By Georgette Brookes

With electric blue tones sat under a sparkly blue hat and teamed with metallic blue cowgirl boots – Lucy Blu was repping her brand even when off duty when she met me for a chat on Friday at London’s Country 2 Country (C2C) festival in the O2. With a spot on Spotify’s Very Nearly Nashville playlist, Lucy amasses over 10000 listeners each month, with new fans discovering her music daily. With new music on the horizon, Lucy chatted to me about what it’s like to be an independent artist, who her dream collaboration would be with and, of course, the unforgettable performance with Darius Rucker.

Your set isn’t until Sunday – what can we expect from that?

A little bit of everything. I’m going to be playing some old stuff and I’ve got some brand-new songs that I’m going to be debuting as well that have never ever been played to anyone except me and my producer. Throwing a few quirky little covers in there which is a staple for me.

You’re on the Very Nearly Nashville Spotify playlist amongst people like Luke Combs and Keith Urban. What’s that like, how does that feel?

Genuinely incredible. Even now, I’ve not released any music in over a year and my Spotify still ticks up because of that playlist. I try to avoid getting sucked into the vanity metrics but then I look at it like ‘oh, all of these people who like this kind of music are still discovering me’. And I’m still in a place where new fans can discover me that’s just number 1 for me.

Tequila Made Me Do It is such a country girl anthem – what’s the inspiration behind it (obviously besides tequila)?

I’d spent quite a few nights at Nash Nights back when it was the only one of its kind. I used to go whenever it was on – I think every other month – and have the absolute best time with my friends and then I got caught – Baylen Leonard was DJing – and I got caught doing the Git Up in the middle of the dance floor because I’d had far too much to drink and on the Sunday he brought it up on his radio show and told everyone how I was doing The Git Up ‘like a good’un’.

Surrender is your newest – that’s more of a ballad – is that the direction of your new music?

Whenever I go in to working on a project, I try to very much keep a balance so the one thing I do write least frequently is love/romantic ballad songs. That was one that I just really liked and it’s the only song of mine that’s not guitar based. When we went in to produce that it just felt like a different song – even though I wrote it with a guitar. I just love that it’s completely different. It’s not an indication of a new direction, I just appreciate music in all its forms – a good song is a good song at the end of the day. I try not to limit myself with any specific direction or instrument I just go with what feels right for the song. The new stuff I’m working on has a massive amount of variety in there as there always is with anything.

During the lockdown of 2020, Lucy recorded a few songs including some well-known covers like Red by Daniel Merriweather. The EP, Got It Covered, stands as a reminder of how difficult that time was for everyone.

That was a little lockdown project that I did in my bedroom at my parents’ house where I was living at the time. Just to keep me from going insane! They were all self-recorded at home with some guitar and vocals.

That’s a theme I’m picking up speaking to people this weekend. Lockdown was so long ago now but it’s still so relevant to your journeys – what does that mean for you?

Yeah massively. I went in to 2020 very much on the up – I’d just played Long Road, I’d just got stuff onto the Very Nearly Nashville playlist and then everything just stopped – as it did for everyone. I bizarrely look back on it fondly. Everyone had to stop and slow down – particularly in the music industry. The idea of keeping up with everyone around you just kind of disappeared for a while. The one thing I got out of it is I joined TikTok and gained a decent following and now have a nice little community on there.

In 2022, through the powers of social media – and Lucy’s charisma – Lucy Blu performed on stage with Darius Rucker to a sold-out arena at London’s Country 2 Country (C2C) festival. A moment that will stay with her – and her fans – forever.

It was just the most insane thing ever. So, it came about because I’m just a little bit mouthy on social media. I hadn’t been booked to play C2C and Darius Rucker follows me on Twitter (now X). I tweeted him like, ‘look if I don’t get booked for C2C can I just come on and sing Wagon Wheel with you I know all the words?’ – just a bit silly. And then he replied like ‘yeah let’s do it’! And that was where it was left and four/five months later he dropped me a DM like ‘so are you going to come and sing with me?’ so I was like ‘YEAH’. Two or three messages were sent and then it got to the day he was performing here. He’d said to me bring your in-ear monitors and that was the last I’d heard.

SO, I was here having lunch with my friend about 2pm on the day and I got a message like I’ve left you two backstage passes they’re on the front desk and I was like what?! I was super hungover, had no make-up on – thankfully I’d got everything with me just in case. So, we went backstage and then I was singing at the O2. It was all a bit manic, and I didn’t get given a pack to go with my in-ear monitors so I couldn’t hear a thing – but was loving life – and tried to get as close to him as possible so I could hear the guitar and stay in time and, yeah, that was it. It was the most wonderful insane experience. There were loads of my friends in the front row and I could see them, and it was just incredible.

Can you see the crowd, can you feel it? Or can you just see the front?

You can see everything – the whole arena. You can make out people’s faces. It was incredible.

Have you guys been in touch since?

We’ve been in touch a little bit. Hoping to reconnect when he comes over for his tour.

So how do you top that? What are you looking to do after that?

Do you know what, it was just really nice to have the acknowledgement. I was with my best friend and she’s my biggest hype girl and she ran up to him backstage and was like ‘you should listen to her music it’s really good’ and he was like ‘yeah I know I’ve listened to it’. And to know that he’s listened to my music and rated it enough to invite me to share the stage with him.

It can feel like shouting into the void as an independent artist and I’m really lucky to have a supportive fan base and dong that with Darius really boosted that. A lot of people went ‘who’s this girl?’ and I did get a boost from that and I’m so grateful. But when people message me and say like they connected with this part of a song, or they liked this bit then that means the most to me. I am getting more of that and that’s what I do this for so I’m just going to keep doing that and keep loving it person by person.

What’s happening for you in 2024?

A few more festivals to be announced which I’m very excited for. A couple of country nights have opened up in London so I’m playing a few of those with the band. New music is coming out and getting to the final stages of that now. I’m so excited for this whole new project it’s definitely the best yet in terms of my song writing and the quality of the production – it’s getting bigger and better every time. Very excited to see where it takes me.

What’s your country story – did it find you or did you find it?

Mines a bit of a hodge-podge. I grew up with country music because my parents owned record shops when I was a kid, so I’ve always grown up around music. My parents are massive country fans – my dad’s a big Linda Ronstadt and Emmy Lou Harris fan, my mum is a massive Willie Nelson fan and they were very into the Eagles and things like that. I always loved it and used to sing those things growing up and I knew I wanted to be a music artist but was struggling to find my place.

I think I was a teenager maybe seventeen and I was looking up sad songs getting in my feels. It bought up Whiskey Lullaby – brad Paisley, Concrete Angel – Martina McBryde, Just a Dream – Carrie Underwood and I was like woah this is amazing! I’d grown up with country music but had no idea that modern country music existed. And then I came to C2C the year that Carrie Underwood was headlining – 2015? – and was like oh there is so much!

I went to HMV on the Monday and bought like Chris Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves, back when you could play a CD in the car and that was it! I’d been trying to write songs and build a music career without knowing where I fit and then suddenly, I was like oh this is where I fit.

It’s a great time to be part of the country music community, especially women in country.

Yeah there is such a sense of community. As far as I’m concerned – and I know so many artists feel this way – any success that any of us have is just good for everyone. It’s good to see anyone taking off. BST this year has two – arguably two and a half – country artists headlining which is just crazy.

Who are you taking inspiration from at the minute?

Since Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, I’ve been obsessed with Kelsea Ballerini. I’ve always liked her but that EP has been my most listened to. The way her song writing has evolved and taken shape is insane. I love everything about her – her brand, her style and her connection with her fans.

I’ve always been a massive Linda Ronstadt fan, I’ve always kind of modelled myself after her. Vocally and stylistically I just think she is incredible. They’re making a biopic film this year that I’m very excited about. Kacey Musgraves as well is a big one for me – from a songwriters point of view I’m very excited for this new album, she’s always been a big one for me. Hopefully going to the tour!
I tend to listen to a bit of everything. I don’t exclusively listen to country music. I still very much listen to the angsty punk bands that I listened to when I was a teen.
Megan Moroney is another one for me right now I can’t wait to see where she heads. That whole first album there is not a skip.

Are you sticking around all weekend – who are you looking forward to seeing?

Priscilla Block – I saw her in the writers round at C2C last time and I saw her with the band at Long Road. I missed her on the main stage because I was doing an interview so I’m looking forward to seeing her full show. I’m excited to see Brad Paisley he always puts on a good show and Chapel Heart tonight at the after party. They are so good, so charismatic, such great vocalists – the whole package.

Who would your dream collaboration be with?

I hate this question! Song writing – I would love to write with Cam. She is so talented and seems like the nicest lady. Performance wise – it’s tough…maybe Miranda Lambert. We’d have a lot of fun – I’ve even got her boots on!

It’s safe to say that 2024 is going to be a very exciting year for Lucy Blu – we can’t wait to see what’s in store for her.