Westcountry voices making themselves heard

Far from being deterred by the challenges of breaking into the music industry, two dedicated new artists are relishing the chance to share their songs, writes Grace Dobbie

- Grace Dobbie

VENUES closing, streaming services exploitative and saturated, a lack of grassroots opportunities and the costs of touring leaving many artists struggling to make ends meet... It is easy to understand how emerging musicians might be deterred from dipping their toes in the industry.

However, despite the challenges, two female singers from Devon are showing that where there’s talent, there is hope and opportunity.

Daisy Mae, 22, from Plymouth, has committed to singing and song writing full time. She describes her original music as a blend of jazz, soul and funk, peppered with ‘truthful lyrics that focus on freedom and having an open mind.

Her older influences, such as Bob Marley, Ella Fitzgerald and Bob Dylan, might suggest a nostalgia for a music scene of bygone eras, where hard-graft gigging and a chance scouting from a record label was the ticket to success.

But she acknowledges, without despair, that those days are no more. Instead, she relishes the joys of gigging across the South West, the freedom of writing her own music and promoting herself.

Among an impressive catalogue, her song Soul'd Out unwaveringly calls out greed in society and the myth that endless profit makes for a happier life. Daisy's criticism of 'the money man' resonates with the broken music ecosystem.