Viva la Muerte was born as a fiddle and two guitars back in 2005. In 2012, VLM expanded their sound and launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $10,000 for their first album, “All the Birds.” Critical acclaim for “All the Birds” came from a number of sources: “‘All the Birds’ is a great new album that certainly puts most of the boring folk music these days in its place. The album screams with creativity,” said Amplifier magazine. “It’s a beautiful piece of work, with pedal steel guitar, mandolin, piano and songs full of love, death and serendipity,” wrote Jeri Rowe of The Greensboro News and Record. Even west coast DJs like David Gans of The Grateful Dead Hour took note of “All the Birds,” Gans saying: “Very nice variety of feels and flavors here. Hearkens back to the ’60s in the best possible way. Armstrong’s voice brings to mind Jim Morrison but without the false menace.”

Viva la Muerte is a spiritual walkabout, from the front porch to the desert to the magnolia, thoughtful music that doesn’t forget to have fun. VLM’s sound might best be described as psychedelic Americana if, by psychedelic, one means a place where borders blur and if, by Americana, one means a respect for the deep roots of American music. In 2016, VLM again reached out to their fans and again raised more than $10,000 for the production of their second album. That album–“The Eyes of Men”– was released on July 4th, 2017.