Cincinnati-based folk duo The Montvales (lifelong friends Sally Buice and Molly Rochelson) recently announced their third full-length, Path of Totality, set to release on March 20 via Free Dirt Records (Jake Blount, Willi Carlisle, Liv Greene). The 12-track set sees The Montvales collaborating once again with producer Mike Eli LoPinto (guitarist for Chris Stapleton and Wyatt Flores, producer of Emily Nenni’s On The Ranch), who helmed their well-received 2024 sophomore album Born Strangers. In celebration of the new release, they will embark on tour across much of the Midwest and Southeast this spring, including dates with Blue Cactus and Chris Acker & the Growing Boys. Please see below for full tour details.
The Montvales have previously shared album tracks “Loud and Clear” and “World of Trouble,” and they’re returning today with “Carolina.” Glide Magazine praises, “Over a steady beat with a touch of banjo and just enough twang, The Montvales give us their gorgeously rich harmonies and ponderous songwriting. As they lyrically explore themes that speak to our current moment of injustice and disaster, the duo lays down soulful vocals that practically levitate over their warm country-tinged folk music to ultimately remind us of their talent.”
Of “Carolina,” Buice offers, “Written in the wake of Hurricane Helene, ‘Carolina’ explores the creeping feeling that late-stage capitalism has left us with very few places that still feel safe. I was out West when the hurricane hit, surrounded by folks who know what it’s like to have to leave home in a hurry when the wildfires spread. I took an early morning drive through a darkened canyon of elk and felt, if not safe, alive. I got an email from somebody we met at a show in Taos, New Mexico – he asked for the lyrics to a song and said ‘I hope the machine never finds you, or if it does, you tell it to fuck off.’ I saw a video of a lone fiddler playing on a stranded North Carolina mountainside. I talked with Molly, who was organizing with our Cincinnati neighbors to send supplies to folks in East Tennessee. All of those ingredients came together to make ‘Carolina’: a testament to the folks who forge ahead in beauty.”
Path of Totality was written over the course of the duo’s 2024 tour that inadvertently followed the path of a total solar eclipse. It was surreal: they met people from all over the world in each rural gas station, everyone buzzing in anticipation. Traffic was intense. Suddenly every hotel room cost twice as much as usual. An eclipse is said to bring dark, shadowy material to the surface, often confronting us with difficult truths, and Buice and Rochelson witnessed these effects unfold around them. In the spring of 2024, student demonstrations across the country protested the genocide in Gaza at the same universities where students in the ’60s had protested the Vietnam war, under the same series of Aries and Libra eclipses they were currently experiencing. Many Americans suddenly grappled with a deeper understanding of the suffering their tax dollars were funding, amidst a skyrocketing cost of living. Neither of the front runners in the impending presidential election seemed to have much to say about it. American democracy felt more and more tenuous, and the threat of a second Trump term hung heavily in the air. Under this weight, The Montvales crafted a cosmic modern America tableau that captures the political, social, and economic tensions shaping the country’s landscape at the time.
Place and fate resonate throughout Path of Totality. Raised in the staunchly conservative state of Tennessee, Buice and Rochelson were outliers, destined to meet before they were even born. Their parents were family friends and former co-workers who nurtured their creative children and taught them the importance of empathy and community. Home to the Highlander Center, a historic social justice organizing space, and a diverse and busy Market Square in Knoxville, their East Tennessee community was a hotbed for political movements and for the arts. The community embraced the pair’s musical pursuits throughout their youth. They jumped around from genre to genre, playing roots music with punk and old-time influences to craft their sound and message. “We are on the feral outskirts of country music,” Rochelson says.
Their politically-driven songwriting is heavily informed by their upbringing in the South, witnessing the tenacity of people organizing for liberation under violent and tumultuous conditions. The Highlander Center was set on fire and faced several bomb threats, there was a politically-motivated shooting at their Unitarian Universalist Church, and the Planned Parenthood where Rochelson worked was burned down. Reminiscing on the lyrics to John Prine’s “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You into Heaven Anymore,” Buice explains that politically driven folk music gave her a sense of agency in dark times, and she’s always wanted to be part of that musical lineage.
“I’ve always thought that would be the best possible way to do music,” Buice says. “I don’t always set out to convey a particular message. I think it works better to see how politics obviously informs everything about our lives, and braid that into the songs.”
Path of Totality does not shy away from the weight of political strife and catastrophe, opting instead to boldly confront it. The Montvales ask us not only how we will endure despite our differences, but how we will find each other again. Their songs are descriptive and textured. The characters are vivid. Their stories are crucial.
