Vince Emmett is another one of those remarkable individuals who make up the Unbridled Family, a creative spirit whose work, faith, and story all seem to harmonize.
Vince grew up near Champaign, Illinois, in a deeply supportive, faith-based family. Music grabbed him early, around age eight, after watching his dad strum a G chord and wearing out LPs by Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Sr., Patsy Cline, and Chet Atkins. By nine or ten he was in a kids’ country band called The Reverbs, playing weekly TV shows, live radio, and state fairs, showing up to middle school with gig money in his pocket.
When some bandmates began playing honky-tonks, his parents pulled him out, a painful moment that turned into a blessing. It led him toward church music under the mentorship of Pastor Phil Hansen, and soon after, a visiting gospel group from Lexington, Kentucky, the Gospel Couriers, heard him play and invited him on the road as a teenager. He toured churches and festivals, sharing bills with Southern Gospel greats like the Stamps Quartet, the Oak Ridge Boys, and the Happy Goodman Family. Those years built not just musical chops but a lifelong bias toward purpose over spotlight.
After a stint pursuing his own rock project and even fielding offers to tour with major country artists, Vince chose a different path, composing for film. Introduced to filmmaking by Kentucky director Robbie Henson, and through projects involving Kris Kristofferson, Chris Cooper, and Patricia Clarkson, Vince discovered his second home: putting music to story.
Today, he serves as President and CEO of American Troubadours, a collective of filmmakers and composers producing feature films, documentaries, TV series, and soundtracks. With offices and studios in Los Angeles, Nashville, Arizona, and a 250-year-old log-cabin retreat in the hills near Louisville, Kentucky, American Troubadours reflects Vince’s belief that meaningful art comes from places rooted in authenticity and stillness.
Over three decades, Vince has collaborated with Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe, and Emmy-winning artists including John Travolta, Dennis Quaid, Dolly Parton, Bruce Dern, Jon Voight, Chris Cooper, Stephen Lang, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, John Doe (of X), Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds), Joan Osborne, Ricky Skaggs, and Alice Cooper. Most recently, he produced the feature film Reagan (2024), starring Dennis Quaid, a sweeping biopic of the 40th U.S. President that marked another milestone in his expanding body of cinematic work.
Vince and his wife Brenda adopted daughters from Ethiopia and now split their time between their farm outside Nashville and their historic log cabin near Louisville. Their family’s story of faith and adoption continues to shape Vince’s perspective on creativity and legacy. “Applause fades,” he says, “but the imprint you leave on your kids does not.”
Like everything and everyone in the Unbridled Family, Vince’s journey is about more than success, it’s about purpose, faith, and the stories that endure long after the final note fades.