Tag Archives: UK Country

americana, blues, country, Country and Western, UK Americana, UK Country

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S8 Ep 8 ~ Danni Nicholls

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Danni Nicholls speaks with CloudwatcherUno from her home about her “Hear Your Voice” tour ( delayed by two years because of the pandemic), her three albums “A little Redemption”, “Mockingbird Lane” and “The Melted Morning”. We also talk about the inspiration for the songs “Hear Your Voice”, “Lemonade”, “Wish I Were Alone” and her new single “Little Fictions”.

“Hear Your Voice” by Danni Nicholls

Danni tells how she struggled with not performing during the pandemic, how technology and her loyal fans supported her and kept her afloat during those strange times.

Born in Bedford, England but raised on country music all her life.

Danni met Chris Donoghue at an Emmi Lou Harris concert in London and that sparked a musical relationship which resulted in them connecting and Chris offering Danni his help in making a record whenever Danni was in Nashville. A few months later and Danni was in Nashville and lo and behold Chris produced two of Danni’s albums.

“First Cuckoo of Spring” by Danni Nicholls

Danni was also performing at young age and did a Drama degree and at one point she was thinking of going into the world of theatre (and still would if she got the opportunity!), Danni has been listening to country and American roots music (thanks to her Grandmother on her mum’s side) from a young age and Patsy Cline was the soundtrack to her youth, Danni even played the saxophone in growing up and loved the big band sound.

After two years Danni finally got to take her ‘Her Your Voice’ Tour out on the road.

“Little Fictions” was one of the first songs that Danni engineered the sound without the help of a producer and one that she is most proud of.

“Little Fictions” by Danni Nicholls

Danni went back to Nashville in September 2021 and wrote a whole bunch of songs for album number four and his coming close to selecting those that best reflect her as a musician. There’s more touring on the horizon for Danni in 2022 but once that is done Danni will concentrate on the new album and bringing it out in the open for her fans.

Say hello to one of the leading country and Americana artists from the UK, Danni Nicholls.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Danni Nicholls. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

blues, country

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S6 EP 6 ~ Elles Bailey

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CloudwatcherUno sits down with Elles Bailey to talk about ‘Cheats and Liars’, from Elles new album ‘Shining in the Half Light‘ due in 2022, her musical career so far from touring and promoting her album ‘Road I Call Home‘ which is where I first saw Elles live in concert. Elles recently won The UK Blues Awards — where she was awarded UK Blues Artist of the Year 2021 for the second year running.

‘Medicine Man‘ by Elles Bailey

‘Medicine Man‘ is one of my favourite songs of Elles but the story behind it acts now as a warning sign about the dark side of the music business. Having invested all her money in travelling to Los Angeles for four meetings with record labels with an American producer it turned out that he was a con artist.

The situation became the inspiration for another song ‘Wild Wild West‘

‘You guaranteed I’d feel a blazing fire
Sold me a dream so I showed you every scar
Planted a seed and I let you take me higher
Now here I am on Sunset Boulevard’

Elles managed to use that negative experience and turn it into some of her most popular songs.

‘Wildfire‘ by Elles Bailey

We talk about the story for the fan favourite song ‘Howlin Wolf‘ which Elles wrote in 2013. Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in tribute to the bluesy delta rock and roll music that was the soundtrack for backpack adventures with her father. The love for this song is so much that there is a facebook page from her fans called the Wolfpack.

‘Howlin Wolf‘ by Elles Bailey

Recently Elles played at the Empress Ballroom at The British Country Music Festival 2021 in Blackpool. The festival promotes the best home-grown, contemporary country and Americana artists from across the UK. This was the highlight of the fledgling return of live music to the British Isles. The experience of reconnecting with a live audience was amazing and showed Elles how much she had missed playing live.

‘Cheats and Liars‘ by Elles Bailey

Elles never set out to be a country artist or a blues artist what she is and wants to be first and foremost is a musician who makes killer music. ‘Cheats and Liars’ when it first came out enjoyed a world exclusive on ‘The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews’, on BBC Radio Two and was added to Planet Rock’s A List and was the most played track on Planet Rock in September 2021. The success of this single has meant the second single ‘Sunset City‘ got pushed back to make way for this huge first single.

Elles is the very first artist to be signed to peermusic (the largest independent music publisher in the world) via Under The Apple Tree (UTAT) (the label co-founded by music and broadcasting legend ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris), spearheading a brand-new, music publishing, joint venture.

  • The Lexington – March 2019
  • Photo: Alan Dunkley
  • Photo: Alex Berger
  • With Elles Bailey at The Lexington – March 2019
  • Photo: Adam Kennedy

Out of all of these achievements one of the closest to Elles heart has been the birth of her baby which has brought her closer to her family and with their support Elles will be able to go back to what she loves doing most in the world which is going back on tour in October and November 2021.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Elles Bailey. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.