BRATTLEBORO-As soon as she made her first public performance at the age of 10, Emily Margaret knew that being on stage was where she belonged.
“I love being on stage and sharing my music,” she said. “As soon as I did it, I knew that this is what I wanted to do, and I knew I wanted to do it as much as I could.”
Margaret — known off stage as Emily Matthew-Muller — was only 16 when she formed the rhythm-and-blues-and-jazz-inspired The Emily Margaret Band.
The band will help launch the 2026 season of First Fridays in Brattleboro with a free performance at the Harmony Lot Friday, May 1 at 6 p.m.
The monthly block party features live music at the Harmony Lot that runs from May through October. The event coincides with Brattleboro’s Gallery Walk.
Margaret is the songwriter of the band and is the lead vocalist/guitarist. She will be joined by Lewis Wells of Amherst, Massachusetts, on bass, and Brattleboro residents Nate Porter on lead guitar, and Lucas Majer on drums.
They will open for Juice, a New York City-based eclectic indie rock band. (The show was originally scheduled for the Stone Church, but they decided to move it to the Harmony Lot for this special event.)
Margaret is a resident of Guilford, and now, at age 18, is a freshman at Emerson College in Boston studying literature, writing, and publishing. Despite her studies, she is still very much involved in music.
“I’m not majoring in music because I really love school, literature, and learning,” she explained. “I wasn’t to give up that part of my life yet, but music stays in the forefront along with my education.”
It is clear that her music remains a priority for Margaret. She continues to work with her band and occasionally performs solo. She is also the lead singer and songwriter for the Boston-based band NightLily, which includes a group of musicians who attend Berklee College of Music.
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Music is an essential part of Margaret’s life, and she can’t remember a time when it wasn’t. She grew up in a household where all types of music was constantly playing and recalls that at a very young age she especially enjoyed the records of rapper Missy Elliott which her parents played.
“When I started talking, they had to turn it off because they realized that I was picking up on the lyrics,” she said with a laugh.
Young Margaret’s interest in music did not go unnoticed by her parents, who sent her to the Miss Leticia Music School in Amherst.
“My mom tricked me into going to music camp because she heard me singing around the house all day,” said Margaret. “I wanted to go to art camp [and] she said this was an art camp with music — but that was not true.”
Margaret ended up falling in love with the school and, all these years later, she teaches there when she can.
“I was 4 years old, and when I got there, they handed me a ukulele, and I thought it was awesome and never put it down,” she said.
At age 6, she switched to guitar, and at 9 she attended a summer rock program for girls at the Institute for the Musical Arts (IMA) in Goshen, Massachusetts, which was cofounded by June Millington of the pioneering female rock band Fanny.
“I wrote my first song there and later performed it at their Lady & the Amp Festival,” Margaret recalled.
“The song was called ‘Say Hey,’ and it was a reflection on how IMA supported me to do what I’d been dreaming about — write music. The chorus goes, ‘Say hey, I’ve been waiting for this day / Say hey, how are we lost when we’ve already been found?’”
Margaret continued songwriting and performing over the years, including singing backing vocals for Lake Street Dive at the Newport Folk Festival in 2019.
In 2023, she formed the Emily Margaret Band. In 2025, she released a four-song self-titled EP that employed a jazzy and soulful feel alongside elements of pop and rock. Margaret’s silky vocals shine, and her lyrics display a maturity far beyond her years. It was a debut that showed great promise.
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“My process for writing is I start with the music and then write the words that feel like the music,” Margaret explained. “And I’m not afraid to write about situations that are foreign to me, which opens up a lot of options.”
Performing at festivals (like Brattleboro’s youth festival BrattRock) and at the Marigold led to more connections with other musicians. Soon the Emily Margaret Band grew to eight members, with the lineup varying at each show depending on the venue.
Collaborating with other songwriters is something Margaret has done since attending IMA, and the practice has helped her grow as a songwriter.
“I learned that while you can collaborate with lots of different people, you won’t always experience the same magic,” she said.
“When you click with another songwriter, it’s like two puzzle pieces coming together,” Margaret continued. “Your co-writer introduces you to a whole new strand of creativity while also challenging you musically.”
That’s what happened when she met Noah Gibney at a summer songwriting workshop. When he later started attending Berklee, they formed NightLily with other Berklee students.
“There is a lot of carryover from my past releases. I think I would describe it as soulful, singer-songwriter-driven pop-rock.” Margaret said in describing NightLily’s music.
The group recently recorded a song, “Natalia,” but they don’t have a release date yet.
Last March, The Emily Margaret Band released the single “Breakfast in Spain,” recorded live at the Stone Church. They have no immediate plans for recording but are focusing on shows over the summer. This show kicking off First Fridays in the perfect way to start the season off.
In addition, the Emily Margaret Band will be at the Chester Town Hall Friday, May 15, at 7 p.m.
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Margaret has a full plate attending college, and writing and singing for two bands, but she is thriving and has no plans to slow down.
“I love playing with both of them so much,” she said, noting that the two bands “are in different areas.”
“I feel like my band at home has a wonderful community around us in southern Vermont and western Massachusetts, so it would be a shame to let that go,” Margaret explained. “And in Boston, I’m having a great exchange with these musicians as well.”
Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer from Easthampton, Massachusetts, and has reported extensively on the regional music scene for many years. Her work has appeared in various regional and national publications.
This Arts column by Sheryl Hunter was written for The Commons.