Odie Leigh’s Not Ready For ‘Bigger Fish’

Playing folk music is seemingly better suited for the intimacy of a bonfire than the disco balls of the 500-person capacity Lincoln Hall, where Odie Leigh brought her latest record, “Carrier Pigeon,” Oct. 6.

Leigh said she never planned to be a professional musician, but her career grew organically after her song “Crop Circles” went viral on TikTok.

“It was no longer ‘I’m going to try to be a musician,’” Leigh said in an interview with The Phoenix. “It was like, ‘I am a musician.’”

Her third headlining tour presents “Carrier Pigeon” as a guidebook for falling in love. While the album details her personal love story, Leigh said she wants her fans to use it to romanticize their own lives.

“The people we meet, the crushes we have, all of these things can be a really beautiful, dramatic experience if you choose to let it,” Leigh said.

For Leigh, this tour has been an opportunity to create a new stage persona and simply “have fun.” However, despite her previous tour experience, Leigh said she seems to lack the art of time management, and it’s typical for her band to be waiting for her.  

“I really wait until the very last moment to accept the fact that I need to get dressed and get on stage,” Leigh said.

Forty minutes after opening act Blood Root exited the stage, Leigh appeared from the wings to an impatient, clamoring crowd. 

Seemingly unfazed by her late entrance, Leigh played “My Name on a T-Shirt,” directing her lyrics to a fan wearing a t-shirt aptly printed with the song’s title.

The following tracks “No Doubt” and “Already (On My Mind)” utilized Leigh’s storytelling lyrics to solidify the audience’s familiarity with her modern folk sound. As she paired simple drum beats with her rhythmic guitar the crowd seemed to hang onto every word she sang.

Despite the crowd erupting into cheers, Leigh only offered up a nonchalant “thank you” in a tone appearing to attempt humor, but falling flat. The apathetic inflection suggested the applause was a given and not one to be earned. 

Switching to a twangy ballad, Leigh tuned her guitar before strumming the chords to “A Month Or Two,” a single released in 2023, only to stop because the guitar was still out of tune. After struggling to get the right pitch, Leigh had the audience sing out the note she wanted to tune to before finishing the song. The result was an awkward moment poorly masked with an attempt at audience engagement. 

Leigh recovered by moving into “Double Shift,” a song she introduced as “very upbeat” despite it being the slowest song of the night. Haunting acoustic guitar and mildly provocative lyrics created a jarring effect as the sentimental sound detailed a story of being the other woman.

“I don’t think your girlfriend gets off / I think she’s lying to you / Every night when you come home / After you’ve lied to her about / Lying with me,” Leigh sang.

Upon flipping to the more lively track “Party Trick,” the crowd screamed and danced along to the lyrics. When Leigh reached the bridge of the song, she asked if fans were willing to participate in a sing-along. Pausing the track to direct the audience’s voices when they were already participating created a clunky pause in the set.

After the song, the cheering crowd seemed to instantly recognize the bluegrass-inspired strums Leigh played as she began “Ronnie’s Song.”

“I don’t know if any of you know this song,” Leigh said jokingly.

The thunderous noise of the crowd disputed the sentiment.

Before “Sheep Song,” Leigh requested fans form a folk version of a mosh pit, which she called a “circle pit.” Instead of the typical pushing and shoving of mosh pits, the crowd ran in a circle in the center of the room.

The night ended with “Take Back,” a bittersweet song off her 2022 EP “How Did It Seem To You?” The slow tempo and repetitive lyrics led to an anti-climatic ending for the set. 

Leigh feels lost without a show to play, she said — she’s become accustomed to the hustle and constantly-working nature of the music business. She said she’s not currently working on new music because she’s still seeking listenership for “Carrier Pigeon.”

While established fans of Leigh’s music seemed to find her stage presence endearing and humorous, her sarcastic attitude and haphazard audience requests may come across as a cheap grab for attention to an outsider.