In this episode of Road Dog Royalty, host Caitlin Evanson sits down with singer-songwriter Emily West to trace the journey from small-town Iowa to the national stage. Emily made her home demos at a local studio as a teenager before moving to Nashville, where she landed a publishing deal with Warner-Chappell and eventually signed with Capitol Records Nashville. Her debut single "Rocks in Your Shoes" broke into the Top 40, and she went on to release the Keith Urban duet "Blue Sky," a fan favorite that spent thirteen weeks on the charts.

Emily's path has taken her well beyond country radio, from an acting turn on ABC's Body of Proof to a run on Celebrity Apprentice, and ultimately to America's Got Talent, where she captivated audiences all season long and finished as the runner-up in Season 9. That performance opened the door to a new record deal with Sony Masterworks and her album All for You.

In this conversation, Emily opens up about reinventing herself across genres and formats, the vulnerability of performing live on national television, and what it's taken to build a career on her own terms in an industry that's always changing. Whether you're an artist chasing your own breakthrough moment or just love hearing what happens behind the music, this episode is full of honesty, resilience, and hard-won perspective from a true road dog.

Welcome to Road Dog Royalty, where artists share the stories you don't hear in the music.

Support the show