Decemberists Collaborate With Olivia Chaney To Become Offa Rex And Announce new Album The Queen Of Hearts For July 2017 Release

With success comes egos and anytime great artists are able to put their egos aside to collaborate and produce great music, fans are always the biggest winners in the scenario. In this case, Decemberists and Olivia Chaney have decided to come together and form the group Offa Rex to later release a new album in July 2017.

Colin Meloy had this to say about the collaboration with Olivia Chaney, “A few years ago, I had a chance to hear a record by a fantastic artist, one Olivia Chaney. She made a record called The Longest River and I was so taken by it, particularly her arrangement of the old folk song “The False Bride.”

She seemed to me to be channeling the great female folk singers of the British folk revival: Sandy Denny, Anne Briggs, June Tabor, Norma & Lal Waterson, Shirley Collins and Maddy Prior. We invited her to open a bunch of Decemberists shows in 2015 and afterward I made a pitch to her: let us be the Albion Dance Band to your Shirley Collins. Let’s start a band. Let’s make a record of old folk songs that will be as much about rediscovering ancient songs as it is an homage to that incredible era of British music, the 60s and 70s folk revival. ”

Meloy goes on to reveal that the album was recorded on his farm located just outside of Portland Oregon. The new album will look to cleverly blend the talents of both Chaney and the Decemberists in a way that satisfies both of their fanbases.

Check out the track list below and get ready for July 7th.

1. The Queen of Hearts
2. Blackleg Miner
3. The Gardener
4. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
5. Flash Company
6. Old Churchyard
7. Constant Billy (Oddington) / I’ll Go Enlist (Sherborne)
8. Willie o’ Winsbury
9. Bonny May
10. Sheepcrook and Black Dog
11. To Make You Stay