Olivia Chaney To Release The Longest River

English Singer, Songwriter, and Multi-Instrumentalist Olivia Chaney Tours

North America in Support of Her April 28 Nonesuch Debut, The Longest River

Fourteen-city tour begins June 4 in Washington, DC

Video for “Imperfections” streaming now

London-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Olivia Chaney makes her album debut with The Longest River, available April 28 on Nonesuch Records. Chaney, a recent BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards double nominee, co-produced the album at the legendary RAK Studios in London with Leo Abrahams (guitarist, film composer, and Brian Eno collaborator). The record was engineered by esteemed veteran Jerry Boys (Buena Vista Social Club, Sandy Denny) and includes Chaney’s longtime collaborators, musicians Oliver Coates, Jordan Hunt, and Leo Taylor.

The Longest River is available to pre-order at iTunes and nonesuch.com, where downloads of the album tracks “Imperfections” and “The King’s Horses” are available immediately. A video of Chaney performing “Imperfections” may also be viewed here. Tour dates—which include stops in Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC—are below.

The New York Times said of a performance during a brief tour in February, “The English singer-songwriter Olivia Chaney sound(s) like a next-generation bearer of British folk traditionalism. Her voice holds the purity, tension, dignity and sorrow of a heritage full of songs about lost love and cruel fate. Ms. Chaney is thoroughly grounded in the past, from medieval music to [Joni] Mitchell. But in her quiet way, she’s radical,” and the Boston Globe said, “Chaney’s voice … has been called one of the finest in English folk music; it only took one song to see why.”

On The Longest River, Chaney balances her original compositions—including the two pieces that first brought her acclaim, “The King’s Horses” and “Swimming in the Longest River”—with a selection of covers that she has newly arranged and that illustrate the broad sweep of her taste: “Blessed Instant” by Norwegian jazz singer-composer Sidsel Endresen; an adaptation of 17^th-century Baroque composer Henry Purcell’s “There’s Not a Swain”; 20^th-century Chilean folk composer Violetta Parra’s “La Jardinera”; and “Waxwing,” from Scottish avant-folk singer-songwriter Alasdair Roberts.

Chaney graduated from the Royal Academy of Music and learned the guitar from her father’s renditions of Bob Dylan, Fairport Convention, and Bert Jansch, among others. Since then she has built a loyal and growing following, both in the UK and internationally, through her acclaimed live performances, as a solo artist and also in collaboration with a diverse range of artists, including Alasdair Roberts, Zero 7, and The Labèque Sisters. In February 2013, she self-released her eponymous debut EP, which found her further fans with media and public alike, leading BBC Music to write “it confirms Chaney’s arrival as a major talent.”

Chaney collaborated with the Kronos Quartet, alongside Natalie Merchant, Rhiannon Giddens and Sam Amidon, for an evening of folk songs in celebration of Nonesuch’s 50^th anniversary. Labelmate Robert Plant was so impressed by that show that he asked Chaney to open his own concerts at BAM the following week. 

Olivia Chaney North American Tour

Thursday, June 4

Vienna, VA

Jammin’ Java

 

Friday, June 5

Philadelphia, PA

The Tin Angel

 

Saturday, June 6

Brooklyn, NY

The Living Room

 

Monday, June 8

Northampton, MA

The Parlor Room

 

Tuesday, June 9

Cambridge, MA

Lizard Lounge

 

Thursday, June 11

Toronto, ON

The Dakota

 

Saturday, June 13

Chicago, IL

Shuba’s

 

Tuesday, June 16

Madison, WI

High Noon

 

Wednesday, June 17

Minneapolis, MN

Best Buy Theater

 

Thursday, June 18 *

Evanston, IL

Space

 

Friday, June 19 **

Louisville, KY

Zanzabar

 

Sunday, June 21

Ann Arbor, MI

The Ark

 

Tuesday, June 23

Pittsburgh, PA

Club Café

 

Thursday, June 25

New York, NY

Joe’s Pub

 

* Co-bill with Daniel Knox

** Supporting The Tillers