From Organized Mosh Pits to Folky Sing Alongs: Odie Leigh Performs at Fine Line

By Sarah Tachau

On the chilly evening of October 4th, I, and about half of the Macalester campus, shuffled into the rugged Fine Line for folk-pop mastermind Odie Leigh’s Carrier Pigeon tour. Born and raised in Louisiana, Odie had a somewhat unconventional beginning in the industry. She began crafting music out of the competitive desire to win a bet with her friends during the early stages of the pandemic. Her final product was a recording of “Ronnie’s Song,” which went viral on Tik Tok.

She continued releasing short clips of her subsequent songs “Crop Circles” and “A Month Or Two” online, soon growing a crowd of impatient fans who demanded the tunes on streaming platforms. Caught in the turbulence of growing up, I was drawn to Odie’s homey finger-picking and comforting lyrics. I saw her perform at a small venue in Philadelphia during her spring 2023 tour, taking the stage solo with just her guitar, wearing some jeans and docs. At the time, her setlist consisted largely of her first EP, “How Did It Seem To You?” as well as a few unreleased songs. Standing amidst couples with matching teal hair and tweens with their moms, I felt immediately at home in Odie’s voice, warm like auburn leaves, and her lyrics that tugged at the heart of change, consoling the listener to “give it some time, time, time.” I treasured the show for the intimacy Odie brought to the room. Naturally, when my roommate told me about the Carrier Pigeon show, I knew we had to go. I was not expecting to be joined by several of our peers, but then again the mish-mash of folky pop that gets you absolutely winded out of longing, despair, admiration, or all three simultaneously, has its audience. 

Before Odie took the stage, her guitarist and keyboardist, Taylor Wafford, known by her stage name “Blood Root,” opened, performing solo for the first time that tour. Her voice demanded silence, engulfing the crowd in silky smooth notes she belted without hesitation. She sang predominantly from her 2022 album “I’m Not Trying to Start a Fire Anymore,” crafting a sound that could only be described as a mixture of Haley Heynderickx’s verses that wind effortlessly into the chorus and Angel Olsen’s vast vocal range. Her bangs were an ombre into Odie’s signature neon yellow, glowing under the deep blue lights. She finished off her set with a handful of unreleased songs which I begged myself to commit to memory for their skillful guitar riffs.

Odie, decked out in red and black tights and a zebra printed dress, ran out with the rest of her band to “My Name on a T-Shirt.” A signature of her music, Odie drove the song forward with punchy strumming on her candy-apple-red electric guitar. Her drummer, Grace Goodman, picked up the beat and her bassist, Kaitlyn Gerdau, kept the rhythm alive as the audience loosened up. Holding the energy high, she sang a series of “Carrier Pigeon” songs back to back. Her setlist was packed with a little bit of everything. She soon swapped her electric guitar for her signature acoustic with highlighter-green strings to play her early folk hits. 

“Chutes and Ladders” characterized this shift in style, as it maintained the fast paced rhythm while highlighting Odie’s tight vocal control. She bordered on yodeling, howling her craving for solitude amidst romantic chaos in the chorus. Her lyrics, packed with relatable pining, and her articulation of emotion made hearing this song live a cathartic experience. She soon slowed down to the soft intro of “A Month Or Two.” Recorded as a solo acoustic song, “A Month Or Two” was backed this time by a smooth crescendo of cymbals and a second guitar humming drawn out strums. Odie’s voice calmed the crowd with the outro’s repetitive “give it some time.” The lighting was no less than fitting, streaming down behind her in streaks like sunlight through a tree.

Keeping up with her older, folkier tunes, Odie moved right into “Nine Lives.” She still interspersed her newer tracks, doing so without the least bit of whiplash. As “Either Way” closed out, her band left the stage for several solo songs, reminiscent of her earlier tour. To my surprise, Odie played “As Sure As I’m Speaking,” one of her slowest tracks. She carved out moments of quiet between skippy finger picking riffs. The calm quickly broke into buzzing excitement as she tuned her acoustic down to open D, strumming the familiar notes of “Crop Circles.” Nearly a second into the song the crowd erupted from anticipation. Everyone knew she’d play this classic, and she certainly wasn’t going to give it to us early on. Odie did not need a band in the background, she carried the whole room in a sing along, driven by the shared craving for change. 

Though the Odie setlist included a series of comforting classics, she did not miss an opportunity for her crowd to mosh– in an organized manner, of course. She prefaced her upbeat “Sheep Song” by sharing her drummer’s desire for the concert to include a mosh pit, and explained the safest way to do so was for the middle of the crowd to run in a circle. And so, as she started powerfully strumming, the center of the audience began moving like a washing machine. As a bystander, I believe the mosh was a success: nobody was trampled, and people weren’t too displaced from their original spots. 

Creating a tradition, Odie closed her show with “Take Back,” a promising tune baked with optimism in the face of loss. Similar to “A Month Or Two,” this track featured a warm outro, consisting of the repeated line “I’m gonna take back some of my time.” Just as she did the first time I saw her, Odie instructed the audience to sing along with the final verses. As the song drew to a close, the room was full with strumming like steps moving forward, confident in their own rhythm. 

After the show Odie stuck around on stage, talking to fans and taking photos. She signed forearms, prayer handouts from that afternoon’s MJO Tashlich hike, posters, and phone cases. Whether it was her choice to stay or she was simply bombarded as she waited to meet friends in the crowd is somewhat unclear, but my signed Tashlich handout looks awesome on my wall.

Leave a Comment

WP Radio
WP Radio
OFFLINE LIVE