If I’m being completely honest here, as much as it pains me to admit this, had I been in the audience that fateful day in 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival when Bob Dylan first went electric, I probably would have joined the throngs booing him the loudest.  Viv & Riley, I’m guessing, not so much.

Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno make up the acclaimed roots duo Viv & Riley.  And although they both grew up steeped in the rich heritage of the old time music scene, the songs on their latest album, Imaginary People, have a layered, shimmering indie-rock sound.  For Viv & Riley, the old time traditions serve as their launching pad, the foundation on which they base their craft, to create compelling original music that feels fresh, yet somehow familiar.  It’s a style that’s been working for them, no doubt.

Imaginary People, their second album together as a duo, was released in September and has been hailed as a “subtle masterpiece.” This fall, Leva and Calcagno successfully completed a thirty city U.S. tour in support of the album, entertaining multi-generational audiences from coast to coast.  And in what may be the best indicator yet of their success given the current state of the music business, their songs have been played on Spotify nearly six million times.

I caught up with Leva and Calcagno by phone on a recent morning to talk about their upcoming show in Baltimore, Imaginary People, and their lives in music.  They were in Providence, Rhode Island, having arrived in town at 3:30 a.m. from the West Coast, where they were visiting friends and family for the holiday.  A quick jaunt through New England, opening for the folk-pop band Blind Pilot, was starting that evening and concluding three nights later at the Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York.  Fans’ anticipation for this leg of their tour was high.

On December 15, Viv & Riley will be bringing their show to Baltimore as part of the Music on the Square Concert Series sponsored by the Church on the Square in Canton.  Series concerts are held at the church on select Fridays from October to May.  Viv & Riley join the cadre of other top artists the organizers have been able to attract for these shows.  This year’s series is shaping up to be another great one.  I would recommend getting your tickets now for Viv & Riley.  Some of their other stops on their tour have sold out.

I asked Calcagno what we can expect at the Baltimore show and he was quick to point out, “It’s not your typical folk music concert.”  It’s just the two of them on stage, with acoustic instruments- guitars, banjo, and fiddle.  But they’re exploring songs from Imaginary People and their back catalog, which are, for the most part, not hardly, strictly folk.  “Most of these songs were recorded with a fuller band,” he said. “There’s only one place to hear these pared down versions, which is our live shows.”

It seems almost inevitable that Leva and Calcagno have joined forces, despite the fact that they were born and raised on opposite ends of the country, given the small-town nature of the old time music community.  Calcagno is from Seattle and Leva hails from Lexington, Virginia.  They first met at an old time music festival in Port Towsend, Washington in 2016, the summer after they graduated from high school.  Leva was there with her mother, who was holding workshops for vocalists.  Calcagno was there with the Onlies, the traditional string band he has been playing with since childhood, for the Festival of American Fiddle, to be held at the site the following week.

They hit it off right away, and the pair have been together musically ever since.  “When we first met, we stayed up all night playing music together,” Leva said.  “After that, we started playing as a duo, and I joined the Onlies.”  Leva and Calcagno still play in the Onlies, too. (By the way, you can catch the Onlies in town in April as one of the headliners for the 5^th Annual Baltimore Old Time Music Festival.)

Leva credits her work with the Onlies with reawakening her appreciation for old time music and for allowing her to explore different musical pathways as part of Viv & Riley, while not alienating her core fanbase (unlike Bob Dylan circa 1965.) “With the Onlies, people expect a certain traditional thing,” Leva said.  “But with the duo, I have the freedom to make whatever kinds of songs I want to make.  I can experiment and not lose fans.”

Not many artists can cite albums released by their parents when asked about recordings that influenced their musical tastes when they were coming of age, but Leva can and does.  Her mother and father produced two well-received albums in the late 90’s under the band name Jones and Leva.  About her parents’ albums, Leva said, “Their songs beautifully crossed between country, old time, and other genres.”  Calcagno was familiar with these recordings, too, which he had heard in his own household growing up.

I asked Leva if her parents had any advice for her when she was embarking on her own career in music.  She said that they told her, “As long as you’re making music that’s genuine, you’ll be OK.”

That just might be the best piece of parental advice I’ve ever heard.  (It certainly eclipses anything I’ve ever told my own kids.)  And it’s advice Viv & Riley have taken to heart, as evidenced by their latest release.  Imaginary People is a wistful, honestly reflective collection of genre-defying songs that fit together as an album in the truest sense.

There is no better exemplar of the mood that pervades the album than Kygers Hill, the song that kicks it off.  It perfectly captures the mixed bag of emotions (joy/dread, ease/awkwardness, familiarity/strangeness) familiar to anyone who’s returned home as an adult and spent a couple of nights sleeping in their childhood bedroom.  The song features a jangly electric guitar riff, drums, and a haunting ascending melody chorus.

I'm coming over, but don't you know that I can't stay here for too long
I'm just a visitor, an inquisitor in the place that I call home
Across the Blue Ridge, where my heart is
I'm just here to say hello.

The album is not without its lighter moments.  Riley shows his sardonic side on Is It All Over, which might be the only song out there that contemplates a Warby Parker store on Mars.

Do you think they’ll ship us off
To the mines of Mars
And make us work there?
If they do, will the towns have bars
And entertainment stars
And a Warby Parker?

Of the ten songs on Imaginary People, nine are original compositions.  In fact, it’s Leva’s and Calcagno’s songwriting that takes center stage on Imaginary People, which is saying a lot because the singing, playing and production on it are all excellent.  Leva and Calcagno possess a great gift for melody.  Their songs are well crafted, with subtle and nuanced lyrics, that are built to withstand the test of time.  If you asked ten different people to name their favorite song on Imaginary People, you’re liable to get ten different responses.  All of them justified.

I have to give a shout out to Leva’s vocal performance on the album, too.  Her singing throughout Imaginary People is confident and relaxed.  Her voice would not sound out of place on the B side of a Carter Family 78-rpm-record or on any single currently in the top ten of the Americana chart.  When Leva and Calcagno harmonize, like on The Blackest Crow, a traditional tune that closes out the album, the results are moving.

Imaginary People hits that sweet spot at the intersection of old time music and indie-pop.  Fans of either genre or even both genres, along with Leva’s and Calcagno’s parents, will approve wholeheartedly.

Joining Viv & Riley on the album is an all-star group of players including Alex Bingham, who produced the album, Andy Stack, Sam Fribush, Whit Wright, and Bucket Bingham.

You can see Viv & Riley in-person in Baltimore at a great listening space on Friday, December 15, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.   Tickets are available here.

More information about Viv & Riley is available on their website: vivandriley.com