Odessa—the soulful voice behind the single "I Will Be There"—sits across from me at a table at Menagerie Coffee, wearing the same worn leather coat and jeans that she will bask in two hours later at Underground Arts. Calm and collected, she seems to have no idea that her career is about to change big–time. After all, her self–titled EP set for release on April 28th, is the biggest step for her as a solo artist so far.
For six years, Odessa jumped from band to band, traveling around the world with a diverse array of musicians, ranging from bluegrass groups to indie–rock artists. Now for the first time, she has spent the spring touring on her own, performing her own sweet, pop–folk songs onstage with only a guitarist and bassist at her side.
“You are lonelier touring alone. So, I’ve been lonelier than I ever have been in my entire life,” she muses. “Musically, it’s more gratifying, right when I come off stage, its more of a high, because I just did something by myself. It’s just a different thing, like going out to get a cup of coffee by yourself versus going out with a bunch of friends.”
Her life and career has always been all music, discarding brief plans to model or study. “I really love to draw, and I love to draw floor plans—architectural drawings. I just think they are so beautiful to look at." Odessa elaborates, “it's sort of that regimented way of thinking that’s really not me at all, so I’ve always really been drawn towards that."
This comes as no surprise—she was even set to enroll at the Art Institute of New York for interior architecture and design four years ago, until her father passed away and she needed a new direction. She mentions: “All these crazy life things happened and I decided I didn’t want to play music anymore because it’s too hard to deal with all of life and trying to deal with being out on the road all the time.”
Her need to fully pursue her own music formed when she moved to Nashville and finally started writing. A year and a half later, she faced yet another setback when she was brought to the brink of death, hit by a car that left her with an injured neck and ribs. I ask her about and she responds: “I had just gotten to the point where we were almost finished. I was starting to talk to the label and seeing what doing my own thing could be like. I didn’t even really think about it, it was just like, ‘Okay, that’s not happening.’”
And then, a call came in from Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes. Odessa’s injuries were hindering her vocal recording abilities, so she jumped into the band’s tour as a violinist, neck brace and all.“Recently I found a couple of other pictures of us in a carriage in New Orleans, all playing, and I had the [neck] brace on. But that was crazy. I was on heavy–duty painkillers, which at the time, I’d never really done any drugs at all,” Odessa says.
“It was insane. I was virtually addicted to them after that. I was pretty much in a dream for 8 months, but it was nice, I had a blast with that band.”
Odessa cites D’Angelo’s newest album, Black Messiah, as one of her current favorites, as well as the work of Cocteau Twins, Sturgill Simpson, and Kurt Vile. Sometimes she strays from that vein, listening to the more obscure-specifically, the Star Wars soundtrack. “We put it on for my friend’s birthday. We were listening to something way groovier, more of a party vibe, and then [my friends] were like, ‘Oh we should listen to Star Wars and put on that part where they’re in the cantina.’ We put that on for three hours.”
Odessa's tastes and location might seem unpredictable; she's rarely off the road for more than a few months. But if one thing is for sure, it’s that you’re going to hear about her, at Penn and elsewhere. She’s on a creative bender, ready to release another record as soon as this one comes out. And we'll be waiting.
Photo credit: Odessa Facebook page
