From Crawfish to Crop Circles: A Conversation With Folk Musician, Odie Leigh
Amongst a variety of musicians and creatives, the theme of “not fitting in” seems to be recurrent. For Louisiana-based folk misfit Odie Leigh, there can never be enough lyrics to write about self-identity. While trying her hand at photography, film-making and various other artful pursuits, Odie began to dabble in writing music, spontaneously releasing a demo version of her soon-to-be-released single, “Crop Circles,” into the world in March 2021. It wasn’t long before the track exploded into online virality, garnering 108k likes on TikTok and over 420k views, while simultaneously cementing Odie as an unmissable force in the upcoming bedroom folk scene. Now, eleven months later, she is releasing the official version of this song to all streaming platforms.
Ahead of her February 18th release of “Crop Circles,” editor Caitlin Andrews had the delightful opportunity to have a chat with Odie about her southern Louisiana background, her upcoming single releases, and her best lyrics written yet (not to mention that one time she cried while rewatching Rent).
Caitlin Andrews: Nice to meet you, Odie! How is life going at the moment?
Odie Leigh: “Hi! Thanks so much for reaching out to me. Life is great, I finally quit working full-time to give my music (and my life) the time it deserves, instead of half-assing it as I've done in the past. I spent the better part of December and January traveling and recording songs, so I'm feeling really excited about the future right now!”
CA: Your upcoming single, “Crop Circles” is coming out on February 18th. How are you feeling about the release, especially following the track’s virality on Tiktok?
OL: “I can't lie, I'm pretty nervous! There's a lot of anticipation surrounding it, but I just hope people enjoy it as much as they did the first time they heard it. It's crazy, when I originally wrote/posted the song I thought no one would see it. At the time my videos were getting like 80 views and I was generally frustrated and confused, which I think comes through in that original video. I don't know if I would've had the courage to post a song with such revealing lyrics had I known it would've been seen by over 400,000 people, but I'm so happy that it reached the audience it did.”
CA: Throughout the course of your music career, you have publicly released five singles, with your most popular track “Ronnie’s Song” amassing 375k Spotify listens. What do you consider your most palpable success and failure so far? What would you change if you could do it again?
OL: “Well, my biggest failure is most certainly the amount of time it took me to release “Crop Circles.” As I mentioned, there's so much anticipation and energy towards this song that it felt like an impossible mountain to climb, like I was never going to make everyone happy. As time went on and the stakes got higher, that feeling only got worse. I'm relatively new to all of this - I started writing songs about 15 months ago and am honestly not technically too good at guitar, so when it came to recording I began looking towards people who "knew" more than me, which only led to countless recordings and re-recording where every time something was off. I finally realized that I needed to trust myself and my knowledge of my own art and stop listening to other people, and most specifically, to stop letting people tell me how to tune my guitar. The producer I've been working with recently, Kyle Benor, has been amazing at helping me nurture my instincts and elevate my music while still working within my style, and I am so grateful I finally found someone who can do that…
While technically my biggest success is "Ronnie's Song,” the popularity of "Bigger Fish" never ceases to amaze me. I frequently get messages and comments about how much people connect with it, and it blows my mind! I recorded it in my room with a little USB mic and mixed/mastered it all myself which I'm pretty proud of. I truly never thought I'd be here, but I feel so blessed and lucky!”
CA: As a self-professed “Louisiana lady,” do you feel your Southern identity has affected your music production, style or lyricism in any way?
OL: “That’s a great question, I think it has! I really have such a love for Louisiana and the deep south, I can't imagine myself calling anywhere else home. Everything is soaked in tradition, from little things like eating red beans on Monday nights to these extravagant debutante balls where teenage girls are welcomed into “society” by wearing wedding gowns and bowing on a stage (which I never did, maybe that's why I still feel so disconnected LOL). Regardless, south Louisiana is full of incredibly unique, spirited, community-oriented people that find every opportunity to get together and party…
I, however, am relatively shy and from a more stuffy, suburban area, and as much as swamps and crawfishing and frogs were a part of my childhood, so were sprawling parking lots and private schools. I always felt disconnected from the communities around me because of this, like I wasn't aristocratic enough to be a debutante, not cajun enough to be at a fais do-do, and not blonde or feminine enough to fit in anywhere else. Self-identity and change is a recurring theme in my music, and I think that comes from this lack of identity I feel.”
CA: Based on your anecdotal acoustics and folksy themes, you seem to have some degree of affinity for Joni Mitchell, but who would you consider your other musical inspirations? Do you have any “guilty pleasure” artists, if you believe in the idea of having “guilty” pleasures?
OL: “I don't feel too guilty about my interests, but I definitely have a sprawling music taste. I grew up in the prime era of Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and LMFAO, and for better or worse these wildly explicit songs subconsciously shaped my 12-year-old brain. I also love electronic music and actually lived with a DJ for a while, which was a lot of fun! As far as my own music goes, hearing Connie Converse for the first time was a breakthrough for me. I had never heard such incredibly unique, personal songwriting before. It made me realize that I didn't have to follow traditional song structure for a song to be good and that I can tell a story in whatever way I see fit.”
CA: What do you think innately draws you to producing music, rather than prioritizing other creative forms of expression? Do you think art is only valuable if it reflects the inner state of its artist?
OL: “My feelings are so large and art has always been a way for me to get them out. Before I started writing music I was doing photography and filmmaking, and before that I was painting, and before that I was writing poetry. Making music was always a big scary thing for me. In college I was surrounded by these incredibly talented, technically proficient musicians, and it made me feel like I wasn't good enough and never would be because I didn't (and still don't) know how to find the key of a song, or even what that really means. It wasn't until COVID separated me from these people that I felt confident enough to really give music a shot, and I'm so happy I did. To me, songwriting is the most effective form of self-expression. Music can elicit such physical emotional reactions and lends itself to such extreme, layered specificity through lyrics, tempo, instrumentation, etc. You can really make the listener feel what you're feeling…
And, I'm not sure what exactly makes art valuable, and I don't want to discredit any other artists, but I definitely think that music should reflect the person making it. All of my songs are so deeply revealing and personal that I feel some slight betrayal when other singer-songwriters have songs that aren't based on their real life, but that feeling mostly comes from the jealousy that I haven't figured out how to write songs not based on my own personal experience yet…hopefully I will one day!”
CA: How would you describe yourself? How would other people describe you? Are the two the same?
OL: “One time a friend described me as "Funny, anxious, and AHHHH,” and I think that's a pretty good answer. However, I frequently wonder how I appear to other people, especially on the internet. I very much struggle with personal identity. Although I know there are so many clear, tangible things that make me individual and unique, I have a hard time latching onto any of them. Like, I am truly so full of inconsistencies and contradictions. I live in a travel trailer, but don't travel much. I post these intimate, revealing songs on the internet for thousands of people, but struggle to talk to my family about my personal life. Truly, I have no idea who I am, but I do know I know what I like and appreciate, and what I hope to become. I think that's enough.”
CA: When writing songs, is there anything you can’t live without? (e.g. a quiet space, coffee, a beloved pet)
OL: “I guess the most important factor in songwriting for me is being able to dig up that initial emotion that sparks a song, and then finding time and space to express it. Songwriting is honestly kind of embarrassing for me a lot of my lyrics are silly, and my process is just spilling out whatever is on my mind at the moment, and then mopping those words and ideas into something that resembles a song.”
CA: Can you tell us the most recent lyric you’ve written that you’re proud of? What has changed in your creative writing process since you began creating music?
OL: “I’ve been working on a song that starts with “I've been staying out too late and gaining weight, and hitting on some guys about my father’s age,” which I think is hilarious. Most of my lyrics are total stream-of-consciousness rambling, and that one definitely falls into that category. However, I'm always impressed when I'm able to spit out something actually poetic. I have an unreleased track called “Habits Held” about replacing one bad habit (smoking) with another (a toxic lover), and it has a line that goes: “But how can I ever maintain that I have quit when all that I've swapped out is the flame I burn with?” And every time I sing it I feel so proud of myself and my little brain.”
CA: What’s the next chapter for Odie Leigh? Do you have any goals you’d like to achieve in the next year or so?
OL: ““Crop Circles” comes out on February 18th (Available to pre-save now! https://presave.io/t/cropcircles) and I have a couple more songs following it. I plan to keep making music and growing as an artist (and individual) over the next year and just hope that y'all like my new stuff as much as I do! I seriously am so excited to share it.”
CA: Any closing fun facts or tidbits that you’d be willing to share? E.g. What's the last book you read? When’s the last time you cried? Do you prefer cofee or tea?
OL: “Well, I'm currently sitting at a little coffee shop drinking black coffee, so I'd say coffee. I think the last new book I actually finished was Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut? But I frequently re-read Love is Letting Go of Fear by Gerald Jampolsky, which is the simplest yet kindest self-help-type-book gifted to me by my incredible grandparents. I actually have two copies and I am constantly lending them out to friends. The funny answer to when I last cried would be when my roommate and I were watching Rent on Christmas Eve, but the honest answer would be last Saturday before my Pawpaw had brain surgery...he's doing well now!”
CA: Where can our Periphery readers find you?
OL: “My music is streaming on pretty much every platform! I'm on Instagram and TikTok as @odieleigh, and you can find me on Youtube as well :-) Thanks for talkin' with me!”
Periphery Magazine thanks Odie Leigh for her contribution, and wishes her luck with future releases! You can find her on social media and streaming platforms here: