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Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with unsigned UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with unsigned St Ives singer Bailey Tomkinson to find out more…

Where are you from and how did you first get into music?
I’m from St Ives in Cornwall, however I was born in Derbyshire and then moved to Milan and Brussels before moving here. I started playing guitar at the age of nine and started writing when I was eleven. I grew up in a family that loves music so I had quite a mature taste from a young age listening to music like John Denver, Jewel and The Eagles. I pretty much came out of the womb singing haha.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
I have a lot of musical influences, growing up I loved all-sorts! From Guns ’N’ Roses, Frank Sinatra to The Dixie Chicks. My music taste never really changed, it just grew and grew. Some of my biggest influences now are Carole King, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper and Billy Joel, my favourite music eras are the 70’s and 80’s.

How would you describe your sound?
Growing up I wrote Country Music because I loved the narrative and my favourite artists were John Denver, The Dixie Chicks and Taylor Swift so I naturally started out writing music like this. But when I started collecting vinyl at around age fifteen my music taste grew way beyond Country music and I was listening to bands like Def Leopard, Fleetwood Mac and The Bee Gees. I would describe my current sound as Country influenced but I wouldn’t put myself in a specific genre box because my sound has infusions of so many different genres.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
My latest single is called ‘Silent Suffering’ and I wrote this song just before Lockdown about putting on a brave face to anguish the sadness I was feeling one evening. It’s definitely safe to say I’m not a fan of winter and it sometimes makes me feel quite low, I sat one evening and wrote this in about half an hour. I thought it would be the perfect song to release over lockdown as I’m aware lots of people have been feeling this way about being trapped indoors a lot lately and I released it as I thought it could maybe make someone feel less alone.

I recorded the track remotely with an amazing producer (Josiah at Momentum Studios) since being unable to use the music studio I recorded the vocals at home with my mic and we skyped and talked about the kind of sound I was going for, ideas I had and he brought the song to life.

What’s your local music scene like?
My local music scene is amazing! I grew up at open mics and performing in acoustic circles with a bunch of older guys playing music like The Beatles, The Eagles and James Taylor. They taught me so much about the art of music, especially Charlie Darlington who’s in his 70’s and from a local band called ‘The Amigo’s’, he’d come to my house and teach me a bunch of songs on the guitar, he’s part of the reason I love music so much.

Every night in St Ives you can find music somewhere and it’s always a good time, people really listen to your music and have lots of fun. Venues like The Union, The Sloop, The Golden Lion and The Queens are some of my favourites to perform.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
With the current situation of the world who really knows! But I have a lot of exciting things to announce (hopefully soon) and some trips to London for big things too! I’ve got a lot of material under my belt so I’d really like to record another EP.

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
So many people! I’d love to write a song with the obvious Billy Joel or Carole King as they’re my lyrical heroes. However two people I’ve been dying to write with for ages are Liz Rose and Courtney Jaye. Liz Rose has written a load of my favourite songs and Courtney Jaye is one of my biggest influences after hearing one of her songs in one of my favourite childhood movies called ‘Aquamarine’.

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
I’ve got quite a lot but one memorable one was when I was performing at a festival a couple of years ago and there was a hen party in the audience and I was singing Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now’ and realised half way through the song that it’s about why you should leave your partner at the altar and run away with me instead. Her group were laughing a lot but she wasn’t.

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
I guess it’s just my passion for music and that you shouldn’t narrow yourself to only listening to certain types of music as there’s so many incredible artists and songs in the world.

You can find out more about Bailey on her website or via Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Twitter or YouTube.