Viv & Riley (Focal Point Friends of Old-Time Music)

Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno have emerged as two of the most promising contemporary young roots artists, fluidly moving through old time, bluegrass, and classic country music with an ease of execution, and displaying a passion for the enterprise of reviving old music that is infectious with the audience.

Viv & Riley play old-soul roots music, fluidly melding a backbone of Appalachian traditional music with fresh iconic melodies and the tightly wound vocal harmonies of indie folk. Both grew up steeped in old-time music, Leva in Lexington, Virginia and Calcagno in Seattle, Washington. After meeting in 2016 they soon collaborated on Leva’s debut record Time Is Everything which Rolling Stone wrote “shone a light on the past without giving up its place in the present.” In support of the record, they embarked on an extensive tour that stretched to the most northern reaches of Canada and overseas to Europe. Over the course of these varied and occasionally lonesome shows and travels, the pair developed their collaboration into a distinct sound that led to the imagination and writing of their new eponymous record Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno, out now on Free Dirt Records. We’re happy and honored to have them back on our stage once again at Focal Point.