The Onlies Climb the Mountain to WTJU
By WTJU
Date: 09/05/2025
Time: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Members of the premier old-time adjacent group, The Onlies, will stop by WTJU this Friday afternoon to go track by track through their latest release, “You Climb the Mountain”, during Sunset Road. Sunset Road airs each Friday afternoon from 4-6 (eastern) at 91.1FM and online at wtju.net.
As they launch their 20th year as a band, The Onlies release ‘You Climb the Mountain’, an eruption of stringband energy from the most seasoned group of young old friends making old-time music today. Multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Sami Braman, Riley Calcagno, and Leo Shannon formed The Onlies in Seattle as little kids, bringing in celebrated guitarist/singer Vivian Leva 10 years later. With their fourth album—the first two recorded before they could drive—the band traverses folk traditions, geographies, and generations, exploring musical terrain from raging fiddle tunes to atmospheric ballads to Carter family gems.
Recorded largely with Grammy-winning producer Joel Savoy at his Studio SavoyFaire in Eunice, La., You Climb The Mountain is powered by the unmistakable bass groove of Nokosee Fields and a cameo vocal from bluegrass legend, Alice Gerrard. Building off the energy of their eponymous 2020 release, this long-awaited offering takes listeners on a climb up no ordinary mountain.
As a band the Onlies have earned first place at the Appalachian Stringband Festival in Clifftop, W. Va., and are currently Artistic Directors of Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Wash., one of the largest and most venerable fiddle festivals in the country. Band members are also busy in a variety of other projects—Viv & Riley, Willie Watson (Sami), Bonnie “Prince” Billy (Leo) and Sarah Kate Morgan (Leo)—bringing those sensibilities back to the studio. You can hear their joy and decades of playing together in every note, as The Onlies define the sound and perspective of a new generation of stringband music.
You can find out more about the band at its website, and the album is available on Bandcamp.
