Adia Victoria – Releases “In The Pines” + Two Americana Honors & Awards Nominations
May 18, 2022
“In her music, the blues is a baseline and a frame of mind, not a genre boundary; it pushes her to take risks.” – The New York Times
ADIA VICTORIA
SHARES “IN THE PINES”
TRACK AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY VIA BANDCAMP
WITH PROCEEDS DIRECTED TOWARDS THE CAROLINA ABORTION FUND
NOMINATED FOR 2 AMERICANA MUSIC AWARDS
2022 EMERGING ACT OF THE YEAR + ALBUM OF THE YEAR
ADDITIONAL DATES ADDED TO AIN’T KILLED ME YET TOUR
WEST COAST RUN IN JULY
+ SELECT SHOWS WITH JASON ISBELL AND NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL
NEW ALBUM – A SOUTHERN GOTHIC – OUT NOW VIA CANVASBACK
Features Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Matt Berninger, And Kyshona Armstrong
https://adiavictoria.lnk.to/ASouthernGothic
(Photo by Huy Nguyen)
As she gears up to hit the road to continue her Ain’t Killed Me Yet tour, Adia Victoria has shared A Southern Gothic B-Side, “In the Pines.” The track is available exclusively via Bandcamp and all proceeds will go to the Carolina Abortion Fund. She notes:
In 2019, I spent an afternoon poring over the journal I kept during my junior year of high school in Mauldin, SC. Revisiting the frustrations and observations of my 16-year-old self would lead to the creation of ‘In The Pines’—a song that tells the story of a teenage girl from a small conservative town whose slow slide towards self-destruction is recounted by her best friend. It is the all-too-familiar story of how young women desperate search in vain for escape from totalizing ideologies that define their lives and the lives around them. It is a young girl’s quest for autonomy via rebellion over her life. Failing that, she will ultimately have autonomy over her own death. The song centers the stories of those who fall victim to the ideologies of emotionally stunted men. I dedicate ‘In the Pines’ to every teenage girl who is desperately scratching at the walls of ideological imprisonment. It is a song that I hope reminds them that they are not alone in their hunt for freedom.
LISTEN / SHARE “IN THE PINES” HERE
This week, Adia was nominated for the Americana Music Awards in two categories, 2022 Emerging Act of the Year and Album of the Year.
The track follows “Ain’t Killed Me Yet” which was Adia’s first new music since the release of her critically acclaimed album A Southern Gothic (Canvasback).
Next month Adia will resume her “Ain’t Killed Me Yet” tour with dates in Europe followed by the West Coast leg of the tour in July. Last summer Sonos Radio launched Call & Response, a weekly show hosted by Adia. She recorded several episodes at the Newport Folk Festival and she is also excited to announce she will be performing at this year’s festival on July 23. All tour dates are listed below.
A Southern Gothic landed on numerous year-end lists including Good Morning America who noted, “A Southern Gothic sounds like something from another century, making it one of the most unusually stirring records of the year,” Paste who said, “Adia Victoria doesn’t just have a way with words, she’s a storyteller. Anchored in the present, yet steeped in the history and literature of an inclusive South, Victoria has a sharp eye for detail that informs the songs on A Southern Gothic,” and NPR who declared “Victoria crafted stunning, heat-infused blues vignettes that brilliantly capture the painful depth of Southern racism and the frustrations and complications of being a Black woman in the south.” On the album Adia continues her journey through the conflicts of the American South and the troubling resonance of its past. Sonically, the album is full of frequent juxtaposition. It is equal parts historical montage and modern prophesy, dark and light, love and loathing. The 11 tracks are the musical embodiment of the relationship that so many people, especially Black women, have with the South. The album was executive produced by T Bone Burnett and co-produced by Adia and Mason Hickman. A Southern Gothic features guest appearances by addition Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Matt Beringer, and Kyshona Armstrong.
Praise for Adia Victoria’s A Southern Gothic
“In the decade-plus she’s spent perfecting her version of blues, the South Carolina-born Nashvillian has studied how the heavy air of the South — its buggy, vine-twisted landscapes and historical decadence, the stain of racism and cleansing downpours of resistance — shapes its people…A Southern Gothicfully explores this experience.” NPR
“(A Southern Gothic’s) songs deal with power, mortality and, in ‘Mean-Hearted Woman,’ heartbreak and revenge. Lingering on one chord, with a plucked guitar and a persistent tambourine, she sings about being dumped and replaced, and while her voice stays quiet and breathy, she moves bewilderment and heartache to fury, with a death threat that’s no less menacing for staying quiet.” THE NEW YORK TIMES
“An eerie, acoustic-guitar-driven tune that expands to thick bass and a ghostly orchestra of strings and banjo, “Magnolia Blues” traces one woman’s journey back home. In the process, it reclaims a piece of Southern iconography for all Southerners.” ROLLING STONE
“(an) album of cinematic, atmospheric blues” STEREOGUM
“With a fiery brilliance, A Southern Gothic subverts the title phrase. Victoria tells about the South from the perspective of Black women in a collection of mesmerizing songs that traverse the rawness of Hill Country blues, the country soul of Memphis, the urban rap of Atlanta, the spiraling layers of folk blues, and the sultry languor of smoky jazz.” NO DEPRESSION
“With its duality of ghostly yarns and righteous self-empowerment, A Southern Gothic couldn’t have come out at a better time—right at the start of fall, so you can curl up by a fireplace while you enjoy it with a glass of red wine or bourbon.” CHICAGO READER
“It is the album of her career. It’s not just a celebration of the blues as a vital, historical genre, ‘A Southern Gothic’ is a contemporary resurrection, a record that breathes life back into so many of the voices that have inspired Victoria on her own journey.” EAST NASHVILLIAN
“Adia Victoria’s A Southern Gothic Boldly Redefines The Narrative Of America’s Evolving South” CMT
“It’s a powerful album, one that looks at classic blues through a modern lens, and carries forth the messages of those songs.” BROOKLYN VEGAN
“brilliant storytelling is on full display” CONSEQUENCE
“(On A Southern Gothic) she reclaims a genre associated with white artists whose work reflects a region built on the blood and sweat of Black people.” NASHVILLE SCENE
“It’s clear the musician is taking influence from the rich history of Southern Black storytelling, and using it to push her rich folk-blues fusion somewhere powerfully new and vital, yet steeped in tradition…Victoria’s third record promises to serve as a compelling bridge between sounds of the past and present.” AV CLUB
“Victoria’s version of ‘You Was Born To Die’ features a stomp-ass guitar solo from Jason Isbell…Victoria shares vocals on the song with Margo Price and the powerful singer Kyshona Armstrong, and all three of them sing the hell out of it. STEREOGUM
“A Southern Gothic (is) a record full of tension, drama and new-to-you truth.”
AMERICANA HIGHWAYS
“”Magnolia Blues.” In this haunting, hypnotizing, banjo-spiked Southern gothic blues”
MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
“Future generations will regard Adia Victoria as one of this era’s finest artists.” THE REVUE
“‘You Was Born to Die’ is a dark, rootsy slow-burner that erupts into a ferocious cacophony of screeching guitars and searing vocals. CONSEQUENCE
“Harnessed with her guitar and smooth vocals, her gothic blues is dark, raw and resounding. As a necessary outcry of advocacy for change, it is laced with depth and morose truths.” LIGHTNING 100
Adia Victoria Tour Dates
5/21 – Pittsburgh, PA – Maple House Music + Arts Festival
6/4 – Asheville, NC – Rabbit Rabbit *
6/8 – Hamburg, Germany – Kent Club
6/9 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Copenhagen Americana Festival
6/11 – Stockholm, Sweden – Stockholm Americana Festival
6/12 – Oslo, Norway – Rockefeller
6/15 – Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVrendenburg Club Nine
6/17 – Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain – Azkena Rock Festival
6/19 – Brussels, Belgium – Botanique – Grand Salon
6/21 – Bristol, UK – The Wardrobe Theatre @ The Assembly
6/22 – London, UK – Courtyard Theatre
7/1 – Vancouver, BC – Wise Hall
7/2 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile – Madame Lou’s
7/3 – Portland, OR – Waterfront Blues Festival
7/5 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
7/6 – Felton, CA – Felton Music Hall
7/8 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy and Harriet’s
7/9 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
7/10 – San Diego, CA – Casbah
7/11 – Los Angeles, CA – The Pico Unicorn Project
7/23 – Newport, RI – Newport Folk Festival
7/28 – Whitesburg, KY – Levitt AMP Music Series
9/1 – New York, NY – Pier 17 *
9/3 – Nelsonville, OH – Nelsonville Music Festival
9/4 – Charlottesville, VA – Ting Pavilion *
9/7 – 9/9 – Park City, UT – Park City Summit
9/11 – Santa Fe, NM – Ladder to the Moon Festival
9/24 – Nashville, TN – Pilgrimage Festival
9/30 – Memphis, TN – Memphis Music Festival
* = support for Jason Isbell
Bold = newly announced
A Southern Gothic is Adia’s 3rd album and marks the follow up to 2019’s critically acclaimed Silences, produced by Aaron Dessner. Around its release, The Songwriters Hall of Fame presented Adia with the Holly Prize which recognizes and supports a new “all-in songwriter.” She toured the U.S. and Europe on the “Dope Queen Tour” which included a performance on Live From Here with Chris Thile and at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, the Newport Folk Festival, and a performance at Mass MOCA and Boston Calling. She has also appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. 2020 saw Adia participate in a panel discussion, “Black Equity in Americana: A Conversation, hosted by the Americana Music Association and moderated by Marcus K. Downling.
A Southern Gothic tracklisting
• Magnolia Blues
• Mean-Hearted Woman
• You Was Born To Die (ft. Kyshona Armstrong, Margo Price & Jason Isbell)
• Whole World Knows
• Troubled Mind
• Far From Dixie
• Please Come Down
• My oh My (ft. Stone Jack Jones)
• Deep Water Blues
• Carolina Bound
• South For The Winter (ft. Matt Berninger)