FRUITLAND, Wash. — In smalltown Fruitland, Washington isolated 75 miles from Spokane, the Emersons ran their family farm together.
Catherine Emerson, the youngest of the Emerson family, remembers her brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson finding time to play music between chores on the farm. As kids, Catherine remembers their parents giving her brothers pots and pans as drums, and bunches of spaghetti to make music with.
The Emerson parents believed in Donnie and Joe's dream of creating music, so they used the little money they had to buy secondhand instruments for the boys. Eventually the family built a full functioning studio in the backyard.
"I would see them practicing here in the bedrooms and in [the] living room and in the studio," Catherine said.
The brothers only had each other to learn from, because they were isolated from radio reception in Fruitland. Joe said the family did not even have a record collection. The brother's first consistent access to mainstream music came from a tractor the family purchased when they were kids.
"We'd run the tractor and tune into the station. It had a variety of artists that they'd play on there. And that was one of our main influences," Joe said.
At just 17 and 19 years old, Donnie and Joe Emerson created 'Dreamin Wild' in their backyard studio. Joe played the drums, while Donnie was lead vocals and guitar. The brothers engineered the album together, before getting a full record pressed.
"We put it on the record player and were like 'wow, this is pretty intense.' Because to hear my family members on something that you could maybe buy in a store - that was pretty special to me," Catherine said.
The family bought several boxes of pressed albums. Donnie and Joe's mom took them house to house in Eastern Washington to sell as many as possible, but most ended up sitting in boxes for decades.
After 'Dreamin Wild' didn't succeed, Donnie continued pursuing a music career. He had some success with one song reaching the top of Pan-European Top-50 Country Music Radio Chart. Joe stayed on the family farm, his dream of being a rock and roll star reduced to memories on a shelf.
Decades later in 2008, music blogger Jack Fleischer sifted through record after record in shops across the Inland Northwest. He was looking for the diamond in the rough.
"The majority [of albums] would be church, high school, maybe a fiddle convention or something," Fleischer said.
Until he spotted 'Dreamin Wild' at a local Spokane antique shop. Fleischer said the album was sitting on the shelf behind the counter for five dollars.
"I was looking at the back of the cover and I could tell they were teenage kids, and it was all original songs. I thought, 'that's unusual'" Fleischer said.
It was one of the few 'Dreamin Wild' albums that were still in circulation after 29 years. After listening to and blogging about the album, Fleischer passed it along to more influential people in the music industry. Light in the Attic record label got ahold of the album and decided to re-issue it.
That's when 'Dreamin Wild' started gaining National attention, including from Jimmy Fallon. When asked what his favorite jam song is during an interview on Bravo, Jimmy Fallon said 'Baby,' by Donnie and Joe Emerson was his current favorite.
Baby became the standout track on the album. People started creating covers of the song nationwide.
"I had moved to Southern California, and I was driving around. I was listening to KROQ. I heard this cover of the song 'Baby' by Arielle Pink, and I was like wow... I feel like I'm in a movie," Fleischer said.
Obviously, the music resonated but so did the story behind the album. A homemade album from two teenage farm kids finally getting the attention it deserved decades later. Joe Emerson said over the years KING 5 News, The New York Times and PM Magazine all covered their story.
Hollywood showed up most recently. Back in October 2021 movie producers set up shop in Spokane and Fruitland to shoot a feature film. The movie will feature Zooey Deschanel and Casey Affleck.
Now 'Dreamin Wild' is the name of a feature film outlining the 29 years it took for the Emerson's dream to come true.
"That was amazing," Joe said.
