Calaveras

Calaveras is a group from Chemnitz. It centres on singer-songwriters Greg Beattie and Victoria Blythe, with instrumentalist Dave Decker completing the core line-up. The three combine vocals with a range of acoustic instruments, drawing on American traditional song forms while also incorporating more contemporary sounds.

Music and recordings

The group writes original songs that move between folk balladry and jazz-influenced material. Victoria Blythe contributes soaring vocals and fiddle, while Greg Beattie handles songs focused on themes such as birth, death and everyday experience. Dave Decker adds lead-guitar parts that are described as a constant source of improvisatory commentary. Their album Green Girl follows nearly ten years of writing, performing and developing the material.

Recognition and collaborations

Calaveras has won the Kerrville New Folk prize and the grand prize in the West Coast Songwriters International song contest, where it also takes first place in two other categories. The group also receives the Napa Valley Emerging Songwriter award and West Coast Songwriter’s Association Song of the Year honours. Its songs appear in television programmes and films, and are recorded by other artists and included on compilations alongside acts such as Joan Baez and Cheryl Wheeler.

Additional musicians

Green Girl includes contributions from Sam Bevan on bass, Joe Craven, Tim Ellis on high guitar, Jim Norris on drums, and other musicians. The album is engineered and co-produced by John Jacob.