Bristol blues roots & americana artist Elles Bailey rocked up to Temperance café in Leamington Spa (in association with Head Records) for one of her very intimate gigs touring with her just released 4th studio album ‘Beneath the Neon Glow’.
With Elles on singing & tambourine, she was joined by Demi Marriner on backing vocals & acoustic guitar and Joe Wilkins on guitar and backing vocals.
In the week leading up to the album’s release she had been interviewed by Anita Rani on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour where she explained she had been very ill as a young child and had lost her voice amongst other issues. As she recovered and learned to talk again, she had the starting of her famous husky singing voice! A consultant in the Ear, Nose & Throat hospital told her that with that voice she should be a blues singer, which of course she did some years later.
Amazingly this was the first time that Elles has performed at Temperance (managed by Adrian Gaines) and she was excited when the gig on this Record Store tour was going to be with Head Records but hosted at Temperance. She had helped other artists such as Dom Martin & Demi Marriner get slots at the venue, and now it was her time.
The set kicked off with the ‘1972’ which was written for now and 2024 and trying to get people to do without mobile phones, social media & internet and back to simpler times back then.
The next song ‘Leave the Lights On’ was inspired by a trip when she missed the train going home and was missing lonely and missing family. When she finally got home her husband had left a light on so she could get in. The next day on a run she started writing the lyrics which she finished with Will Edmunds.
Most of the songs were written between March – October 2023 but the next song ‘Ballad of a Broken Dream’ was written back in 2019 with Tamara Stewart, but Elles was not sure it should be on an album as it was very personal. But after Joe Wilkins and producer Dan had heard it, they insisted it was good enough to get on this album.
A great slower song with its husky vocals and echoy guitar from Joe was ‘Silhouette in the Sunset’ with great backing vocals from Demi.
A very topical song was ‘Turn Off the News’ which was written after the Turkey/Syria earthquakes but could equally apply to the recent far right violence including in Elles home city of Bristol. This had very passionate vocals from Elles with its strong message.
She finished with ‘Enjoy the Ride’ with its great soulful vocals, strong harmonies and great guitar breaks from Joe.
After wild applause from the audience Elles was persuaded to play another song and after a break chat with Joe, they gave us ‘Riding out the Storm’ from the previous studio album ‘Shining in the Half Light’. This was imagined whilst Elles was driving to pick up her son, with the first verse nailed. Then whilst in Gordano Services on the M5, before a trip to Lyme Regis, she wrote the second verse. This song had great triple harmonies with a danceable beat.
