Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno

Gorgeous acoustic country & Americana from North Carolina

Thanks to the promoters and audiences who supported Vivian & Riley’s 2022 UK tour! 

Fri, 27/05/2022 Omagh, Northern Ireland Bluegrass Omagh festival
Sat, 28/05/2022 Omagh, Northern Ireland Bluegrass Omagh festival
Sun, 29/05/2022 Omagh, Northern Ireland Bluegrass Omagh festival
Tue, 31/05/2022 Sheffield The Greystones (with Jake Blount)
Wed, 01/06/2022 Camden, London Green Note
Thu, 02/06/2022 Lewes House concert (contact us for details)
Sat, 04/06/2022 West Wales Fire in the Mountain festival (SOLD OUT/waitlist)
Sun, 05/06/2022 West Wales Fire in the Mountain festival (SOLD OUT/waitlist)
Tue, 07/06/2022 St Davids, Wales Tabernacle (Boia Gigs)

Two of the brightest young talents on the USA’s roots music scene, Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno combine exquisite musicianship (on guitars, fiddle and clawhammer banjo), compelling songs and gorgeous singing. Their debut self-titled album was released in 2021, produced by acclaimed Grammy-winning Cajun musician Joel Savoy, and was warmly reviewed, making many year-end best-of lists. It combines acoustic Americana,  classic country and dashes of old time and bluegrass in a lovely and diverse collection.  In live performance, Vivian and Riley are absolutely magnetic, and sure to enchant audiences when they return to the UK this spring.

” The album represents the essence of roots music: they mine various traditions from Appalachian folk to Cajun music, displaying faith to the past while moving the genre forward.” – Lyric magazine
Viv and Riley, picture credit Brendon Burton

Vivian Leva grew up in Lexington, Virginia, going to fiddle festivals with her parents, both acclaimed roots musicians in their own right. At nine years old she began writing songs and performing with her father James Leva. Vivian’s debut solo album Time Is Everything was recorded in 2018, while she was still a college student. She enlisted the talents of multi-instrumentalist Riley (who co-wrote the title track) as well as other top notch collaborators, and that same year was named in a Rolling Stone feature as one of the top ten country artists to watch. Vivian’s songwriting style shifts effortlessly between folk ballads, classic country and contemporary Americana, and is beautifully realised within her duo with Riley. 

Riley Calcagno has also been immersed in traditional music from an early age. Originally from Seattle, he grew up at festivals around the Pacific Northwest, learning fiddle directly from old masters of the style. His musical skills also span banjo, guitar, mandolin and voice. Riley is a founding member of The Onlies, an acclaimed young stringband formed in 2006 when the members were still very young children (Vivian joined the quartet in 2017).  The band won the 2017 band contest at the fabled Appalachian Stringband Festival in Clifftop, WV, and released their debut album of footstomping fiddle tunes and classic bluegrass songs in 2020. Calcagno is also a talented classical violin player, and is a graduate of Oberlin College & Conservatory in Ohio. He has performed with luminaries including Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Bruce Molsky, the Seattle Symphony, Altan and Dirk Powell, to name just a few.