20-year-old Florence Sommerville is a singer-songwriter from Orsett, a small Essex village, who thrives on modern country music. She’s been playing guitar since she was around eight years old, writing songs since she was 12, and has performed at open mics for the past seven years. When she was 14 she reached the final of the Open Mic UK competition held at the O2 Indigo Arena in London. She’s also played at several major festivals including Latitude, Moseley Folk and Arts Festival, Manchester Food and Drink Festival and many listening venues around southern England. November 2023 saw her opening for Nashville star Hannah Bethel at the Slaughtered Lamb, London.
In October 2023, Florence 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 is 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. A huge lover of country music, Florence has recently returned from her second highly successful trip to Nashville, where she got to co-write with acclaimed hit songwriters Gary Burr, Jan Buckingham, Sally Barris and others and also performed at Songwriter Rounds at the Commodore Grill and the Cambria Hotel. In the summer of 2024, Florence played the Maverick Festival, Woodbridge, Suffolk, opened for American singer-songwriter Diana Jones, Australian singer Ange Boxall, 1980s pop star Tom Robinson, New York singer-songwriter Annie Keating, Americana band the Track Dogs, Hannah Aldridge, Dan Owen and the Hanging Stars. Florence also hosted her monthly Florence Sommerville & Friends gig at Bloomsburys Biddenden, inviting guests like Sorrel Nation, the Poor Pluckers, Mark Johnson. Jodie McKay and others on the last Wednesday of every month.
In September, Florence returned to Nashville for the AMA Music Week Festival and, following her appearance at Love & Exile, was chosen by No Depression as one of the 60 leading performers of the week out of more than 400 acts. She also participated in more co-writing sessions and played Songwriter Rounds at the Commodore and Maxwell House. On October 24th, she played her first London Headline show at the Camden Chapel, selling it out three weeks in advance. This was followed by a sold-out show at the Country Café in Ingatestone and a special Songwriting Project with Ex-Prisoners at the London College of Contemporary Music. The whole day was filmed for a documentary that was shown during AMA-UK Week at the end of January. The writers got to perform the songs that they had co-written during a special performance during that week. Florence got to co-write with Cherralyn, coming up with Look At You.
The start of 2025 was exceptionally busy for Florence, revolving around the release of her acclaimed single (I’ll Be Your) Best Broken Heart on January 24th. It began with a special Media Launch at the prestigious Green Note in London (January 21st), followed by her first full band concert at the Brentwood Theatre, Brentwood which sold out, plus concerts at Anchor Arts, Canterbury, the Dog House, Ashford and Chequer Mead, East Grinstead. Her debut album is planned for later this year, with more gig dates to be announced.
Bluebird Café – April 1st In the Row – Florence Sommerville; Sally Barris; Rebecca Folsom and Isaac Gill
Ever since she first saw the Nashville TV series when she was around 12 years old, it’s been Florence’s dream to one day play Nashville’s iconic Bluebird Café. Thanks to manager Alan Cackett and singer-songwriter Sally Barris, that dream will come true at the beginning of April during Florence’s third visit to Nashville in less than a year.
Florence is naturally very excited by this amazing opportunity, especially so early in her career, and it demonstrates in what high esteem she is regarded amongst the Music Row songwriting community. She’ll be appearing alongside Sally Barris, Rebecca Folsom and Isaac Gill – all top Nashville songwriters with numerous hits and album tracks to their credit.
During the trip she will also be undertaking several more co-writing sessions, with such successful writers as Lance Cowan, Irene Kelley, Daryl Mosely, Connor Hicks, Eve Selis, Chuck Mead and of course Sally Barris. She was in such demand for writing appointments, that she reluctantly had to turn several down due to lack of time, which leaves plenty of scope for more Zoom co-writing in future months.
“Florence’s ability to command the stage is remarkable. She effortlessly transitions from light-hearted humour to moments of deep emotional connection, weaving a tapestry of experiences that keeps her audience hanging on every word. Her confidence and charisma make it easy to see why she’s already achieved so much in her career.” – Forever Callie Media
Here’s the video for Florence Sommerville’s first single On My Way, which was also the title song of the Essex-born teenager’s debut EP, released in July 2023, when she was 19.
“A piano joins the fray, the keys are barely brushed and make the faintest of sounds yet it adds a sparkle to the whole affair. The whole song is imbued with a certain charm of innocence and adventure, anxiety mixed with wanderlust. If this opening single is any sign Florence is most definitely heading in the right direction.”, Chris Farlie, w21Music.
Read the full review
While in Nashville in March and April 2024, Florence was invited to appear on George Hege Hamilton V’s Americana Central Time Radio Show in Columbia, Tennessee. Here is a video of from Florence’s performance of her self-penned song Whiskey In The Mornings.
Florence does much of her songwriting and creating her original music in her music studio, a purpose-built building (by her dad) at the bottom of the family garden in the small village of Orsett, Essex. It’s a tranquil setting with an outlook across fields in which horses and donkeys roam freely, the perfect environment for Florence to create her lyrically powerful country story songs.
Florence often performs early versions of new songs she’s written in her studio. Here’s an acoustic version of Fearless a song she co-wrote in Nashville with hit songwriter Gary Burr – I Try To Think About Elvis, Sure Love, To Be Loved By You, etc.
Florence performed Love Me Then at the Country Café, Ingatestone, Essex
Florence often appears on local radio stations including BBC Radio Kent, BBC Essex, Meridian FM and Phoenix FM.
In April 2025, Florence releases the single California.
Florence said: “California was written with two of my favourite people to write with, Sally Barris and Francesca De Valence. At the time of writing, we were actually in three different continents, but thanks to Zoom (and plenty of coffee due to the time zones), we were able to write a song I was so excited about. I’d come up with the general idea for what is now the chorus of the song a while before the session, but ended up putting it to the back of my mind.
“Although I loved the idea, I couldn’t see a vision for it yet – that’s where these ladies came in. I brought the idea to the second or third Zoom triple co-write we set up and, luckily for me, they liked the idea and we all just ran with it. To me, California is a song about the perfect daydream – the thing you fantasise about while you’re at the day job you hate, or the dream of a future you clutch on to after a bad break-up.
“Writing this song was so special for me and, after spending time in the studio with the phenomenal musicians that brought the track to life, we decided the best way to bring it full circle was to have Sally and Francesca add harmonies on the track themselves. So many thousands of miles away from each other, across oceans, the three of us are singing together. That certainly seems like a dream to me!”
