Jackson Emmer - Battle Hymn of the Early Riser (2025) Hi-Res

Jackson Emmer is a “tired dad.” These are his words, not mine. And his latest album Battle Hymn of the Early Riser meets a moment that threatens to tire us all out.

For his fifth full-length album Emmer called on Abigayle Oakley, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter from Nashville, to join him at the helm as co-producer. Together they have crafted songs that center Emmer’s voice and guitar (and banjo on “Early Bird”). The result is a tender record of contemporary life grounded by Tom Davis’s bass and made to soar by Josh Kaler’s offerings on pedal steel and Joe D’Esposito’s on the fiddle and cello. With Martin Gilmore and Oakley herself rounding out the harmonies, Battle Hymn of the Early Riser suits those moments when the first chores of the day (or the remaining few) yield precious moments for stillness.

From the first notes, this record rewards those who listen. It doesn’t matter whether they’re early birds or night owls. In “Home Improvement,” Emmer recollects DIY projects taken on by a father and child. He catalogs the trips to the hardware store and the unexpectedly flooded basement. In the end, he settles on a pride found in the never-ending work of home-making. There’s an earnestness here that would make the cynics among us blush. In the refrain, Emmer concludes, “We’re gonna nail this one.” It’s a beautiful sentiment. One that begs to stick around because the meaning is so masterfully woven into the story.

These things continue on “Dad’s Shoes,” with its attention to paternal disappointment and everyday acts of care. “But the shoes,” Emmer sings of those his father bought for him, “don’t fit. No, they never did. No, they never will.” The chorus expresses the failure to live up to expectations, until it doesn’t. By the last time through, Emmer has repaired the relationship with his father. And he has embraced the wrong-sized shoes, choosing a different pattern of fatherhood. By returning to the theme of home improvement—“You can fix things when they’re broken if you want to and you try”—Emmer doesn’t leave all of his father’s lessons behind. He extends some.

On Battle Hymn, Emmer reckons with what we inherit and what we leave behind. Again and again, he turns toward play above seriousness. Just take the title. Emmer alludes to Julia Ward Howe’s Civil War poem, arguably the most substantial lyric from the most consequential moment in American history, to attend to small private moments. Is this attention to the personal-political realities that compose our lives? Is it ironic disavowal?

Yes.

The title track is absurd—with wild lines like “Convex Concave rhymes with what? Boots and saddles and cowboy butts” and the image a “sparrow sings a T. Swift song.” But it all leads to the celebration of life itself. “Glory, Hallelujah,” he sing in reference to Howe’s battle hymn, “I woke up again.”

Emmer embraces a willingness to treat the little moments of life with a deserved majesty. In one delightful scene, he sets the silver-haired unicorn broken by his child into the world of war, sacrifices, and funerals (“Clementine Unicorn Sacrifice” co-written with Joey Frendo). While serious matters shape the subject of Emmer’s songs, Battle Hymn refrains from overt politics in most places. Except for “Early Bird.” This a silly, little banjo tune takes traditional wisdom, “early bird gets the worm,” and adds, “slurp it down, down, down. Feel it squirm.” It’s easy to imagine children’s laughter punctuating the phrase as an echo of Pete Seeger’s 1963 Town Hall concert. It’s here that Emmer comes closest to protest, when he contrasts those who rise early to work with the billionaires who don’t rise early but profit off labor and break the world in the process.

This and the rest of Battle Hymn of the Early Riser arrives in an uneasy time. Whether it is as uneasy as 1861 or 1963, only time will say. Whatever is the case, Emmer has embraced a vision that turns toward the light and the lightness that makes us willing to battle for it in the first place.

There is an invitation at the heart of “Turned Off the Power” (co-written with Tim O’Brien): “If you want to hear a story, gather around.” I suggest you take him up on the offer because Battle Hymn of the Early Riser is a like a tea steeped special for this tiring moment. Whether it’s caffeine or lemon balm that you need, Jackson Emmer’s Battle Hymn has it.