Laurence Made Me Cry is the project of Jo Whitby, a songstress, artist and multi-instrumentalist from Cardiff who now lives in Glasgow, Scotland. Her songs are often described as having a familiar, timeless quality, with a warm and reflective feel.

Career

As Laurence Made Me Cry, Whitby performs an acoustic and indie-leaning style associated with folk and melancholy. She appears at festivals including Sŵn, Wales Goes Pop and Green Man Festival, and she reaches Glastonbury’s 2013 Emerging Talent longlist. She also supports acts including Gulp, Rachel Sermanni and Meursault.

In February 2013, Whitby receives the Musicians Benevolent Fund’s Emerging Excellence Award, and after that she begins her first UK tour.

Releases and collaborations

Her debut record, The Diary Of Me, is a crowd-funded release made through a worldwide collaborative process. It draws support from BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music and receives a nomination for the Welsh Music Prize in 2013, alongside releases by Neon Neon, Zervas and Pepper and Georgia Ruth.

The album includes contributions from Pulco, Freddie Nunez and Salwa Azar, and it is presented as an intimate and reflective collaborative project involving both the performers and listeners.

Label

Laurence Made Me Cry appears on the roster of the independent label Folkwit, alongside Pulco, Cymbient, Joyce the Librarian, No Thee No Ess and Snippet.