Hello Lady Nade

Photo by Arthur Walin

Hello Lady Nade, easy question to start, where are you right now? And what are you up to today?

Hello, I’m born and bred in Bristol and currently still living here. Today I’m at my studio rehearsing with my bass player Daniel Everett getting ready for live shows to open again. It’s been the first time in ages due to COVID.

Introduce yourself to our readers.

It’s Nade as in Lemonade,  and I’m mostly described as “Bristolian indie-folk Americana singer-songwriter”  which keeps it nice and broad as I stay true to my art regardless of genre! Something I started doing with my first album and people love is that I often pair recipes to my music as I love food and when I'm not singing I’m eating (and drinking cocktails).

Tell us an exclusive about you, something we won’t have heard in any other interview.

I am the only girl in a family of six brothers, which means “I’m a bit of a tomboy” living up to the name Lady has been something I’ve had to work at - you might notice on my social media my awesome skill at ‘dad jokes’ and this might because of all the men around me growing up.

Your new album, Willing, is out soon, what can we expect from it?

If you like artists like Yola, Birds of Chicago and Amethyst Kiah you will most likely connect with my music, Willing is a collection of stories of friendship, love and loneliness — lost and found.

Your latest song is the title track, what can you tell me about ‘Willing’ (the song)’?

‘Willing’ is a message of acceptance, loyalty and friendship, particularly poignant after this prolonged period of separation. All too often we try to be the person we think other people want us to be rather than ourselves. ‘Willing’ is a celebration of who we are and we can support each other. 

‘Ain’t One Thing’ was nominated at the UK Americana Awards this year, how did that feel?

Amazing and a complete surprise, It wasn’t at all something that I campaigned for so it was super unexpected and a massive honour. I love this community, so I went along to the nomination announcements (on Youtube due to COVID) to support and cheer for my friends… then when they read out my name I was really stunned into silence and couldn't even comment in the chat for a few minutes. Having been on the red carpet in 2020 as a guest it was really exciting to me as a nominee even though it was online.

You’re playing a few shows in June, all things going smoothly, including Black Deer Festival, how exciting will it be to play in front of real people again?

I am so grateful for my online community who have been stuck with and supported throughout COVID I can’t wait to see them again in person. The shows are socially distanced so not many tickets are available, and they are selling fast! So we are planning to add matinees on two of the dates. As well as Black Deer (which I can not wait for) I’ve got a load of festivals also booked in for later in the summer and I'm super excited to be back out on the road, even it’s going to be a different slower pace, I just can’t wait to be singing and sharing with the audiences again - looking forward to that adrenalin rush!

Talk to me about Bristol. I love the place, what’s the best thing about the city?

The accent obviously! Community, live music, when it can happen again, nightlife and culture due to it being a university city there’s always a buzz around town, also haven't you heard of the famous cat pub Bag of Nails. I'm totally here for what the city has to offer in terms of creativity as well, so many awesome artists hail from Bristol and that means a lot to us who are following in their footsteps.

And what’s the worst thing about Bristol?

It is truly heartbreaking to see the amount of homelessness we have here in Bristol, let alone across the country. I always see at least three homeless people when leaving my studio, with more and more people facing homelessness because of the impact of the pandemic. At Christmas I collaborated with fellow Bristolian, singer songwriter Elles Bailey to raise money for Shelter to give hope and support to those who need us after a turbulent year.

This year we also had the Black Lives Matter movement and because of that the realisation of the city's history has really hit home and has sparked me to look into this in more depth for a future project. I’m really glad the city has started to take positive action - I was very happy to be part of the long-overdue name change of Bristol Beacon.

What’s your biggest personal achievement over the last 12, weird, months?

Making an album in a pandemic, I managed to experience engineering and producing for the first time, developing so many new skills, including how to grow as a professional online musician; In autumn last year I took part in an online social experiment called Global Music Match, it brought 96 artists from across the globe together to share music and share social media platforms, share fans. I collaborated with artists from Taiwan, Australia, Italy, Scotland and Wales, leading to performances at Folk Alliance International and International Live Music Conference.

What can we expect from you for the rest of 2021?

Lots of festivals that I’m playing are going to be announced soon, and also keep an eye on my social media as I’ve got so many exciting things coming up.

Who (or what) has inspired you?

Stevie Smith. It’s hard to believe that I had a management deal happen during a global pandemic, I’m now working with an amazing team which has all come about with the wonderful support of Stevie. We met through a shared love of community, vegan food and championing gender equality and diversity within the arts. In early 2020 I was selected to be part of an intergenerational community songwriting project that was being led by Stevie - AMA-UK CEO - this opportune meeting led to discussions about my next step as an artist and Stevie offered me a consultation session to develop my brand. We realised working together that we made an efficient team and forumlised the situation into a artist/management relationship.

If you could recommend one artist to hear this week, who would it be?

Rissi Palmer - Her podcast Colour Me Country brings to the forefront the Black, Indigenous, and Latinx histories of Country Music.

What’s the question we should have asked you today but haven’t?

If you were to present me with a food tasting menu of your latest album what would it consist of.

Finally, how do you take your coffee?

Erm, not to be a diva but can I get a Fennel Tea please.

To find out more about Lady Nade go visit her official website or check out what she’s up to on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.