He continued his musical education at Georgia State University, where he was enrolled as a Math Major. He joined the school's concert band and took up French Horn. His big breakthrough came in 1964 at an Atlanta area Sock Hop, where he was playing with a group called Wayne Lochadisi and the Kommotions. One of Atlanta's busiest Producers, Joe South was playing guitar in the same program. A week later South called and asked Emory if he wanted to come down and do some recording. Emory moved to LA to test the musical waters in January of 1970. He did stints as a player, producer and recording engineer before joining Neil Diamond's road band in '71. When session bassist Jerry Scheff needed a sub for an Elvis Presley record date, Emory got the call. He sat in for Jerry on the March 1972 session that produced recordings such as "Separate Ways", "Burning Love" and "Always On My Mind". When Elvis needed to replace Jerry in the concert lineup in April 1973, he was already familiar with Emory's work. He toured with Elvis from then until September 1973, performing in 113 live shows with Elvis. After working with Elvis, Emory continued with his busy studio work. In 1975, Emmylou Harris invited the core of Elvis' band to from her Hot Band.
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Born on Christmas, 1944 in Atlanta,Georgia, Emory began on piano at age four and moved to trumpet at age six. Led by an insatiable curiosity, he became well-versed on other brass instruments such as the euphonium (especially a tenor tuba), as well as ukulele, banjo and guitar. He also played guitar in a little string band in high school, and also playing 4-string banjo in a dixieland band. He also played in bass in a garage band, covering Coasters Material and Top 40 Material.
Meanwhile, Emory's talents were increasingly in demand in L.A. studio circles. He cut tracks with Tom Petty, The Bellamy Brothers, and Billy Joel. Although he stopped touring with the Hot Band in '77, he played on several of Emmylou's Pivotal albums. In 1979 Emory toured Austrailia, Europe and the US with John Denver(with whom he recorded two albums). Then throughout 1981 and 1982, he alternated tours with Rodney Crowell and Roseanne Cash. Emory lists James Jamerson, Tommy Cogbill and Donald "Duck" Dunn as seminal bass influences, along with Paul McCartney.