“I stopped worrying about what other people think about my path, and just started worrying about making myself happy within it.”
Riding the release of her debut album Carrier Pigeon, Odie Leigh takes on her third headlining tour in two years, and with it, brings a peek into the bright and colorful reflections of her journey through life. Cheerful and authentic, Carrier Pigeon is a sparkling collection of messages that Odie Leigh drops off and delivers at every step of the tour.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Odie Leigh about Carrier Pigeon – how her previous music has evolved within the album, how her current music fluctuates and grows through live performances, and how her roots on social media are reflected within her song-writing process.
A Conversation with Odie Leigh
KSDT: I know it’s been a couple of months already, but congratulations on your first full-length album, Carrier Pigeon!
Odie Leigh: Thank you.
KSDT: Have you been able to reflect on and revisit some of the songs on the album now that it’s been a couple of months? Has anything changed?
Odie Leigh: Yeah, I think that what’s so cool about releasing music and then going on tour with it is that the songs will change and grow in the live setting. And while that used to make me nervous – like I didn’t want people to be hearing two different songs – now, I actually think of it as a really cool bonus for fans, when they come to the show and the song is even better than the recording.
KSDT: Yeah, that’s so awesome! I know I’ve had my experiences of seeing live music and seeing live shows and having it be so much better than recording, but it’s always super interesting hearing how artists and musicians experience that on their own end.
Odie Leigh: Yeah, at first, y’know, I was nervous that it was going to change, but the person I recorded with, Derek Ted [was] the person that got me to start thinking about it in this other way, which I actually think is so much more true and so much more valuable.
KSDT: How long did the album take to fully write and produce?
Odie Leigh: So I wrote it over the course of a year, and then we recorded it in a month.
KSDT: Is that usually on par with how long it takes to write and produce music?
Odie Leigh: I don’t know. This is my first time doing it!
KSDT: I know that the main message of the album is that you are, sort of, belatedly sending out messages to people after you’ve thought through your relationships with them. Any favorites from the album that you can point to that really resonate with that idea?
Odie Leigh: I think “Either Way” is a very clear song – I mean, all of the songs are like, very clear, written to one person, right? But I think “Either Way” and “My Name on a T-Shirt” are very clearly for specific people.
KSDT: You talked about singing those live. Would you say that singing those live changed you or changed your relationship with those songs?
Odie Leigh: Totally. I think that with “Either Way” it’s just been really fun to play with the different ways to sing the repeated part, and just continue to make it more interesting and better live.
KSDT: Within one of your older songs, “Crop Circles,” you sing about feeling stuck, and in response to that, you have a lyric that you repeat, which is “I’m crying out for change.” How has the feeling evolved within Carrier Pigeon? Did it ever go away, or did you sort of face it head on?
Odie Leigh: I don’t know! I feel like the thing about “Crop Circles” is it kind of talks about the problem that I’m always kind of looking back at myself and thinking like, “Have I changed enough, have I changed too much? Is it good? Is it bad?” I don’t really know. And I feel like in my own personal life, which can be seen through Carrier Pigeon, I’ve just kind of stopped worrying about it. I stopped worrying about what other people think about my path, and just started worrying about making myself happy within it.
KSDT: Your songs “Ronnie’s Song” and “Crop Circles” received tons of applause on TikTok. Would you say that social media has tweaked your song-writing process with Carrier Pigeon, and your relationship with your music in general?
Odie Leigh: I really only started doing music because of social media, so I don’t think that it’s changed my songwriting process, because I started songwriting through the platform. But I never have written songs trying to get them to do well on social media, because as much as everyone wants to pretend like there’s a clear formula into making something go viral, there isn’t. I think that people always just connect the most with originality and authenticity. There’s really no clear format, you just have to keep on making songs that you like, and if people resonate with it, they’ll share it. And if not, then whatever, it’s just social media.
KSDT: You performed a couple shows back in 2022 with Kevin Atwater and Olive Klug – how was the experience of touring with other artists, who also interestingly enough, had some of their songs grow popular on TikTok? Would that be something that you would ever do again?
Odie Leigh: Well, that was all of our, at least that was me and Kevin’s first little tour. That was a totally DIY thing, none of us had a ton of fans – it was truly, just really for me to learn how to perform live, and same with Kevin. It was perfect at the time, because we all really needed the opportunity to learn how to play, and touring together was really the only way to do that. It was a really amazing experience. I love all of them so, so much, we’re all still very good friends. And, yeah, I love touring with other people, I just haven’t really had any opportunities like that since.
KSDT: Would you say that now that you’re touring back up again there’s anything that you’ve noticed that’s been different? Any favorite places that you’ve visited recently that you liked touring at?
Odie Leigh: Well this is my third headlining tour in two years, so I’ve been consistently touring for the last three years. This tour has been especially fun because I have a full band, and it’s just been so nice to have a group of people, and we’re all in it together. It’s nice to have a little group of friends that go with you wherever you go. With this tour, we played at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, which is this interactive art exhibit, and that was super fun because we got to explore the art exhibit alone.
KSDT: It’s been about a year since you performed in California – anything you’re looking forward to revisiting or doing, or are you planning on exploring anything new?
Odie Leigh: The thing is, when you’re on tour, you really don’t have a lot of free time. It’s just waking up, getting in the van, going to the venue, sound checking, then you have like a couple hours, but at that point people are lined up outside. I have like three hours – there’s no time to go do anything, so not really. I’m excited to see the scenery on the drives, but there’s not a lot of time for exploring.
KSDT: Any favorite memories from performing in California?
Odie Leigh: The first time I toured in California, there was a ton of traffic, so we had to go this weird back way, and the AC in the car wasn’t working, so we decided to stop at the beach and go swimming, and that was really cool.
KSDT: Would you say that the performance scene is a little different compared to venues in other parts of the US, or the rest of the world?
Odie Leigh: In California? No.
KSDT: You recently performed in the UK – how was that like?
Odie Leigh: It was great. It was my second time playing shows in the UK. I did a UK and Europe tour last November, and that was crazy for me. I really was super unprepared in terms of clothing – I wasn’t expecting to be so cold. But it was way better this time, because it was warmer outside. I brought my friend and tour manager, Francesca, with me, and we just explored and had so much fun.
KSDT: The indie folk genre does have its roots in the U.S., so would you say that you were received a bit differently, or had fresh eyes on your music?
Odie Leigh: No, I mean, my EU tour was completely sold out. People really love folk music everywhere!
KSDT: Last couple questions before go, but are there any artists that you would say you either admire, or influence your work, or just in general, push you to keep doing what you do?
Odie Leigh: I’ve always loved Fiona Apple and her work – it’s always been very inspirational to me. I’ve always connected with the way that her honesty and her truthfulness in lyrics. I find that to be more impactful than the poetry.
KSDT: If you were to take a snapshot of your music, or this album specifically, what would that photo look like?
Odie Leigh: I think it would be very bright and colorful, like a film photo in the daylight with a bunch of different people.
KSDT: So, kind of like your album cover.
Odie Leigh: Yes!
KSDT: What song best represents the energy of your album, and why?
Odie Leigh: This album has so many ups and downs, it’s pretty hard to put it into one song, that’s a really hard question to answer.
KSDT: Thank you so much for the conversation. Is there anything else you’d like to mention before we go?
Odie Leigh: I just had a song release with Field Medic. It’s called “All Star Breakfast,” and y’all should check it out!
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