photo credit – Molly Milroy
River Whyless
8/18/22
Southgate House Revival, 111 E 6th St, Newport, KY
7pm doors, 8pm show, Buy Tickets
Following a successful East Coast run this past spring in support of new album Monoflora, River Whyless have announced additional 2022 dates. Beginning August 18th, the Asheville, NC band will head out on a month-long tour that will hit the Midwest, west coast, southwest and south before the band heads to Nashville, TN at the end of September for AmericanaFest. Monoflora was released to widespread acclaim, winning press praise, various streaming playlist placements, and double digit adds at both AAA and Americana radio in their first week of eligibility for lead single “Promise Rings.” Recently, the band also released the music video for Monoflora standout “Michigan Cherry.”
Originating from Asheville, NC, River Whyless boasts four songwriters/multi-instrumentalists (Halli Anderson, Alex McWalters, Ryan O’Keefe and Shearin) and three singers (Anderson, O’Keefe and Shearin). The interplay, trust and support between each member continues to grow, but this time around, the band goes one step further by producing new album Monoflora themselves.
To craft the new album, the band secluded themselves for thirty days deep in the hills outside Asheville. Their intention was to make a record, the band’s fourth full-length effort, and first without a producer since their 2012 debut A Stone, A Leaf, An Unfound Door. Back then, that constraint was a matter of necessity. This time, it was deliberate.
Using mostly gear from Shearin’s recording studio, the band converted McWalter’s house into a multi-level homemade recording space. The basement became the control room and drum world. The main level, with its high ceilings and pine floors, was well-equipped for acoustic guitars and violin. They didn’t know yet where the vocals would be tracked. In truth, they didn’t know much except that they had the gear they needed, some time, and a collection of very rough-hewn demos they hoped could be shaped into something honest and cohesive.
