In 2023, she dropped her second EP, The Only Thing Worse Than a Woman Who Lies Is a Girl Who’ll Tell Truths.
New Orleans-bred, Detroit-based singer-songwriter Odie Leigh releases her infectious debut album this Friday with new song and companion video "Already (On My Mind)" out today.
"'Already (On My Mind)' is a reflection on the beginning of a relationship and the confusion that comes with it, I wanted the verses and chorus to almost feel like different songs," says Odie Leigh. "We kept the verses simple and driving to reflect the groundedness of being with another person and feeling secure and made the choruses lofty and vibrant to capture the feeling of the spiraling uncertainty that comes with a new relationship.
"Also, I tried to sneak as much trumpet into this album as I could. There are a couple of songs that we recorded trumpet on but ended up taking it out and thankfully this isn’t one of them. I knew from the beginning that I wanted this track to feel full and fun and welcoming, and I think we accomplished that exactly."
On Carrier Pigeon, Odie says: “Standing in a bar in the French Quarter and dressed up like a clown, I invited the tourist I met the night before to come home with me. 'We’ve had a great night and I don’t want to spoil it,' he said, 'sometimes I try to get too much out of a good thing.'
"I agreed with him, our one evening had already turned into two and the rational thing to do would be to spend the rest of our Halloween weekend with friends, not a stranger from out of town. Fortunately, I am not always rational. The stranger stuck around.
"I wrote 'A Good Thing' the next day and the rest of the album in the year that followed. This whole project is just a play-by-play of me falling in Love.
"Songwriting has always been a means for me to get my thoughts out about real people and situations, and it’s scary how they then get to hear my raw, heat-of-the-moment thoughts about them later on. I’ll be writing all the things I wish I could say to a particular person and thinking 'I might as well just be throwing a message in a bottle into the ocean.' This album really reflects that concept. Every song is a specific moment, a captured feeling, something that needed to be said. It's called 'Carrier Pigeon' because this album is the means of delivery.
"I’ve learned that happy songs are scarier to talk about than sad ones. Sadness is something to be fixed, happiness is something that can be taken away.”
Carrier Pigeon (Mom + Pop) was produced by producer/musician/engineer Derek Ted and Odie Leigh, and its release has been heralded since January with the memorable singles: "My Name On A T-Shirt," "Conversation Starter," “Either Way” and “No Doubt.” To celebrate the album's release, Odie Leigh will continue her “Carrier Pigeon Tour” featuring an extensive run of headline shows this summer and fall highlighted by appearances in the UK as well as stops in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and more. She will also be performing at this year's Outside Lands in San Francisco, CA —see full routing below.
A Good Thing
Already (On My Mind)
Party Trick
Conversation Starter
No Doubt
Finer Things
Either Way
Common Denominator
Idiom
My Name on A T-Shirt
JULY
26 - 28 - Calgary, Canada - Calgary Folk Music Festival
AUGUST
4 – Saint Charles, IA – Hinterland Music Festival *
9 – San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands *
24 – Edinburgh, UK – La Belle Angele
29-9/1 – Salisbury, UK – End of the Road Festival *
30 – Birmingham, UK – Moseley Folk Festival *
SEPTEMBER
4 – London, UK – Omeara
19 - Houston, TX - The Secret Group
20 - Austin, TX - Scoot Inn
21 - Fort Worth, TX - Tulips
22 - Oklahoma City, OK - Beer City Music Hall
24 - Sante Fe, NM - Meow Wolf
26 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
28 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
30 - Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck
OCTOBER
1 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown
3 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon
4 - Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line
5 - Des Moines, IA - xBK
6 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
8 - Columbus, OH - A&R Music Bar
10 - Indianapolis, IN - HI-FI Indianapolis
11 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
12 - Memphis, TN - 1884 Lounge at Minglewood Hall
13 - Nashville, TN - 3rd & Lindsley
NOVEMBER
4 - Detroit, MI - El Club
5 - Toronto, ON - Longboat Hall
6 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz PDB
8 - South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground Ballroom
9 - Portland, ME Portland House of Music
10 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
12 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
13 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
15 - Albany, NY - Lark Hall
16 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
17 - Washington, DC - The Atlantis
19 - Charlottesville, VA - Jefferson Theater
20 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
22 - Charlotte, NC - Visulite Theatre
23 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West
24 - Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle Music Hall
DECEMBER
3 - Phoenix, AZ - The Crescent Ballroom
4 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Solana Beach
6 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
12 - Vancouver, BC - The Pearl on Granville
13 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile
14 - Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
15 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall
* Festival Performance
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
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