"Michell has an instinct for a narrative - all the songs here are originals, steeped in tradition but not trapped by it. Highly enjoyable."  - THE OBSERVER

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Odette Michell is an award-winning British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with a rich foothold in the folk tradition.

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In April 2019, Odette released her debut album ‘The Wildest Rose’. The album gained widespread positive acclaim followed by a string of live interviews, and featured notable musical contributions from Phil Beer (one-half of multi-award-winning acoustic folk band Show of Hands), and Toby Shaer (Cara Dillon, Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys).

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The result is a compelling, highly impressive debut that both soars and impresses. fRoots Magazine described it as "one of the stand-out debuts of 2019" and by the end of the same year, 'The Wildest Rose' had been shortlisted as one of the '10 Best Albums of 2019' by Johnny Coppin on BBC Sounds, as well as becoming Album Of The Week on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Wales, and in February 2020 RNR Magazine touted Odette as one of their 'Top Picks For 2020'.

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In January 2020 Odette won Female Artist Of The Year at the FATEA Awards, following in the footsteps of previous winners Kitty Macfarlane and Cara Dillon, respectively; and in May 2020 Odette was nominated for a Rising Star Award at the 2020 Folking Awards. In January 2021 Odette was invited to perform at Celtic Connections as part of the legendary Danny Kyle Open Stage.​

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A true storyteller and writer, Odette self-pens the vast majority of her songs. These are fresh, contemporary compositions but she blurs the lines so successfully you could easily believe some of them come straight from the traditional canon. When she does cover a well-known folk song however, it doesn't go unnoticed - as Northern Sky noted, Odette's version of the appalachian folk ballad 'True Lovers Farewell' is "an absolute masterclass in how to deliver a traditional song."

 

Likewise, a dynamic live performer, Odette plays the guitar, bouzouki and accordion, and has performed alongside the likes of Show of Hands and Seth Lakeman, and opened for folk legends Martin Carthy, Phil Beer, Boo Hewerdine, Nancy Kerr, Reg Meuross and BBC R2 Folk Award nominees Ninebarrow amongst others.

 

Odette's much-anticipated second studio album 'The Queen of the Lowlands' was released in June 2025 to critical acclaim, reaching Number 25 in the Official Folk Albums Chart and with tracks from it receiving multiple airtime plays on both BBC Radio 2's The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe and BBC Radio 3.

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Odette was born in Yorkshire with an Irish heritage, and first picked up the guitar aged fifteen. Inspired by the resurgence of folk and acoustic songwriters at the time, she began writing her own songs when she was just sixteen years old. Growing up in the vibrant city of Cambridge allowed Odette to take advantage of the many stages and performance venues there, including two early club stage appearances at the Cambridge Folk Festival - her first appearance there being when she was just 22 years old.

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For a full list of upcoming tour dates, please click here

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