Vivian Leva

Vivian Leva's voice is the sound of living tradition. Steeped in the traditional Appalachian and country music of her home in Lexington, VA, her family's musical roots run deep. She grew up going to fiddle festivals with her parents, both acclaimed roots musicians themselves who perform as the duo Jones and Leva; her father, James, is a respected multi-instrumentalist who learned knee-to-knee with old-time legends Tommy Jarrell and Doug Wallin. Her mother, Carol Elizabeth, absorbed ancient ballads during visits to a now lost generation of singers and recorded with the pioneering bluegrass duo Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard. At age 9, Leva began performing with her father at venues like the prestigious Carter Family Fold and by 15 she was regularly touring and recording with him. More recently, she joined The Onlies, a young stringband that won the coveted traditional band competition at the 2017 Clifftop festival in West Virginia and guest performed with Donna The Buffalo. Her time at fiddle festivals (she’s never missed a Clifftop) has regularly landed her in jams with traditional music heavyweights like Dirk Powell, Caleb Klauder, and Pharis & Jason Romero. Add to this performance resumé teaching stints at The Swannanoa Gathering, The Big Sur Fiddle Camp, and Centrum’s “Voice Works” and her roots music bonafides are obvious, but it’s Leva's songwriting that’ll bowl you over.

On Time Is Everything (coming spring 2018), her label debut, Leva earns a spot in the lineage of great neo-traditional songwriters like Gillian Welch and Sarah Jarosz. And much like these singers, Leva finds inspiration in the past without being stifled by it. Influenced in equal parts by classic storytellers like Kitty Wells and Texas Gladden, the harmony singing of the Stanley and Everly Brothers, and the pop sensibilities of Mandolin Orange, her writing effortlessly shifts between archaic ballads, classic country and honky tonk, and the best of contemporary Americana. Riley Calcagno of The Onlies and other top notch collaborators (Jack Devereux, Eric Robertson, Nick Falk, and Joseph "Joebass" DeJarnette) add fiddle, banjo, pedal steel, and percussion to the album’s tastefully minimal production, imbuing each story of love and heartbreak with a hearty emotional punch. It’s rare to find such a mature and confident voice in a young artist—Leva is still in college—but Time Is Everything is a bold statement from this rising star of traditionally-minded American music. Vivian Leva is a voice that deserves to be listened to in the coming years.