Home is where the art is for songwriter
WARWICKSHIRE’S ELLIE GOWERS DID NOT HAVE TO TRAVEL FAR TO FIND INSPIRATION FOR HER DEBUT ALBUM. SHE EXPLAINS ALL TO DAVE FREAK
Dwelling By The Weir is what Warwick was called in the old Saxon language
Ellie Gowers
THE sights, sounds and history of Warwick and the surrounding area have shaped every song on the debut album from songwriter Ellie Gowers.
“Warwick is my home town. It’s a beautiful place to grow up,” she says. “I did move away, to Bristol, for university, but came straight back afterwards and I’ve found it hard to leave. It has such a great music scene, and I find it’s always two hours from everywhere.”
Entitled Dwelling By The Weir,
Ellie’s 11-track long-player takes its name from the ancient name for the county town.
“Dwelling By The Weir is what Warwick was called in the old Saxon language. That was the first snippet of information that started the whole project. That came about first and everything else, the songs, came from that.
“I actually began thinking about it in 2019, around the time I graduated,” she continues. “I wanted something to look forward to and decided to do a project, so I started looking into local history. Then lockdown happened, which gave me time to really sink my teeth into it.”
Ellie devoured local history books, visited archives, and spoke to local historians, collecting tales from around the county.
“Probably my favourite story is about the Globe Inn, Kenilworth. In 1940, after the Coventry Blitz, a lot of homes were bombed out and people travelled out of town, into the surrounding areas, and lots of people let them into their homes. One street, Abbey End, at the top of Kenilworth, where the The Almanack [gastropub] is now, was one of those streets who took people in.
‘‘But seven to eight days after the Blitz had finished, they were bombed out again.”
She stresses the episode was “so incredibly sad”, but was warmed by the welcoming that Coventry’s refugees received, and the keenness of those who opened their premises, such as The Globe Inn – which was destroyed.
“People coming together in the face of adversity like that, we’ve seen parallels recently, like having refugees in the Holiday Inn in Kenilworth,” Ellie highlights, adding: “We see what happens in history, and yet it’s still happening now.”
While the title song explores themes of belonging, home, and nostalgia, and a longstanding sense of connection to the area, the record’s longest track, The Last Warwickshire Miner, looks at a more recent episode - the 2013 fire at Daw Mill Colliery, and the subsequent closing of the last coal mine in Warwickshire.
“It seems like the end of ‘industrial-ness’ in Warwickshire,” she says of the song which was written by local folk singer Pete Grassby.
“He’s from the Nuneaton area and I met him on a Zoom call in June/July 2020 when we did an online folk club, and I asked him if he could teach me the song – which he did – and very kindly let me record it.”
Born and bred in Warwick, Ellie grew up surrounded by music, with family members performing at Kenilworth’s Talisman Theatre, playing piano and clarinet, and boasting “good musical tastes – prog rock, Led Zep – so I was surrounded by good music vibes”,
She first picked up a guitar at 13, but didn’t really pursue music actively until she was 16-17, slowly building up her confidence with “a tiny bit of theatre” and self-penned songs (several of which result in a dismissive giggle when she mentions them). But a self-released band EP, From Here On Out, led to last year’s well-received Parting Breath EP, and she now finds herself part of the Farcourt Music roster, alongside University of Warwick graduate Kitty Macfarlane, Birmingham Conservatoire alumni Jim Moray, Derbyshire’s Lucy Ward, and West Midlands trio Granny’s Attic.
Following a UK tour with Blair Dunlop over March/April – “I learned so much!” 25-year-old Ellie enthuses – the Warwick lass previews Dwelling By The Weir at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, later this month.
“I’m terrified about that,” she laughs, nervously, of her nearhome town headline show. “But equally pleased about it too.”
The summer will see her on the road with Birmingham-based Filkins Drift Folk Ensemble: “It’s hard to get 15 musicians together in one room, so they’ll be in different configurations. It’s very different stuff to what I do [solo]. I just have to show up and sing, which is really lovely.”
And there are festival appearances, too, including Moseley Folk And Arts Festival, where she joins an eclectic bill that includes folk icon Martin Carthy, Anais Mitchell and Britpop upstarts Supergrass.
“I’ve never been before, but I near it’s lovely. I can’t wait, and I love the variety of the line-up.”
Finally, the year concludes with the official full release of her debut album (in September), and a November UK headline tour.
“It’s very album focused this year, so that will be taking up all my energy,” she smiles.
■ Ellie Gowers plays Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on May 21. For tickets and more information see: warwickartscentre.co.uk
■ Moseley Folk And Arts Festival takes place in Moseley, Birmingham, from September 2-4 . Details: moseleyfolk.co.uk