Dolly Varden (band)

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Dolly Varden are a band based in Chicago, USA Headed up through the husband and wife team of Stephen Dawson and Diane Christiansen and backed by Mark Balletto, Mike Bradburn and Matt Thobe. They have released 4 albums, Mouthful of Lies in 1995 (Mid-Fi Records), The Thrill of Gravity in 1998 (Evil Teen Records), The Dumbest Magnets in 2000 (Evil Teen) Forgiven Now in 2002 (Undertow), and The Panic Bell in 2007 (Undertow). They also toured the United States with Whiskeytown, Andrew Bird, The Pernice Brothers and Jay Bennett and others.

Christiansen and Dawson first came to prominence in Chicago with a twang-punk band, Stump the Host. The two founded Dolly Varden in 1995, recording their debut album, Mouthful of Lies, in Christiansen's converted art studio and releasing it on their own Mid-Fi label. The group signed with New York indie label Evil Teen for their second album, The Thrill of Gravity (1998). ^[1]

Dolly Varden's third album, 2000's The Dumbest Magnets (Evil Teen Records), was produced by Brad Jones (Josh Rouse, David Mead) at his live-in studio in Nashville. (The Dumbest Magnets was distributed in the UK on Flying Sparks Records and in Europe on Fargo Records). For Forgiven Now, released in March of 2002, the group once again recorded with Brad Jones. Dolly Varden's well-crafted albums garnered enthusiastic accolades from such vanguard publications as Rolling Stone, No Depression and Uncut, and received considerable airplay on the BBC, NPR and indie radio.

After writing, recording and touring together for over 8 years, the group took a step back in 2003 to pursue side projects. Guitarist Mark Balletto formed a band called My Record Player and made a self-titled pop rock album reminiscent of the music that originally inspired him to play guitar. In 2006, Dawson recorded a solo album, Sweet Is The Anchor (Undertow Records), heavily influenced by early '70s soul and singer-songwriters. The band released their fifth album, 2007's The Panic Bell, and toured the East Coast and the UK in the same year. ^[2] They have often toured the UK along with Bill Mallonee ^[3] and Stewboss and have had relative success with airplay in the UK, especially on Bob Harris' popular Saturday night BBC program on radio 2.