Elles Bailey, powerhouse singer-songwriter from Bristol, UK, has made a significant impact on the blues, roots, and Americana music scenes with her smoky, soulful voice and heartfelt performances. Overcoming a childhood bout of pneumonia that left her with a distinctive husky tone, Bailey has built a reputation for her emotive songwriting and dynamic stage presence. Her critically acclaimed albums, such as ‘Wildfire,' ‘Road I Call Home' and particularly her last album, ‘Shining in the Half Light' have garnered numerous awards, including UK Blues Awards, and showcased her unique ability to blend traditional blues with modern Americana.
Produced by Dan Weller (Enter Shikari) and recorded with Elles' exceptional live band, new album ‘Beneath The Neon Glow' explores the multifaceted nature of love across ten powerful tracks that seamlessly blend British roots, Americana, and blues. Through raw and honest songwriting, Elles delves into themes of heartbreak, friendship, and enduring love, offering listeners an intimate glimpse into her emotional journey. Our review right here.
We were thrilled to catch up with Elles to talk all about it.
Thank you for your time today, it's lovely to touch base about this fantastic album of yours!
Aww, thanks. It's my pleasure.
Congratulations on ‘Beneath the Neon Glow.' We were huge fans of your previous album, ‘Shining in the Half Light' but this is another level. ‘Shining in the Half Light' was such an important album for you and your career – did that put pressure on you when it came time to start making the follow up?
Yeah, most certainly! This was definitely the hardest album I've had to make. I'm so proud of ‘Shining in the Half Light” and the whole narrative around it – releasing it myself as a pregnant woman in the pandemic! I also really like the album too.
As an artist you always want your next body of work to be your best body of work but I felt with ‘Shining…..' because it was released in a collective time of strife and heartbreak around the pandemic I felt like a lot of my fans grabbed onto it and the record helped them get through those uncertain times. I had to better myself as a writer and artist on ‘Beneath the Neon Glow' but I also had to better the emotional connections too. That was the pressure I felt.
How many songs did you have up for contention for ‘Beneath the Neon Glow?'
About 40 maybe? I think you might see some of them in the future. We worked hard to produce a cohesive album that made the most sense from beginning to end. There were songs up for consideration that were really beautiful but if there was another one similar to it you just had to choose one.
People in places like Nashville write songs and then sit on them for five years because the Country music world isn't zeitgeist based – the sound is timeless. I guess that's the same for Rock, Blues, Americana too whereas if you are Charlie XcX or Olivia Rodrigo you have to use what you have there and then because Pop will sound different in three years.
Actually I did sit on a song for five years that is on this project – ‘Ballad of a Broken Dream.' That was the only one on the album written before 2023. That was written in 2019.
That's my favourite song on the album…………
(laughing) I literally feel like every conversation I have with people results in someone saying that to me! We all know people like that in our lives.
Was that song based on real life experience or did you add a little creative license to it?
No, it's based on truth. It's not my story, I will say that, but it is 100% true. It's so true that I recorded the song but then went back to it and changed the lyrics to protect the people involved in it because it was too true. I don't take any prisoners in that song and that is why, for so long, I didn't want to release it. It's such a tragic story.
What was the easiest song to write for this album and what song took the longest to get it to where you wanted it to be?
Hands down the hardest song, technically, to write was ‘Truth Ain't Gonna Save Us' because I wrote the song and melody first but it was such a universal song that I didn't just want to have any old throwaway lyrics on it so there is probably about 15 different versions of the song knocking around somewhere! (laughing)
I wrote the song with Matt Owens who was in Noah and the Whale and we were batting lines back and forth with each other for about five months!
The easiest song to write, which I then spent five years trying to re-write was ‘Ballad of a Broken Dream.' I loved the lyrics but I kept on rewriting the melody and it took me a long time to realise that I had it right the first time! (laughing)
‘Enjoy the Ride' was, literally, written in about 90 minutes, so that came pretty easy. I had to pick up my son from nursery and up against it, time-wise. It got to the point where I was, like, ‘everyone get out of my house now!' (laughing) and I ended up running to the nursery but we nailed the song!
I love the fact you span multiple genres and styles. Do you ever worry about falling between stools because you are ‘unpigeonholeable' or is that your USP and what makes you so good?
Maybe on ‘Wildfire' I was a little worried that I might fall between the cracks of what people expected but I kinda now feel like I have released enough music in my career to show that I'm cool with being ‘unpigeonholeable' and people are just going to have to roll with it!
Occasionally I get a message on social media like, ‘Where's the Blues Rock gone?' and I always think, ‘well, maybe it will come back again next album,' but there's definitely elements of everything in my music now.
My favourite food is Tapas and I'm the kind of person who can't make a decision about anything so I like to have a little bit of everything on my plate and I approach my music in the same way! (laughing) Who knows where I will go next although I probably will not be doing a Rap album! My music will always be inspired by Roots, Americana and Rock, that's where my passion lies.
What was your mission statement setting out to make ‘Beneath the Neon Glow?'
It was in January last year when I started to begin the process of making it and we had a number of discussions about what I wanted to achieve with it. I wanted to write a record that paid homage to all the people who had gone before, which is what a lot of Rock and Americana is, but I also wanted to make something that was relevant to today. So the album has all these throwback moments but it also sounds like an album perfect for right now in 2024.
Which is why you can have songs like ‘1972' and ‘Turn off the News' sitting next to each other on the project.
‘1972' is an obvious celebration of an era long gone but it was written to have meaning in people's lives right now. It was inspired by the need to put my phone down and live more in the moment, like people had to do back in 1972. I'll take you back in time in the music but the lyrics are very pertinent to life right now. It's song drenched in nostalgia but designed to make people think about their lives right now.
Going into the past a little bit, you've got music on Spotify dating back to ‘Who I Am to Me' in 2015. How would you say you've changed and evolved as an artist and writer over the course of the last decade?
‘Who Am I To Me' was actually my musings as to who I wanted to be as an artist. I feel like I've moved on and learnt a lot about myself and about the industry since then. I've been fortunate enough to have had many trips out to Nashville to work with some of the world's top songwriters. I've got friends like Tamara Stewart, who has helped me considerably. I'm also very open to collaboration now too. I always say that the record will say ‘Elles Bailey' on it but it is absolutely a product of all the people around me as much as anything to do with me and I'm grateful for that. I would be nowhere without all of the people who have had a hand in helping me and I'm always open to learning more and creating music from our different life experiences.
When I was writing ‘Beneath the Neon Glow' I realised that people are never just one thing. We are always moving and always learning and our opinions change along with our dreams and outlooks – I mean, I am a totally different person now than I was 10 years ago when I made ‘Who I Am To Me,' and that's a good thing for everyone.
We spend a lot of time working with Nashville and there's such a tradition of the duet in Country music. Have you ever considered doing a duet on your albums or haven't you written the right song yet?
Funnily enough, myself and a friend have written this really great Country duet but we just need to get our schedules together to be able to to record it. Last Friday Scarlet Rebels released their new album, ‘Where the Colours Meet' and I have a duet with them called ‘Out of Time' on there, so I have, technically, done a duet it's just gone out on their record! (laughing) I've also been involved in a song with Brave Rival too – their new album came out recently too so it's just a case of getting schedules to align.
Myself and my friend John Adams have written this really lovely, really Country duet that sounds very much in line with what a lot of modern Country sounds like. We really just need to get around to recording it. John and I have the polar opposite of voices – he's got the voice of an angel and I've got the whiskey-drinking woman voice, so between the two of us there's a nice contrast. I'm definitely seeing more and more people coming together and collaborating in the genres outside of Country in the same vein that they do in Nashville.
We cant wait to see you out on the road with ‘…..Neon Glow.' Is it hard being away from the family out on the road? How do you achieve a balance between both worlds?
Having a toddler will always keep you grounded! You can be celebrating your album charting really high, like we have been doing this week, and still be scraping crayon off the walls at the same time! (laughing) I tend to go out on the road in small chunks. I've actually spent a lot of time at home this year, getting the album ready and I spent a lot of August away so far so I was a little worried how that would work and how my son would react but it was great and he was really good. I always try and check in every day and the max I tend to go away for is about 4-5 days and then I'm back home again.
It's quite exhausting doing it in bite-sized chunks, to be honest. It would be easier just to go out on the road and go away for longer periods of time and get some sleep in various hotels around the country! (laughing)
Check out Elles Bailey's awesome new album ‘Beneath the Neon Glow' and catch her live on tour this Autumn in a town near you – all the links here.
