Dates Appearing: Aug 6 - 10
Current Release: Trailer Park


Beth Orton was born in December 1970 and drifted through her teens in a musical haze of Terry Callier, Neil Young, Nick Drake, Stone Roses, Rolling Stones, Carol King and Rickie Lee Jones, her early 20s immersed in everything from Radiohead to TLC Her first musical project was a one off single; a cover version of John Martyn's "Don't Wanna Know About Evil" recorded with William Orbit under the name of Spill. Her relationship with Mr Orbit continued with the Strange Cargo project where Beth co-wrote "Water From A Vine Leaf", (from Strange Cargo 3). She first came into the public eye guesting with Red Snapper on their first two singles, "Snapper" and "In Deep". Through the William Orbit days and onto Red Snapper the basis of the songs has always been just an acoustic guitar and vocals, leaving their roots exposed even when upderpinned by burbling techno pulses or sampled breakbeaks.

In the Summer of 1995 a bandless Beth hooked up with a group of friends who make up the backbone of Primal Scream (guitarist Andrew Innes, keyboard man Martin Duffy and bass player "H"). They helped her remodel and reshape "Live As You Dream" before Beth took time out to find a band of her very own and to sprinkle pure warmth over the top of a warped slo-mo backing track that two DJs were punting around, looking for the perfect voice to do justice to a set of lyrics they'd written. "Alive:Alone", became the last track on the hugely successful Chemical Brothers debut album, "Exit Planet Dust".

With a band that creates wild, textured music, Beth Orton has tried to distance herself from the growing 'scene' of leftfield female singer-songwriters. "Trailer Park" is Beth's debut album, a stand alone piece of rootsy beauty, created alone and brought to life with the help of Victor Van Vught (production, Tindersticks, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) & Andrew Weatherall ("Screamadelica") (additional production), with a band consisting of Ali Friend (double bass), Wildcat Will (drums), Ted Barnes (guitar) and Lee Spencer (keyboards).



Return to Lilith Fair Artists