Twinnie: ‘Song writing is a lot cheaper than therapy’

Twinnie-Lee Moore may be spending a lot of time in the US at the moment as the country singer-songwriter and actress prepares for the release of her debut album but it seems she likes to return to her Yorkshire roots as often as she can.

When we speak, the 32-year-old – known professionally simply as Twinnie – is in her “home town”, York, where she is doing a radio show and playing a benefit gig for Help The Heroes. It’s also a chance to visit family members.

“My family are everything,” she says. “With living in London, I try to get back as much as possible, once every three weeks if I’m not in America.”

Three years on from signing a development deal with major label BMG, she is “super excited” to be finally releasing an album, Hollywood Gypsy. “This is my debut album, it’s one I will never get back, the experience has been amazing,” she enthuses, adding that she’s keen for people to hear the record in its entirety after an EP and a succession of singles for radio. “I’m excited but nervous at the same time,” she reflects. “But I think that’s normal.”

She is full grateful for the airplay that songs such as Better When I’m Drunk and Social Babies have received on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Introducing. “Radio 2 have been so amazing to me in supporting me. Even way back when I didn’t have a manager or a label behind me, I went to BBC Introducing. [My music has] got playlisted nationally and regionally, that gives you a boost, especially as a new artist. That gives you a pat on the back if people like it, it’s a step forward, and that’s all I’m ever trying to do, move forward, so that’s good.”

Twinnie’s intention with Hollywood Gypsy was “to tell my story and my journey”. “The title track [is about how] I grew up on Hollywood musicals and gypsy is part of my heritage. I think for me on a deeper level Hollywood and gypsy kind of represent my parents. They split up when I was young and I think I kind of mirrored that in my adult life with going back and forward to Nashville [to perform and record]. I have a whole life there.”

There’s also been a performing career, which began as a child dancing in pantomimes at York Grand Opera House and led via stage school in Blackpool to West End roles in We Will Rock You and Flashdance, as well as film appearances and the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. “I’ve done a lot and it’s all helped towards getting this body of work,” she says. “[Hollywood Gypsy] just sums me up, I think. It’s like a third chapter to Twinnie and what I’m about and what the sound is about.

“It’s weird to look at it objectively when you’re the person that has written it. Do you enjoy your music the way other people enjoy it? I pick myself apart all the time – literally in my songs as well. I have no problem in saying all my flaws. I just wanted it to be honest. All the songwriters and artists that I grew up on, the people that I respected and connected with, were authentic. And with this record I just wanted to be real. There’s a lot of BS out there in the world and I just wanted people to listen to it and go, ‘Actually I know exactly what she is, for all her complexes and insecurities’.”

Better When I’m Drunk is a song that “a lot of people connected with”, she says. “And Type of Girl is meant to show all the different sides of my personality. In the video I wanted to show all the different women, past and present, that inspire me, so that’s quite a good introduction, I am all these characters.

“The fans have been lovely. Last year was a build-up year for me, I did a lot of support shows [including for Kiefer Sutherland], and people have messaged me and said, ‘This song really means a lot to me, you’ve helped me so much’. On social media I get all kinds of messages. I just do music because I have to, I’ve always done it – and song writing is a lot cheaper than therapy – but I don’t really think about anyone else when I’m doing it, I’m just telling stories. It’s like a snapshot of what’s gone on that week or what situations or dramas I’ve got myself into, and then when you get messages like that it’s humbling because I feel very human, and every single one of us is the same – we all want love, we go through the same issues. It doesn’t matter what age you love someone at, from four to 80, it never changes, so it’s nice when you get that feedback.”

Twinnie recalls her first attempt at writing was at the age of four. “I showed my mum a poem and she couldn’t believe I’d written it. My mum kept it in my scrapbook at home along with all the TV and plays and things I was in. It started out with poems, then I was walking around making tunes. I’m basically a massive attention-seeker.”

Country singers such as Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson were “big influences” as she grew up, but she says: “I don’t really believe in genres. I was writing in this story telling way 10 years before [country music’s modern resurgence in the UK]. Somebody said to me, ‘You need to go to Nashville because you’d love the writing there’, and obviously my voice had that kind of influence as well. I can only relate to it – and I think this is why I connected to Nashville so much – because it reminds me of people in my home town. Everybody says how it is, they’re very honest, and Nashville is kind of the same. They’re a lot warmer in the [American] South, there’s a lot of community, and I grew up like that from a very early age.

“I grew up on musicals and they’re telling a story whether it’s through acting, dance, singing or all three, and the way I write is very concept-driven. It will be born out of a situation that I’ve been in; I can visualise it and then just jot it down, it’s all about the story.”

She also says she listened to “a lot of rap”, in particular 2Pac. “If you listen to Type of Girl, in the cadences, the way it’s written, it’s very skippy sometimes. I think being a dancer has helped in a lot of these tracks. It’s two worlds colliding, just mixing and matching. I don’t like being put in a box.”

Twinnie’s acting career continues – she reveals she has “just shot something for Netflix” – but she says music “has always been my main focus”. “[In the past] I’d do eight shows a week in the West End and then I’d go to a gig in a pub where there’s about six people but it’s an opportunity to play. There was a constant juggle. It’s nice to have that opportunity to now step in the spotlight.”

Recording part of the album in Nashville was a special experience. “The whole thing has been magical. Most of the people that I’ve recorded with are some of my dearest friends. I really do feel like Nashville is a second home. I’ve got loads of bedrooms [to stay in] there – to a point where the problem is I can’t find any of my clothes – but I’ve got great friends that are like family to me. I’m such a home bird so I love going there because they make me feel so welcomed, I’ve never felt like an outsider in that community. You could very easily feel ‘I’m British and I’m doing this, what if they don’t accept me?’ But they’ve been so supportive. I’m back and forth to Nashville at the minute because my American label are taking me to country radio so it’s amazing to be representing my country.”

Hollywood Gypsy is released on April 17. Twinnie performs at The Crescent, York on March 22 and supports Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra at Scarborough Spa on May 21. twinnieofficial.com