Singer songwriter Ellie inspired by local history
YOU can find me every Thursday and Saturday night on BBC CWR flying the flag for the amazing musical talent we have across Coventry & Warwickshire.
This week I wanted to tell you about an up-and-coming local singer songwriter, who has lots of exciting things going on.
Ellie Gowers, from Warwick, has come a long way since she started playing at open mics in 2013.
It was a gradual journey that led her to eventually doing her own local headline shows.
Getting more up to date, at the end of 2020, Ellie joined Fancourt Music and started working with a team who encouraged her to bring out another EP (Parting Breath) which included tracks like Against the Tide and The Sky is on Fire.
When most of us were starting to get used to normality last year, Ellie hit the ground running by going on two tours and performing at various national festivals.
Other recent highlights include composing the score for Warwick Arts Centre and BBC Radio 3’s Middlemarch monologues, a collection of new monologues inspired by
George Eliot’s masterpiece, which premiered in March.
With the restrictions that 2020 brought, Ellie decided to explore the rich history of the local area and has turned those narratives into beautiful song.
This venture took her to the most northern point of the county and back down to the most southern, painting a musical portrait that touches on themes of home, belonging, love and loss and industrialisation.
I played Ellie’s new single ‘Brightest Moon’ on BBC CWR for the first time last night.
The song is based on the story of the Abbey End bombing that took place in Kenilworth in 1940, just after the Coventry Blitz, but touches on the idea of people persevering and welcoming people into their homes in times of adversity.
Ellie entered 2022 with recording an album (Dwelling By The Weir) and is currently on tour. She will be previewing her new album at Warwick Arts Centre tomorrow and giving fans the opportunity of picking up a copy before it’s released later in the year.