We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Abbie Bell & The High Ryes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Abbie Bell & The High Ryes , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

As a band especially when first starting out you can receive a lot of knock backs and at times it can be deflating. The kindest thing to happen to us this far was being offered our main stage and festival debut with Buck N Bill The Summer of Country of Weekend! We appreciate every opportunity but this one for us was such a massive stepping stone in meeting other artists and promoters in the genre and fans of country music. When really we were still very new at the time so the offer was a great opportunity’

Abbie Bell & The High Ryes , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We are a country band from Scotland! We are lovable trio! Ross our bassist, Nathan our drummer and Abbie our lead singer/guitarist! We are eclectic musicians with a love of all genres!! We each have had such a different experience and journey growth as musicians which has only contributed as strengths to our band! As a unit we prioritise three key areas that’s fuels us to keep going! We want to create the best music possible, put on the best live show possible and always stay true to ourselves and our styles! We are here to stand out not blend in!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Support independent and small musicians. Go see them live! In our experience as a country artist we see so much support for larger country artists coming locally i.e Luke Combs and C2C! Which is amazing to see the love for the genre but you don’t feel love as a smaller musician. So if you are a fan of any genre please go see smaller acts! Spend the £8 for a gig, take time out your day to go see the debut stages at festivals. Trust us it will be so appreciated and you never know they could be your new favourite!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In line with the above question! The story we are so proud of and one which is still on going was our decisions to host and organise our own country live music show! One in order to showcase our band but also to bring an outlet for country music to Edinburgh because there is very little opportunities in the city so we created our own! Knowing that we are still small, we have taken on the brunt and financial costs to hopefully find people who love us, love our music and want to support an independent local band!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/thehighryes
• Instagram: @thehighryes
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehighryes
• Twitter: @thehighryes
• Youtube: @thehighryes
• Other: https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Edinburgh/The-Hive-Nightclub/City-II-City-Edinburgh/37151909/

Image Credits
Gemma Leigh Photography Aynsley Lafferty