Kissing Other PPL

• Country
• Old Time

While on tour together in 2022, Durham based folk duo Viv & Riley, and Nashville-based singer/songwriter Rachel Baiman talked about the recent records that they had enjoyed. Each time one person would bring up a beloved album or song, another would chime in with enthusiastic agreement. With hours in the van to daydream, and hours on stage to enjoy harmonizing together, the three began to scheme about recording some covers together.

In June of 2023, producer Greg Griffith (Amy Ray, Vitapup, The Butchies) invited the newly imagined trio to spend a week in Connecticut at his home and studio. The idea was to explore some cover songs and see what the sound of the project might be, with no expectation of a finished product

As the three began working out an arrangement for Lennon Stella’s “Kissing Other People”, sitting cross legged on the floor in Griffith’s living room, Griffith stealthily placed microphones, as well as a vintage camcorder in the room. What emerged was a completely live take of the song, organic and full of magic. The recording set the tone for what followed, an 8 track album of covers ranging from cult favorites like Magnolia Electric Company, Dr. Dog and Joan Armatrading, to modern but lesser-known writers like Waylon Payne.

With Griffith’s influence, the project explored more analog, indie and grunge sounds than any of the individual artist’s previous work. The recording captures the beautifully uncaged feeling of the collaboration, as Leva switches to playing drums for “Hold on Magnolia”, and Baiman plays a wildly dissonant guitar solo on “Woncha Come On Home”. Every idea was attempted, and every song was captured in real time.

Kissing Other PPL is a project about openness to exploration, collaboration, and creativity above technicality. It finds a trio of accomplished musicians that seeks to unlearn boundaries of perfection and find the best sound for the given song in the given moment.

Rachel Baiman

• Americana
• Singer/Songwriter

Originally from Chicago, Rachel Baiman moved to Nashville at eighteen, and has spent the last decade working as a musician in a wide variety of roles, from session musician (Molly Tuttle, Kelsey Waldon, Caroline Spence), to live sidewoman (Kacey Musgraves, Amy Ray), to bandmate and producer. Fiddle music was her first love, and she is known in the bluegrass and old time world for her work with progressive acoustic duo 10 String Symphony with fiddle player Christian Sedelmyer. Her first solo album Shame, was produced by Andrew Marlin of Mandolin Orange, and established her role as part of a new generation of political songwriters. Since 2017, Baiman has toured her solo project internationally with appearances at the Kilkenny Roots Festival in Ireland, the Mullum Music Festival in Australia, and the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in Washington, DC. She has also released a variety of small scale projects; her 2018 Free Dirt EP Thanksgiving, which read as a sort of epilogue to Shame, a duet project with singer Mike Wheeler, which is a more stripped down nod to her acoustic roots. Her follow up, Cycles, further pushed her musical spirit, finding a grittier musical medium for her signature unabashed and defiant songwriting, employing a majority-female team.

Her most recent release is the critically acclaimed Common Nation of Sorrow. On this record, she tells stories of American capitalism, and the individual and communal devastation it manifests. “The reality is that the vast majority of us are being taken advantage of by the same brutal economic and political systems. Maybe that shared oppression is a place in which we can meet and fightback”, she explains. In contrast with her previous work, Baiman is the sole producer of Common Nation of Sorrow, which she recorded in her hometown of Nashville. She leans heavily into her bluegrass and old-time sensibilities on this new record. “In some ways, this is a homecoming project for me”, she says. “I wanted to explore these songs based on who and where I am right now, with the town and the people who have raised me musically using the music from the place I’m singing about.” On Common Nation of Sorrow, she has found a production style to match her straightforward writing. Baiman displays a certain self-awareness and comfort with the inability to be all things, while simultaneously pushing to new heights with her message, and delivering a heartbreaking, albeit beautiful, assessment of her country.

Viv & Riley

• Americana
• Roots

A bittersweet nostalgia lies at the heart of Imaginary People, the new album from Viv & Riley, coming September 15, 2023 on Free Dirt Records. Over ten tracks, the pair applies an indie roots sheen to newly composed pop gems. Rooted originally in the folk tradition, the pair reframe the production into experimental territory, crafting songs that speak to finding a path forward into adulthood in an uncertain world. Gifted songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno’s first album under the name Viv & Riley is a subtle masterpiece of thought and reflection. The album brings a reflectiveness to summertime jams that speak of uninhibited joy and creative camaraderie.

Coming on the heels of their acclaimed earlier albums that showed preternaturally talented songwriting from such young artists, now the songs have caught up with their lives. Now in their mid-20s, the two are building a life together, creating a supportive community, and looking back on everything they’ve been through. Based out of Durham, North Carolina, they’ve tapped into the area’s eclectic and collaborative music scene, recruiting Alex Bingham of Hiss Golden Messenger to produce the album. Bingham brings a sunny, lush sound to Viv & Riley’s music, moving beyond their earlier country roots and toward a layered sound and sonic experimentation. The songwriting has evolved as well, from the world-weary, stripped-down country songs they’re known for to indie songwriting at turns sweetly sad and gently sardonic. Ultimately, Imaginary People is about carrying and honoring our pasts, about letting that inform our new steps forward. No matter how much we might cling to where we are, sometimes we need to uproot and take a leap of faith, to open ourselves up to new experiences and ideas in order to grow and blossom.