Ocie Elliott is a Canadian

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

duo from

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

. They are composed of Jon Middleton, who is also vocalist and guitarist in the band Jon and Roy, and Sierra Lundy. They were nominated for the

Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year The Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year is presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to the best new musical group in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada ...

at the

Juno Awards of 2022 The Juno Awards of 2022 were held on May 15, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario. The awards were presented at the Budweiser Stage, an outdoor venue, and was hosted by actor Simu Liu.David Friend"Actor Simu Liu to host first outdoor Juno Awards at Toronto� ...

. As of December 2024, they have released two albums, seven

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, and a number of singles. The band got its name after Middleton, inspired by Lundy's obsession with the

1920s File:1920s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Seán Hogan during the Irish War of Independence; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the Eighteenth Amendment to ...

, found the name "Ocie Cleve" in a

name generator and combined it with the first name of folk singer

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

History

As a child, Lundy sang in the school choir, although she was more focused on sports. Her dad, however, wanted her to become a musician. Lundy attended art school in Victoria. Middleton's father played acoustic guitar often on camping trips and also inspired his interest in music. They met and began dating in 2016, when Middleton performed solo at a cafe on

Salt Spring Island Salt Spring Island or Saltspring Island is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada, and Vancouver Island. The island was initially inhabited by various Salishan peoples before being settled ...

in which Lundy was working. A month into their relationship, Lundy's sister and a friend insisted that Middleton and Lundy perform together. They immediately performed a rendition of "Look at Miss Ohio" by

Gillian Welch Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, coun ...

and felt a connection and synergy. For their first couple years together, they only performed

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of about 50 songs in coffee shops and restaurants. Artists whose songs they performed include

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

John Prine John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. Widely cited as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, Prine was known for his signature blend of humoro ...

Milky Chance Milky Chance is a German rock band originating in Kassel. It consists of vocalist and guitarist Clemens Rehbein, bassist and percussionist Philipp Dausch, and their band members, Antonio Greger and Sebastian Schmidt. Their first single, " Stole ...

, and

Beach House Beach House is an American indie music, indie band formed in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore in 2004 by current members Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, drum programming). Their work is char ...

. They released a self-titled EP in 2017. In early 2019, they signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with Vancouver-based

Nettwerk Music Group Nettwerk Music Group is an independent record label founded in 1984. The Vancouver-based company was created by principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record label to distribute recordings by the band Moev, but the label expanded in Ca ...

. Their song "Run to You" was included in a 2019 episode of ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

'' and their song "The Less We Know" was included in a 2022 episode of the show.

Ecological activism

The band tries to minimize its ecological footprint by not creating much merchandise. They also take trains as much as possible instead of driving.

Influences

The duo cite

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

and

as their biggest influences.

Discography

Source:

Albums

* ''We Fall In'' (February 8, 2019) * ''In That Room'' (March 20, 2020)

EPs

* ''Ocie Elliott'' (September 22, 2017) * ''Tracks'' (July 17, 2020) * ''Slow Tide'' (March 12, 2021) * ''A Place'' (August 27, 2021) * ''With the Lights Down'' (February 25, 2022) * ''What Remains'' (September 23, 2022) * ''Know The Night'' (November 24, 2023)

References

{{reflist 2017 establishments in British Columbia Canadian folk music groups Canadian musical duos Musical groups established in 2017 Musical groups from Victoria, British Columbia