of an indie pop sound all the way through to traditional folk,” says Barnes. “I try not to put it into a box; I let the songs decide where they’re going.”
Over the years, Barnes has felt her perspective on performing and touring shift in ways she never expected. Focusing initially on an idea of “making it” when she was younger, the priority of her passion is to fully connect with the music instead of building a specific journey.
“I think the really beautiful and cathartic part about a music journey is it’s so individual,” says Barnes. “It can change and shift, grow legs or lose legs, so for me, it’s been really exciting entering a different phase of my music where I really do music for the aspect of creating art and the joy and necessity to do it.”
Every musician takes a very different individual journey, but often, journeys cross paths with one another. As Rich and Barnes cross each others’ paths and perform together, they’ll share perspectives of self-discovery and reflection with each other and their audience.
Lena Rich will perform with Emily Barnes at the Gold Hill General Store, located at 531 Main Street in Gold Hill, on Saturday, November 7, 2026, starting at 8 p.m.
