There were many a pair of shimmering rhinestone-adorned cowboy boots at Clwb Ifor Bach on Saturday the 14th of October. Between Eleri, launching her newly released album The Carnival, and support acts Katie Lou and Megan Lee, jewel-covered footwear was in abundance. The sublime, carefree self-expression the cowboy boot has come to be associated with was evident in all acts’ performances, but is best typified by the chemistry between headliner Eleri and her 6-piece band, with whom she performed for the first time at the album launch. This is rather unbelievable when one watches them perform together as a unit as if they’d been doing so for years. The party atmosphere was also permitted to subside for an intimate moment featuring just Eleri and her piano, performing songs from her 2021 EP Nightclub Floor as well as from the new record. Before the show, I was granted the pleasure of chatting with her about her new LP.

As a teenager you were lucky enough to spend time in North Carolina. What was your experience out there like?

I studied theatre in Carmarthen of all places, and they had a really good abroad program, so I got to study out in North Carolina for my third year. In Greensboro I did lots of different classes in singing, dancing, all sorts of things. I found a lot of music while I was out there, too.

Were you into country music before then?

A little bit! I liked the classics like Taylor Swift, James Taylor, Dolly Parton, but I didn’t know of anyone making country music at the time, only the old stuff. I heard so many bands out in North Carolina and got to go to Nashville as well as going to Chicago and seeing some live bands there. It was great to be exposed to a genre I’d never properly heard before. It was definitely an American thing for me at that time, I wasn’t listening to any British country.

What music were you into growing up?

It was always a lot of pop rock, the main section of HMV. A lot of Avril Levigne, Green Day. My parents were really into folk music as well as bands like R.E.M. My initials spell out R.E.M. but in the wrong order; I’m not sure if they did that intentionally.

Evidently you draw from an eclectic range of influences. The physical version of The Carnival features a cover of Stormzy’s “Big for Your Boots”. How did that come about?

We were going to do a cover of [Nancy Sinatra’s] “These Boots are Made for Walkin'” but decided instead to do something interesting that no one would expect. My producer Millie [Blooms], who’s also in my band, is really into hip hop and we were joking around like “Yeah, big for your boots, cowboy boots” before stopping and asking if we should genuinely try it. We gave it a go, and we had to cut out a lot of the lyrics because of the speed of Stormzy’s rapping. I don’t think anyone’s merged grime and country before. Florida Georgia Line worked with Nelly, so there’s definitely some country hip hop out there, but country grime not so much.

Is there any music other than Stormzy that people might be surprised you’re influenced by?

I imagine people can see the influences of the girl power pop-country classics like Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Taylor Swift. James Taylor, too: I love his songwriting and his storytelling. I really love dance pop like Dua Lipa, Lorde as well as The Chainsmokers, but I’ve been spending a lot of this year focused on what I want to sound like and not getting distracted from that.

You collaborate with people such as Leon Stanford on the new record. Have you got your eye on any potential future collaborators?

My really good friend Charlie J is actually doing a gig across the road tonight, and so even though he can’t be at my show I’d love to collab with him. I really enjoy writing with other people and bringing their perspectives and ideas into the mix.

Do you have a dream collaboration?

I love the country flavour on Kelly Jones’ new music, or maybe Cerys Matthews because I loved Catatonia growing up. I think country is a genre that speaks to songwriters because it strips the process right back and prioritises the songs and the lyrics over just doing a big performance.

With the stripped-back nature of country music you mentioned in mind, what’s the best concert you’ve been to?

Ask me next June, because it’ll be The Eras Tour. Early Ed Sheeran gigs were also really great. One of my first big experiences with music was seeing Amy Wadge at a festival in West Wales when I was about 10. I also saw Runrig up in Newcastle and they had a support band called GiveWay who had one song that I was obsessed with.

Are you bringing any influence from those concerts into tonight’s performance?

This’ll be one of the first times I play without a guitar and perform just vocally which is so new for me. I’ve been watching the TV show Nashville to find out what people do without a guitar and where they put their arms. It’s just working on that confidence and showmanship when I lead the band, which is daunting, but I’m excited to be able to put on more of a show because I’ll be freer to move around the stage.

What do you say to people who claim that country music isn’t a “young” music genre?

I think the fashion of country music is very popular at the moment with all those people wearing pink cowboy hats to Harry Styles’ concerts. Maybe it’s a little bit ahead of the music. There are a lot of artists who’ve bridged the gap between pop and country like Kacey Musgraves and obviously Taylor Swift, who’s brought it to people’s attention again by rerecording her back catalogue. There are a lot of other artists coming through like The Shires and Ward Thomas, too. There’s a whole scene in the UK of people that always go to all of the festivals and it’s really worth delving into.

Where would you say is a good place to go next for people perhaps at the surface of country music?

I’d probably start with American artists like Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Jordan Davies, Kane Brown and Luke Combs. I tried to get tickets for Luke Combs and then people I knew who I didn’t think liked country were telling me about how they got tickets. I think he’s going to be one of the big names in country music going forward; his cover of Fast Car is doing the circuits on the radio at the moment. Country’s been called the fastest-growing genre and this wave of it is definitely pop-oriented, but it’s also a melting pot and so many other genres work with it really well. Maybe people will start to bring dance elements into it. There’s a stigma of country music of it being old folks’ music that’ll hopefully disappear soon. As long as it stays modern and relevant, which I think it’s doing, I can’t see it going anywhere.

Words by Josef Swindell