“Who would think that a band that named itself after a certain type of trout and chalked up two decades and six discs would give us a set of songs that’s worthy of contention for album of the year, even though the year’s just barely begun?” – Country Standard Time

“Chicago’s Dolly Varden – a quintet build around husband and wife Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen – are among the few alt-country groups that prove how wrong it is that music this sweet and pure should have to have an “alt” in front of it. Sublime harmonies, traditional country instrumentation, and songwriting that never gets cute should be standard for mainstream country, not an alternative. Songs like “Mayfly” (where for nearly seven minutes love is praised in all tenses), “Done (Done)” (where the rhythm section breaks out with harmonies to create a perfect roll-down-the-car-window song), and “Favorite Friend” (where a dark piano creates an end-of-the-night ballad worthy of Neil Young) are among the best examples of how music made within tradition can still defy limits when played with inspiration. Considering this group has been circulating for just about 20 years, it’s a testament to its high standards that it has a smaller catalog than most bands of its vintage. Dolly Varden waits until it’s sure it has something worth saying.” -itunes

Here’s a mini-documentary on the band and the making of the new album:

Listen here

we recorded 4 songs live to tape at Daytrotter’s
Davenport studio on January 28th:
California Zephyr
Saskatchewan to Chicago
Del Mar, 1976
For A While

“the band has just made what strikes many listeners as one of the best records of a distinguished career” – Chicago Tribune

“a set of songs that’s worthy of contention for album of the year, even though the year’s just barely begun” – Country Standard Time

Video about the making of the new album and our 18 years together as a band

You can buy the CD direct from us at our online store!
or download the album from your preferred online retailer:



Or stream it from Emusic,   Rhapsody, or  Spotify

As the official release date (Jan 22nd) of “For A While” rapidly approaches, we have a few announcements…

Dolly Varden at City Winery, Chicago, Jan 19. Come celebrate the official release of “For A While” with us at this beautiful brand-new music venue. We’re hearing nothing but rave reviews about this intimate new listening room and we’re really excited about this show. Jenny Bienemann, who has a stunningly gorgeous new album called “Heading Slowly Toward The Beginning” will open the show. Advance tickets (recommended) are on sale now.

Here’s a video for the song “Thank You” from the new album – just in time for Thanksgiving!! Enjoy! And… Thanks!

Diane Christiansen has been asked by the University of Edinburgh College of Art to present her drawings and paintings in February. The opening will be Feb 7. Christiansen and Dawson will also be playing a few concerts in Scotland and Northern Ireland to coincide with the art show. Here’s a tentative list of dates:
Feb 8: Edinburgh (venue TBA)
Feb 9: Belfast – Errigle
Feb 10: Bronte (N. Ireland)

Dawson and Chistiansen will also be playing in the Detroit area Dec 7 and 8. More details on that very soon.

The brand new Dolly Varden “For A While” CDs have arrived!! Swanky 8 panel digipaks with lyrics and beautiful fold-out artwork by our own Diane Christiansen. You can pick one up at our show on October 6th at SPACE in Evanston – details below – or mail order a CD from our top secret webstore.  Why top secret? Well, because the album doesn’t “offically” get released until January 22, 2013. So, you have to be on our mailing list to get the secret mail order link – if you want to get it before it gets released to the rest of the world. Sign up in the little box over there on the right hand side of this page. We’ll send around mail order info the first week of October. After Jan 22, “For A While” will be available everywhere music is legally digitally streamed and downloaded and / or via mail order. Speaking of digital downloads…

We’ve put together a “Best Of Dolly Varden” compilation over at Noisetrade.  17 songs spanning 18 years and 7 albums, including 2 songs from the new one – the title track, “For A While” and “Done (Done).” You can download it for FREE by signing up for our mailing list. See a pattern here?

Dolly Varden
Celebration concert for “For A While”
with special guest Nora O’Conner and her band
S.P.A.C.E
October 6, 2012  8pm
1245 Chicago Ave. Evanston, IL
advance tickets available here

We’ve just finished mixing and mastering the new dolly varden album, “for a while”. 12 new songs! The album officially comes out January 21, 2013. We’ll be celebrating finishing the album with a concert at SPACE in Evanston, IL on Saturday, October 6th, and we’ll have CD’s available for sale at the show – but it won’t be available through regular retail outlets (itunes, amazon, etc) until Jan 21, 2013. We WILL be making pre-release sales of the CD available exclusively to folks on our mailing list starting in October, so if you’d like to get your hands on a copy of the album before the end of the year,  sign up on the mailing list and we’ll get you the details soon. (you can sign up right here on this page – up there in the top right corner!) We’re very excited to share this new music with you!

I’m doing the final mixes for our 6th album this week. Mastering on the 19th. We’re all really looking forward to sharing these new songs and recordings with the world. We’re thinking of having this be our self-titled album: Dolly Varden. We decided to push the official worldwide  release of the album back to January, 2013, so we could properly promote it. BUT, we will be having a big celebration concert in October at SPACE and we will have copies of the CD’s for sale at that show. It won’t be available any other way (digital download or mail order) until January – so if you want a copy before the end of the year you gotta come to the show! The show will be at SPACE in Evanston on Saturday, October 6th, with the great Nora O’Connor playing the first set. Advance tickets go on sale Saturday, July 14 at 11am. We think this one will sell out, so advance tickets are highly recommended!
-Steve

We’re in the final stages of finishing our 6th album. We’ll be recording and mixing all through June and then it’s off to the presses. The official release date is Tuesday, October 2nd, with a big celebration concert at SPACE in Evanston on Saturday, October 6th. Advance tickets (highly recommended) for that show will go on sale soon. We’ll also be playing at the Andersonville Midsommerfest on Saturday, June 9th at 6pm. That’s at Clark and Foster in Chicago. We’re starting to make plans to do some touring through the end of 2012 and into 2013. Details on that as they arrive at Dolly Varden headquarters.

Yup, we’re going to play the songs we’ve been working on in the studio live at Schubas on Monday, April 23rd.  A few of the new songs have found their way into recent set lists, but this will be the first time many of them have been performed in public. We’ll throw in a few familiar ones, too – don’t worry. Opening the show will be singer / songwriter  ellen cherry, from Baltimore. She has a beautiful new EP out and I’ll join her to sing a few songs we’ve written together – more new songs that haven’t yet been released! Advance tickets are on sale now at Schubas.com. Hope to see you there!!!
-Steve