Interview: Juliet Hawkins And Emma Jo Bring LIGHT THE WAY Tour to Crystal Lake

Country & Blues storyteller queens (and best friends) Juliet Hawkins and Emma Jo will take to the stage next month with the ‘Light The Way’ tour. Their original songs, covers and words will deliver a sense of community, togetherness, an uplift for women, artists, LGBTQ+ community and minority groups who are saddened, anxious, vulnerable, frightened, victimized, or feeling unheard during these current times. Juliet and Emma will share their message of hope, inclusiveness, love and joy. Both women will share their own harrowing experiences of personal abuse and the life-altering moments that have shaped their own courage and determination for a shared better future. 

The upcoming tour will kick off on September 18, 2025 in Stockton, Mass, landing in Brooklyn, N.Y. at Crystal Lake on September 23. Read a conversation with Juliet and Emma about the show.

What are you most looking forward to about your upcoming Light the Way tour?

Juliet Hawkins: The shared experience of touring with another woman and friend. My solo cross-country tour was profound and lonely at times, and doing this with someone who so deeply shares the love of expression and empowerment through song, I think we’re in for a very unique journey. Magic things happen when two women come together with a dream. Add the edge of a message, and the power of music - it’s bound to be special. The kismet and quirky, the tender connections, the unexpected moments; [I’m] looking forward to all of it. 

Emma Jo: This will be my first time performing in the Northeast, so I’m excited to meet new people and finally play for some of the friends and fans who’ve been asking for a New York show for years! And I can’t overstate how excited I am to be playing and traveling with Juliet. She’s a really inspiring artist, and I know that we’re not only going to have great shows but also learn from each other and grow as songwriters and friends.

How did the two of you decide to go on this tour together? How do you feel like your music complements each other?

JH: Emma was staying at the hotel in Hollywood, where I was playing a songwriter's night. I remember us making eye contact and exchanging smiles during my set, and she reached out via social media to tell me she connected to my stuff and wanted to play a show together down the road. A few months later, I reached back out to tell her I was moving back east and would be driving across country—the ideal time for me to stop in and open a show for her. It was there in Kansas City that we really connected and realized we should do something more together- something to elevate and illuminate the essence and power of women in music, and so the Light the Way tour was born. 

EJ: When I heard Juliet play that show in Hollywood, I was incredibly impressed with her songwriting. It’s confronting, and it’s gorgeous. I also got the sense that she was the kind of woman who lived on her own terms. The first time we talked on the phone, we were so excited. I was grinning ear to ear. Our friendship was quick and easy, so playing shows together was an obvious choice.

You're getting pretty personal in this show. What's important to you about sharing your own experiences with abuse?

EJ: I was 22 when I entered into a relationship that ended up being really abusive. At that time, I don’t remember there being a lot of people talking openly about their experiences with abuse. Being in an abusive relationship is already isolating, so I’ve found it really therapeutic and important to talk openly about what happened. Women need to hear from other women about REAL life.

JH: I think as writers and independent artists, using any platform we have to spread awareness, share a message of hope and truth, and encourage speaking out on the major issues we’re facing as a nation and as women, is essential right now. In a society that not only has benefited off of oppressing women, in an industry that has long since struggled to hold space or value or respect for our voices, we both feel sharing our experiences will help rewrite this narrative, and that through music and “keeping it real” in our writing, we can inspire a movement of authenticity. The world doesn’t need more algorithm-curated and filtered pop; it needs honest storytellers, unafraid to challenge the status quo; unafraid to speak out. We are those storytellers, and we’re not afraid to lead this movement. 

Aside from getting ready for this tour, what have you been filling your time with lately?

EJ: I’ve been writing and performing a lot around the Midwest where I’m from, a bit of travel, and I’ve been reading a ton. As a creative person, I think it’s important to absorb other people’s art whenever you can, so I’ve been trying to do a lot of that.

JH: Since moving back to the East Coast, I’ve been enjoying being close to family and playing gigs around the northeast a lot. I curated a listening room recently at an art gallery with my student Jette- she's 12 and flew over from Oregon for the show. Teaching, especially to younger females, has reinvented my purpose in music for me and been such a beautiful way to pass down knowledge and confidence to younger generations that really need that support right now too. 

What's coming up next after this for each of you?

EJ: I’m releasing a single on the final day of the tour! It’s called “Say Can You See” and it’s a little country song in the spirit of Kris Kristofferson or Johnny Cash. I believe that it’s part of our duty as citizens of the United States to try to push our leaders to do better and live up to the promises of the Constitution and the ideals of the founders. I’ve been quite worried about the things we’re all seeing on the news, so this song is my response to that.

JH: This is definitely a season of expansion and evolution... I’m still writing songs, but I’ve got a couple of other mediums I’m having fun exploring- painting, a screenplay, and a children’s book about my dog Bernie. 

Learn more about Juliet Hawkins by visiting her website here. Watch “My Fathers Men" here. Follow her on Instagram here. 

Learn more about Emma Jo by visiting her website here. Watch “Walk” here. Follow her on Instagram here.