Before our interview, Odie Leigh and I become acquainted over dripping ICEEs. The four of us — Leigh, her tour manager, Pleaser’s photographer and I — are nestled inside a press trailer planted on the open fields of Saint Charles, Iowa, slurping our red and green popsicles. The AC is blasting, offering an oasis from a nearly unbearable Midwest heat wave. Another photographer is rummaging through her bag, searching for a Band-Aid to tend to Leigh’s broken nail, which ripped off midway through her set at Hinterland Music Festival just an hour earlier — not that you’d be able to tell from the crowd, considering she shredded her guitar straight through it.
For an early Sunday set, she drew quite an audience. Dressed in a neon pink tank and leopard-print bra, with matching lacy underwear sewn onto a black mini skirt, you might mistake Leigh for a rock artist. But if you listen to her new album, Carrier Pigeon, folk sounds bleed through.
Leigh is a singer-songwriter living in Detroit by way of New Orleans and went viral on TikTok in 2022 with a snippet of her original “Ronnie’s Song,” paving a yellow brick road to a career in music. Carrier Pigeon, released in July 2024, is a culmination of growth for the burgeoning folk artist. Along with diving into her new record, we talked about growing up in the South, her family of storytellers and the art of gossiping.
PLEASER: You’re living in Detroit by way of Louisiana, and I read an interview where you said you “actually hate the poser stuff of people moving to Louisiana being like, ‘I’m singing about being down the swamp.’’’ So I don’t want to ask you too much about Louisiana, but I am curious how that sense of authenticity is important to your music and why you don’t want to lean in or pull from what’s easy or what’s been done already?
ODIE LEIGH: I am a big believer that everyone has an interesting story. I feel like there’s this idea now that folk music is anything that has an acoustic guitar, but to me, folk music is anything real and authentic and honest, because folk is music of the people. Obviously, there’s such a long history of music in the South. But I feel like (with) folk music today, the core of it is still just communicating with honesty and telling stories that represent real life. And so, I wish I could say I try to do that with my music, but in reality, music has always been something I did only for myself. Then it spiraled into a career, but it was just always a way to get things off my chest instead of making a crazy-person phone call or talking to my friends too much about something they don’t care about. It’s like okay, ‘I’m gonna sit down and write a song about this boy who won’t text me back.’
PLEASER: It’s kind of like the alternative to therapy.
LEIGH: Yeah, it’s like my therapy alternative, which is crazy. But I think that there’s also such a rich storytelling history in the South, and my family is all real big storytellers. Everyone talks too much and everyone always has things to say. When we were kids, my Nana and my granddaddy would put on a little show every time they came to town and give us candy, but they were magicians… It’s hard to describe. Cute fun family things. That definitely subconsciously influenced my music in the way of just telling a story, saying what’s going on and having it be really honest, because it’s just for me.
PLEASER: You weren’t part of a musical family as much as you were, like you said, a family of storytellers. It sounds eclectic, the people in your family.
LEIGH: I didn’t grow up around people playing music. I grew up around people who talked. People who gossiped. And I think that comes through in my music because my music is like…
PLEASER: Very confessional.
LEIGH: Very confessional. And I also think that there is so much gossip, and a big part of gossip is spinning a web, making things bigger than they really are. And that’s what my music is. Because if I just said, ‘I have a crush on a boy who didn’t text me back’ — boring song. You have to expand it and make it grow, and that is something that if you grew up going to church, you know how to do. Just in the South, everyone has so much to say, sitting around talking and making it bigger than it is. And that I think is how I ended up how I am today.
I didn’t grow up around people playing music. I grew up around people who talked. People who gossiped. I think that comes through in my music.
PLEASER: How did you end up translating that into music and your interest in making it?
LEIGH: It wasn’t something I ever planned on or expected. I went on a road trip with a friend during Covid, and they just loved playing guitar and singing. And for the first time in my life, I was around someone who was just doing it for the joy of it. Not for other people to listen, not because they’re studying it in college, not because they want to be the next big thing, just because they love it. And I was like, ‘Oh, I can just play guitar and sing songs for myself.’ It sounds so silly, but it never connected. Because you see musicians on the stage, and you think, ‘I can never get there. Why would I? That’s not for me. I’m in the crowd. That’s not for me.’ But being around someone who just did it for fun and had no aspirations of being on the stage, I was like, ‘Oh, damn, I should just have some fun.’ Ironically, I ended up on stage. But that’s kind of what jumped it off. I just started doing it for myself. And I ended up… people ended up liking what I was doing.
PLEASER: Yeah, so to fill in the gap there. “Ronnie’s Song” went viral on TikTok (in 2021). What was that journey like from, ‘Oh wow, I can just make music to make music,’ to playing festivals and touring? What happened in between that led you to want to be onstage?
LEIGH: It’s such a crazy thing, because from day one, from the first song I posted, people were saying, ‘OMG put out more music.’ ‘Come play in this city.’ ‘I’ll record your album.’ La la la. So from the moment I started sharing what I was doing, all of this was real. Even though I had never toured, I’d never played in front of people, never done any of this stuff… immediately the opportunities were open. The road was shown in front of me, and I was like, ‘Well, people are liking what I’m doing. I should just keep on going.’ So for a couple of years, I just kept on posting songs, kept on writing songs, and slowly but surely, the right people came along. I also tried really hard not to rush any of it. I didn’t play any shows before someone asked me to play a show. I didn’t go on tour until there was a real reason for me to go on tour.
PLEASER: And I know this is an older song — well, it’s not that old. Time feels like it has moved so slowly yet so fast these past few years. But your song “Crop Circles” (2022) is genuinely one of my favorite songs. The end of the song goes, “Here I am crying out for change.” I don’t know if that song came from a personal place, but if so, do you feel like change has come in the way that you wanted it to since writing it?
LEIGH: Yes. But I also think that’s kind of what the song is about. The song is about the inevitable fact that you are going to change and that in your change, you’re going to leave people behind. So much of my life has changed. But of course, I still look back at the things that at the time I wanted to be gone, and I look at them now with nostalgia and longing. It’s all very bittersweet. So, I’ve definitely changed. Some people might say for the better, some people might say for the worse.
PLEASER: Would you say that change and growth are reflected in the new album, Carrier Pigeon? Has it bled into your songwriting or musicality?
LEIGH: The growth I’ve experienced is definitely reflected in the album. Not necessarily as the subjects, but my new album is nothing like I ever thought I’d be able to make because of how much I’ve learned musically. My abilities have changed in the last few years. When I made that first EP, I literally didn’t know a drummer. It’s basically just me and my acoustic guitar on that album. But with my new album, it’s me and a whole band because I met a producer who knows drummers and we made this big thing. I’ve been playing music long enough that I was able to think past, ‘It’s just me and my guitar,’ and think, ‘Okay, and then there’s going to be a cool little guitar thing here. And then the drums are going to do this and then this will be a big chorus section with multiple voices.’ So, I think in that way, my own growth and change are reflected in the album, but it’s not what I’m writing about. What I’m writing about is kind of the same thing I’ve always been writing about, just a different perspective.
PLEASER: How does it feel to play Carrier Pigeon live and be here today on a big stage with all the new songs?
LEIGH: It’s so much fun. I wrote these new songs so long ago. Like a year ago, two years ago, I don’t even know anymore. Like a year and a half ago. It’s so amazing to finally have that vision out in the world. To come onstage and play the songs that I feel represent me now, and also for it to be received so well. It’s really scary going from an acoustic album to like, suddenly electric guitar and drums. But the core of who I am as a songwriter has stayed the same, and I feel like what you connect with in “Crop Circles,” you may also connect with in “Either Way,” or “Idiom” or “Finer Things.” There’s something there lyrically for all kinds of people.
This is an interview originally conducted and written for Pleaser Magazine. It has been uploaded to Substack for archival purposes.