When one says award-winning artist about a singer, Elles Bailey would certainly fall into this category, having been named to an impressive list, including: UK Americana Live Act of the Year, UK Blues Artist of the Year and numerous others. Her live performances are supremely soulful and energetic. Classic Rock wrote that: “These songs will loosen the ceiling plaster live.” Well, she does admit to a penchant for headbanging on stage.
Her previous album, “Beneath the Neon Glow” hit #12 among UK albums, topping Jazz/Blues & iTunes charts, and her 2026 record on Cooking Vinyl, “Can’t Take My Story Away,” is every bit as good and poised to blast up the charts faster than the current growth rate of US GDP. To some who thought her successes would be less likely than icicles forming in Barbados, she has proved naysayers wrong time and again. She is actually hot enough to cause listeners to see a mirage.
Bailey had found herself in a dark place when the embers of the new album started to burn. “It’s been a real journey to love myself, to feel comfortable in my own skin,” she reveals. “It all started when I was in a really low spot, and then the most recent recording session, I realised I felt like a totally different person.” We hear this newfound confidence on the single ‘Growing Roots,’ with its shimmer and sway in the instrumentation, and Bailey’s voice landing clear and strong: I love it when the wind blows wild/ And the sun it sets the sky on fire/ And I can barely keep myself from running out on everyone else.
Just don’t put the lady in a box, songwriting-wise, of course. Bailey remembers ‘Constant Need to Keep Going’ was not the song she expected to come out because the album didn’t really have a country feel yet. She wrote the song with her producer, Luke Potashnick. “It was probably the last song we were writing for the album. It came out sort of alt country, like, I’m so tired. I start each day. I fall right out of bed. It was quite upbeat, a bit tongue in cheek.”
She has also become so enthused performing that once she fell while on stage, which you will read about further down in the Q&A section. She also fell victim to a condition that caused her to lose her husky, Joplin-esque voice for a time. It was this which led to new song, ‘Angel,’ an irresistible nod to blues and Motown complete with jubilant brass section. “It was originally written as a ballad with Aaron Lee Tasjan whilst I was in that low spot in 2023, a depression caused in part by losing my voice and fearing I’d done some serious damage to it,” Happily, she found that no matter how out of practice you may be, like riding a bicycle, it will come back to you.
Americana UK: I’ve been wondering how to pronounce your first name. My guess is like the French pronoun, third person plural.
Elles Bailey: That’s it exactly. That’s how I should explain it to people.
AUK: So, you have a new album coming out. Tell me what gets your juices flowing to write songs.
EB: I think it’s something that always sits and simmers underneath. And I’m always inspired by everything around me, but I must admit, I go through phases. I’m not hugely inspired right now to write any music because I’m writing release campaigns. But the one thing is that I don’t wait for inspiration to hit; I will go and find the inspiration, if that makes sense. I’m someone who actively seeks out a song rather than waiting for a song to seek me out.
AUK: You mostly are using co-writers.
EB: That’s because I just love collaboration. I’ve always co-written because I started when I was 13 or 14, writing my own stuff. But I was in a band with my brother from a really early age, so we wrote together. I wrote for myself a bit, and then as I got into more roots music, there’s so much collaboration there. I really enjoy learning from other songwriters and hearing people’s different takes on ideas. It’s all about human connection for me, and the more the merrier.
AUK: Your record gives the impression that it is more personal than some of the others.
EB: Actually, my last album was really personal as well. This album is an interesting one because there are themes that I’ve never really touched on before. I mean, ‘Tightrope’ and ‘Starling’ are so personal, especially ’Tightrope.’ I’ve never really spoken about my battles with mental health to anyone really, and it feels strange. That’s the song that I’m most scared for people to hear. It is really vulnerable. It was written with Henry Grace and Blaine Harrison, both who’ve also openly suffered with mental health. And I had this chorus, the harder you hurt, the brightly you burn, the faster you go up in flames.
I was at this songwriter’s camp and feeling really poorly. So, I went to bed one day early and thought, “Oh, I’ll just have a readthrough of the biogs of people who are in this camp.” I read Henry’s biography and was just blown away by his honesty on his battle with mental health, and basically how going to America ended up saving his life. He was just so open and honest about it. When we were put in a room together the next day, it felt like a really safe space to open up about my troubles. I was in a much better place than when we wrote the song to where I had been, and I think that made it easier to write. I still don’t quite know how to talk about it, as you can tell.
AUK: Did your struggles have an effect on your stage performance, being in front of crowds?
EB: The way I dealt with it was to totally push myself into more and more work to distract myself from what was going on in my head. Being on stage definitely is a safer place because you’re not dwelling on what’s going on and you’re in the moment, working with the audience and feeding off that. I love being on stage.
AUK: Besides your producer, is there anyone you rely upon to critique new material?
EB: It would probably be my brother. He’s still involved and likes to give what he thinks. Sometimes my parents’ family; they’re really supportive, but what’s interesting is often they can’t hear the bigger picture. So, it’s quite nice to play them a song, and then play them the finished song.
AUK: Songwriting has always had this interesting relationship between honoring its roots and exploring paths not yet taken. Do you find a balance between continuing the tried and true in your music and stepping outside the box?
EB: I try not to think of a box. For me, I don’t think of a genre and think this is how we’re going to write today. We just write a song. I remember writing ‘Constant Need to Keep Going,’ and that was not the song I expected to come out of that songwriting session because the album didn’t really have this country feel at that point. I wrote the song with Luke (Potashnick), and it was probably the last song we were writing for the album. It came out sort of alt country, like, I’m so tired. I started today. I fall right out of bed. It was quite upbeat, a bit tongue in cheek.
AUK: The first lines to the first song, the title track, caught my attention: I can’t put pen to paper without scaring myself off the page. What’s going on with that line?
EB: I think it was going through a point in my life where lots of people were trying to put a story on me rather than letting me tell my story. It became a song about trying to find my voice and what I wanted to say, and not being scared of the blank page.
AUK: Speaking of finding your voice, your vocals are very soulful. Did it just come out that way or did you develop a style from listening to musicians you liked?
EB: The story behind my voice is, you can hear it’s very husky, like I’ve been smoking a hundred a day. I sounded like this ever since I was in a coma when I was a child, and my voice was irrevocably changed by being incubated. When I was younger, I had a higher range and I would kind of sing over the huskiness. It was only really in my twenties that I’d started to find these sorts of levels of my voice that I didn’t realize I had. And they have gradually evolved as I’ve got stronger as a singer and more confident as an artist. I’ll listen to what other vocalists are doing and think, “Oh, I wonder if I can do something like that. ” But my voice has definitely had a unique starting point from that huskiness that wasn’t there before I got sick.
AUK: Didn’t you lose your voice a couple of years ago? Was it in the lost and found?
EB: I lost my voice on day two of a 30-day tour, and thankfully, there was a break in between. But it was a really hard few months, brutal, to say the least, and it totally knocked my confidence. Because often people talk about my voice, I always felt like a vocalist before I was anything else growing up, and I forget that actually I am more than just my voice. But as soon as my voice goes, I just lose all sense of self. That’s actually when I first started recording this album. On my days off at home, I’d be tracking songs like ‘Blessed’ and ‘Dandelions.’
AUK: Tell our readers about ‘Growing Roots.’
EB: ‘Growing Roots’ was one of the later songs to be written, and it was recorded over three years. There are lots of things that inspired this song. I think on the surface, it’s a song about choosing to love someone every day, long after the honeymoon period when love is an action and a choice rather than lust. And it’s about dealing with the natural inkling to run away, which is kind of what I have, and then actually being like, “Nope, I’m going to stay here, and I’m going to grow roots with someone.” But it also came from a place where constant need to keep going comes from. And it was a place of, oh my gosh, I’m really tired from being on the road a lot. We were on holiday together, and I was out on a run along this promenade. It was so windy and the waves were crashing against the shore, and there was this epic cloud and sun skyline. That’s where that first line: (singing) I love it when the wind blows wild and the sun, it sets the sky on fire, and I can barely keep myself from running out on everyone else.
AUK: What’s your how I met my husband story?
EB: Our story is that we met in a grocery store, and we both went for the last baked bean can. Actually, it’s a complete lie because we met in a grotty club in Bristol when I was 21 and he was 24, and we talked all night. It was a terrible club called Lizard Lounge.
AUK: In ‘Angel,’ you sing about being afraid of the dark, and I guess the angel calms your fears. Is that somewhat valid?
EB: Actually, that one’s not about me. ‘Angel’ is about being open. When you are quiet, you allow yourself to see the supernatural, but that’s on one level. It’s not about an angel; it’s like those people that are there to try and help you through, really. They’re your angels.
AUK: In other words, your spiritual guides. One of the best songs on another record is ‘Halfway House.’ Great harmonies.
EB: I always say ‘Halfway House’ is not my story, but it feels like such a universal story. It was actually the songwriter I was writing with, Will Edmonds. It was his story. He was going through this breakup, and they were in this stage, everything is broken, it’s too hard to fix, but actually they don’t quite know how to be together or not be together. It was just this complete mess. And I remember writing the song and I said to him, “This may be your story, but this is my song. I want this because I know I can do justice to this song.” That’s my favorite song on “Shining in the Half Light.” When I was first thinking about album number three, I wanted gospel style backing vocals on it and they sort of ended up being soul-tinged, like a bit more modern gospel. There’s an amazing artist called Izo FitzRoy, who put the BVs together. She totally took what I had and made it into something unbelievable.
AUK: On “Wildfire,” you covered a Taylor Swift song, ‘Shake It Off.’ Have you heard her latest, “The Life of a Showgirl?”
EB: I have. First listen, I was like, “Taylor, what have you done?” But I sat through it again and on my third listen, I was like, “Well, this is genius.” That’s exactly how I felt upon first listen to “1989.” And, I ended up covering ‘Shake It Off.’ It was not the cover that you hear on “Wildfire,” but on an earlier YouTube version that got me invited out to Nashville to make “Wildfire.” So, I have Taylor Swift and the band I was playing with to thank for basically kicking off my musical career.
AUK: Her album is a little raunchy, wouldn’t you say?
EB: Oh, gosh, yes. I must admit there were a few songs where I was like, “Ooh, okay. My son Jasper is not hearing this.
AUK: Do you have a guilty pleasure song to cover?
EB: Oh, yes, ‘Valerie’ by Amy Winehouse. It’s a guilty pleasure karaoke track. It’s not her original song, of course, it was by The Zutons. I remember the original as well. I tell you what, though, I love Hall and Oates. (singing again) You’re making my dreams come true.
AUK: Your outfits on stage are striking, and I’ve very rarely seen you without a hat. Are hats kind of your thing?
EB: They very much used to be but not so much recently. I started wearing hats because I’d rock out so much on stage, and I’d basically headbang and give myself whiplash because I’m not very good at headbanging. So, I started wearing a hat to stop that and calm my performance down. Now, I’m definitely a lot more at home on stage as I’ve got well into my career. I don’t wear the hats so much. If you see me wearing a hat now, it’s probably because I haven’t washed my hair for four days.
AUK: You do have quite striking stage attire. Who picks out your clothes? Is that you?
EB: That is me. And it’s brilliant because I have a really striking stage attire, and then really slouchy at home attire. You’re seeing me in a long black hoodie, so very much casual Thursday.
AUK: A music career is high energy. How do you switch off and relax?
EB: I do love watching TV because it’s the one thing that I can get transported away. I didn’t read for a long time, but I’ve really got back into reading now, a good story that can distract me.
AUK: What is the last book you’ve read?
EB: “A Court of Thorns and Roses” is like the ultimate smart novel series. There are so many bizarre names. It’s like fantasy smut, basically. It’s brilliant. I’ve started reading some of it out loud to my husband, and he’s like, “Well, that’s why you’re reading it a lot, isn’t it?
AUK: If you could have one of your songs synced into a television series, which series would you choose?
EB: Some of my early stuff would’ve sounded great on “True Detective.” It’d be very cool to have a song in “Slow Horses.” I don’t know if that’s come over to you. It’s a spy show. I’ve definitely got a “Peaky Blinders” song. When we first reenvisioned ‘Angel,’ I imagined it to be more like Nick Cave. And then when we got in the studio with the band, we just let it go full stacks.
AUK: Are you still doing that radio show, “Planet Rock?”
EB: Yes. “Planet Rock” is the biggest national radio rock station in the country. It’s basically like your one-stop shop for rock in the UK, and it has really passionate fans as rock music does. It’s such an incredible thing to be a part of and be a part of the team as well, as they really supported my third album. I’m a radio presenter. But I also have a lovely little feature called “Putting Down Roots,” which is a celebration of americana and roots rock.
AUK: Your songs often have themes of resilience. Are you a resilient person?
EB: I go through phases of being resilient. As you get older, you probably get more resilient. I guess it’s just your frontal cortex developing more, and maybe your bullshit monitor getting more in tune. I also think becoming a parent was something where I was like, I don’t have time for anything else, like any crap or any bullshit. And you don’t dwell on the small things either. I used to dwell on the small things for ages, and then you’d become a parent and haven’t got time for that from anybody. Also, I’ve dealt with grief in my life, so there’s been a real inclination to celebrate where I am, not be dragged down by things, and to really embrace the moment.
AUK: What is one quality in your music that you find people really relate to?
EB: People tell me they really relate to my voice, but I think as I’ve got more confidence as an artist, that maybe my songwriting has become more personal, though at the same time more universal. I think people relate to that too. The more honest you are with yourself, actually, the more you open yourself up to be more universal, because we often experience similar things at different times in our lives.
AUK: Who have you shared a stage with that really impressed you?
EB: There are so many people. I got to share a stage with Rag ‘n Bone Man last year, and that was unreal. He is such an incredible vocalist and performer and lovely human, and I’m such a big fan. The fact that I got to duet with him was so surreal. That was probably one of the biggest highs of my career.
AUK: Did you get to be friendly with him enough to have a story to tell?
EB: Actually, I do have a brilliant story. It was a very chilled out tour, but we did this show in Scarborough, and we were second on. It was an open-air theater, and if you looked up, there were loads of pigeons roosting in the rafters. Just before going on, I was like, “Oh, I really hope a pigeon doesn’t poo on me during stage. Don’t want them to ruin my hat.” We had to leave before the end of Rory’s performance, and just as we’re getting in the van, I hear Rory say, “Yeah, so a pigeon has just pooed on my shoulder.” They had runners who literally go and clean off the performers because it’s so common that the pigeons poo on the superstars.
AUK: So, no poo on you. What is the funniest or strangest thing that has ever happened to you on stage?
EB: I have fallen on stage in a mini skirt and high heels and forward rolled. Actually, that was a hat accident. There was my hat in place to stop me from headbanging, but I got so excited and headbanged so much that I flung the hat off, stamped my foot on the brim of the hat, rolled my ankle, rolled over, and then got back up again. I had one more song to do, and I’d completely messed up my ankle, but I still did the last song and limped off stage.
AUK: Is the live performance a culmination of everything that’s gone into a song from the writing to the recording to the producing and all the distribution? Is that the best part of it for you?
EB: Tricky, because I love producing and recording, but there’s something magical when you put an audience in front of you. You are thriving off the energy in the room, and it’s hearing how your songs are affecting other people. For me, on the last album, ‘Silhouette in a Sunset’ took a life of its own with everyone singing along, and you’re like, “That wasn’t a single. It’s in the middle of a record.” And it’s like, you listened to the album, well done.
AUK: If you could either collaborate or just have a conversation with any musician, who would you choose?
EB: I’d love to go to dinner with Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples. My childhood dream was to duet with Joe Cocker. And I’d love to have met John Prine.
AUK: What is something people don’t know about you?
EB: That’s the thing. I’m such an open book and don’t keep secrets. But there is “Traitors” on TV at the moment. It’s sort of a human lie game. Do you have it over there yet? Most people go on wanting to be a traitor. But there’s no way I could be a traitor. I’d have to be a faithful, because I cannot lie. Everyone knows everything about me. What you see is what you get. I just couldn’t do the whole lying thing, basically, and then they end up killing people and people get banished. It’s such a great psychological watch of how crowd mentality can tear a group apart. It was brilliant. In another world, I would’ve been a counselor, but I think people know that.
