In Conversation With Colin: Elles Bailey

Newport City Radio’s Colin Palmer caught up with Elles Bailey from her home in Bristol to chat about her latest album Beneath The Neon Glow and the latest tour taking in Cardiff Castle on July 13^th.

 Besides her own headline appearances, Elles Bailey has provided the opening act for many artists including Jools Holland, Van Morrison, Eric Gales, Walter Trout and had a guest slot on Joe Bonamassa’s Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea Cruise. If all this wasn’t enough Elles hosts her own radio show on Planet Rock where she selflessly supports other up and coming artists.

On June 29^th 2024, Elles played the Avalon stage at the Glastonbury Festival and this year she has been chosen to support Rag ‘n’ Bone Man on his prestigious UK summer tour.

Elles’ unique British take on American roots music has seen her win numerous awards across the Americana and blues genres including live act of the year at the UK Americana Awards 2024 and vocalist of the year at the UK Blues Awards 2024. Achieving all this as an independent artist is a testament to her dedication to her career. Never one to rest on her laurels, Elles has just signed a record contract with Cooking Vinyl that leaves her in control of her career yet leaving her free to concentrate on the music and to continue to develop her career.

Currently, Elles is still celebrating the autumn 2024 release of her Americana, blues and rock infused album Beneath The Neon Glow. Additionally, earlier this year she announced a special edition of that album, titled Beneath The Neon Glow Reimagined, which features all the album tracks including two bonus tracks, recorded with just vocals and piano parts, released on April 25^th, 2025.

“The whole of Beneath The Neon Glow was basically written in a six month period,” Elles tells me. “It really is a snapshot of a certain moment in my life, apart from Ballad Of A Broken Dream which I wrote in 2019 with Tamara Stewart an amazing singer and songwriter and friend of mine. It was a healing process song and when we finished it I never thought I’d record it let alone release it, let alone it be a single!

“This was pre my third album Shining In The Half Light and when it came to choosing tracks for Shining I didn’t even put Ballad as an option. But something compelled me five years down the line to offer up this song to my producer and guitarist Joe (Wilkins) who was helping put the album together and they both turned around and said this song is amazing and needs to be recorded.”

It took a lot of convincing for Elles to finally record the song due not least to its personal subject matter. “I’m so glad that we did record it and release it as a single because so many people have said it’s their favourite Elles Bailey song.”

Another song on the album is also deeply personal to Elles. “Enjoy The Ride is hugely autobiographical” she says. “We wrote that song October 12^th 2023, bearing in mind I started making the album at end of October so it was the last song written for the record. I got together long time collaborators Ash Tucker and Will Edmunds who I’ve been working with for years and we sat down and Ash turned around to me and said ‘Elles I bet you get asked this all the time, you’re such a supporter of up and coming artists what would you say to those artists, let’s see if we can tell that story in a song’. I use this analogy a lot, Taylor Swift is the biggest artist in the world but she’s not reached her destination yet. She just keeps on carving the pathway so there’s no destination it’s a dream and you’ve just got to realise it and live it and enjoy the ride and if you’re not enjoying the ride there is just no point.

“It’s a really hard journey, we don’t choose this because there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, we choose this because we have to, because we can’t not. But if we’re not enjoying it then we’ve forgotten why we’re doing it and that’s what Enjoy The Ride is all about.”

Most of the songs were written very quickly, in most cases under three hours and envelopes many different musical styles, I asked Elles if she feels a special affinity to one genre in particular. “I think probably my favourite and what I choose to listen to the most is Americana. But that in itself is an oxymoron because Americana is a little bit of everything, so it’s probably the most variety I guess but I love it all.”

Excerpts of this conversation were broadcast on ‘The Rock Vault’ radio show on 8th July 2025.

Listen here: https://player.autopod.xyz/947959