NEXT GIG

Country Roads at ACANTEEN CHELMSFORD  

20-year-old Florence Sommerville, is a singer-songwriter from Orsett, a small Essex village, who thrives on modern country music. She’s performed to packed audiences at iconic venues in Nashville, including the Commodore Grille, Maxwell House, Love & Exile, Cambria Hotel and was chosen by No Depression magazine as one of the top performers at the 2024 AMA Festival. In the UK she’s played the Maverick Festival, Latitude and Moseley Folk & Arts Festival, the Camden Chapel and the Fiddler’s Elbow in London and supported such diverse acts as Diana Jones, Tom Robinson, Annie Keating, Track Dogs, Hannah Aldridge, the Hanging Stars, Dan Owen and many more.

In October 2023 she released her self-penned debut single, the aptly-titled On My Way, to widespread radio play across the width and breadth of the UK and further afield. To a simple, but effective acoustic-based arrangement, Florence’s rich, emotional voice takes the listener on a journey of self-discovery as she explores the anxieties and doubts of a young person as they make their way through life. The title track from her digital EP released in the summer of 2023, a set of songs by a deeply self-aware teenager who was still making sense of herself—who she is, what she stands for, where her life is going. She doesn't arrive as the next ready-made country star beauty figure Barbie doll. There is an unquestionable realness about the way Florence makes sense of life through her music. 

But she exhibits a surety of mind beyond her years, to create music that connects and inspires, and that will inflame a growing fire.

There’s a raw rootsy quality to Florence’s music that belies her youthfulness. An assured performer, she takes total command of any stage from the outset and allows her crystalline vocals to shine on her well-crafted original songs.

Recently she was endorsed by Forever Callie Media who wrote – “Florence’s voice is truly something special. It’s raw, delivering every note with authenticity and emotion. She brought the entire room to silence with one of her most poignant original songs, a deeply moving piece that resonated with everyone listening. It was a moment of shared emotion, as if every word Florence sang carried the weight of a thousand stories.”

During her regular visits to Nashville she has co-written with such hit songwriters as Gary Burr, Sally Barris, Jan Buckingham and over the past few months has been in studio recording her debut album.

Florence launched (I’ll Be Your) Best Broken Heart, her first single from the new album at a special Media Launch evening at the prestigious Green Note on Tuesday January 21st 2025 followed by a series of gigs in Brentwood, Canterbury, Ashford, East Grinstead and Brighton.

Support from  CINDY KALMENSON

http://www.cindystylemusic.com

 Las Vegas-born, California-raised Cindy Kalmenson, one of the finest singer-songwriters currently working the West Coast club circuit, undertakes her second UK tour this June in support of her long-awaited HOME AGAIN fourth album. Inspired and influenced by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, Neil Young, Joan Baez and Emmylou Harris, to name a few, she has developed a unique and heartfelt sound very much her own.

 She has also won many prestigious songwriting awards including most recently,The Rocky Mountain Folks Songwriting Contest last summer. On stage she is very personable and engaging, using her natural humour and banter to win over an audience and then knocking them over with her dynamic voice and vivid songs.