Jo Mango is a Scottish singer-songwriter from Dewsbury and Glasgow, born in 1980. She works in folk, indie and acoustic music, and is associated with an ethereal style.

Career

She begins releasing music in the early 2000s and founds Lo-Five Records in April 2004 with her twin brother and manager, starting the label from her front room. On that label she issues her first record, The Antidote EP, which receives airplay across the BBC Radio network and is reviewed positively by The List. Her debut album, Paperclips and Sand, follows in March 2006 and attracts strong reviews.

Jo Mango tours extensively in 2006 and 2007, first as a solo artist and later as part of Vashti Bunyan’s band. Bunyan invites her to join after hearing about her range of instrumental work, which includes flute, keyboard, concertina and kalimba. Mango becomes a mainstay of Bunyan’s touring group, performing across North America, Europe, Australia and Japan.

Collaborations and performances

She works with a number of figures in the folk and singer-songwriter scene, including Vashti Bunyan, Devendra Banhart, Donovan and Eddi Reader. She also performs with Willy Vlautin of Richmond Fontaine at a festival appearance. During the Zero Degrees of Separation tour she appears alongside Adem, Juana Molina, Vetiver and Vashti Bunyan, with the tour culminating in a Carnegie Hall show in New York curated by David Byrne.

Her performances also include a set for David Byrne at Carnegie Hall in front of a sold-out audience, appearances in Japan that bring her new listeners, and shows in Texas at South by Southwest. At SXSW she presents an official showcase at The Central Presbyterian Church and also appears in the Scottish showcase alongside The Fratellis, Paolo Nutini and Emma Pollock. She is featured by MTV Australia and appears on television and radio sessions including BBC Two’s Rapal, KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic and Radio 2.

Writing and study

At the time described, she is writing a new album and expanding her label and management work to support talent in Scotland and beyond. She is also studying for a PhD in musicology at the University of Glasgow.