The Drop: Emily Kinney

Best known for her role as Beth Greene on AMC’s hit television series “The Walking Dead,” Emily Kinney is an actor and songwriter whose musical talents have been featured on TV, in musical theater, and in her own releases. A Nebraska native, she studied theater at Nebraska Wesleyan University and New York University, staying in NYC to pursue her acting and music career. Kinney worked in theatre off-broadway and regionally before landing a role on Broadway in the musical adaptation of Spring Awakening. In 2011 she released her debut EP, Blue Toothbrush. That same year she began working on “The Walking Dead,” in which her singing was prominently featured, notably a moving cover of Tom Waits’ “Hold On” and a haunting rendition of the traditional Scottish song “The Parting Glass” with cast-mate Lauren Cohan, the latter of which appears on The Walking Dead: AMC Original Soundtrack, Vol. 1. In 2014, Kinney released her second EP Expired Love (Thirty Tigers), which featured seven original songs written by Kinney, with production by Caleb Shreve and Conrad Korsch (bassist, Rod Stewart), and mixes by Mikal Blue (Colbie Caillat, OneRepublic, Toad the Wet Sprocket). The EP reached No. 14 on the iTunes Pop Chart and No. 3 on the Amazon Singer-Songwriter Chart. Kinney released her first full-length album This Is War on Oct. 2, 2015, which was followed by a 31-date tour that concluded with a sold-out show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Most recently, Kinney was cast alongside Hayley Atwell and Shawn Ashmore in the pilot for ABC’s “Conviction,” and was featured by the New York Times in their “Up Next” column. The GRAMMY Museum welcomes Kinney to the Clive Davis Theater for an intimate conversation on her rising career and performance, hosted by Scott Goldman, Vice President of the GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares. Following the program, Kinney will participate in a signing in the Museum’s gift store.