Florence Sommerville – a young country artist from Orsett, Essex – is making a dent in the UK country scene with her strong vocals, beautiful guitar playing and honest story telling. Having started Sommerville Sessions back in December she brings Nashville style story telling to the unique setting of Mu Mus in Maidstone.
Having just returned from a trip to Nashville, Florence delivered another soulful performance at her monthly Sommerville Sessions in Maidstone. And even with this not being the first time I attended the sessions her songs don’t seem to get old, although you will catch me humming along in the crowd. The lyrics are just too catchy not to. With songs like ‘Best Broken Heart’ being nominated for UK Country Radio song awards it’s no surprise that people are catching on to her talent. But the true magic of these sessions is the story telling behind the music, the connection that this creates with the audience is beyond what you can read about on a review online or an interview you watch. Getting to laugh with them, connect over life all whilst getting beautiful acoustic performance.
Without revealing too much from her stories, as you can hear them yourself at the next Sommerville Sessions in May, my favourite so far has been of the new song released 10th April, called ‘Fearless’. Being the first song Florence co-wrote she spoke about the initial fear of writing with renowned song writer Gary Burr, but also how doing things scared are so important for growth.
“‘Fearless’ came from that tricky feeling of being young and scared of making mistakes. But really, mistakes are the whole point of living!”
Every month Florence is joined by 2 other artists in her Nashville style singer-songwriter sessions, and the talent that is there never disappoints. Having discovered some fantastic new sing along songs I am glad these sessions continue to bring incredible talent to our attention.
This month Florence was joined by the duo Briggs and Stark, and their set included a flute! The duo sounded amazing. With beautiful harmonies they shared stories of feeling vulnerable, taking the leap of faith, and bad omens. Stark has a powerful yet soft voice that makes you feel at home and with added notes of flute playing she adds only what can be described as a fantasy book atmosphere to their songs. The one that captured it all for me was ‘Honey’, even with a fractured arm Briggs played gorgeous guitar notes along side Starks guitar, flute and singing. With the song being about moving to a new town and overcoming challenges that it bought with it as a couple, it is was a beautiful reminder of trusting that things will work out.
She was also joined by Nathan who deserves a memorable mention for forgetting his words in style, using the mic a strip pole (by accident of course) and for writing music that some young men would be scared to share.
For how to vote for Florence, as well as to stay connected with these amazing artists have a look at their social media | Florence Sommerville | Briggs & Stark | Nathan