Born in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, Anya Hinkle’s music is steeped in the tones of folk and bluegrass, and seasoned by travels across the world with her vivid storytelling, vibrant musicianship, and arresting honesty.
PopMatters calls Hinkle, “A burgeoning force” and AmericanaUK calls her music, “Certainly striking, certainly beautiful.” Birthplace of Country Music’s Radio Bristol says, “Hinkle’s writing and vocal styling drifts between familiarity, sometimes sounding like contemporaries Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss, while maintaining all the grit and honesty of legendary Appalachian singers like Hazel Dickens and Ola Belle Reed.”
Anya has released two singles this year— as a followup to 2021’s full album, Eden And Her Borderlands. In March she released “Nightingale (соловейко) – Bootleg for Peace,” which raised over $2,000 for Ukrainian relief. In July Hinkle teamed up with Japanese banjoist and composer Akira Satake to release “Coming Home”—Folk Alley calls it a “beautiful collaboration” and premiered the lyric video for the song saying, “Satake’s inimitable banjo rolls paces in the background, supporting and holding aloft Hinkle’s poetic lyricism with pride, like a summer flower in a child’s fist.”
This is the second release of a Hinkle/Satake collaboration; the first, “Hills of Swannanoa,” which appears on Hinkle’s album Eden and Her Borderlands (Organic Records 2021), won runner-up in the 18th International Acoustic Music Awards song competition in the country/bluegrass category. In 2019, she won the MerleFest Chris Austin song contest and was a finalist in the Hazel Dickens songwriting competition for her song “Ballad of Zona Abston.”
Anya has recorded some 10 albums in various collaborations both in the US and Japan and she is currently working on her second studio album under her name, slated for release in 2023. The upcoming album will be recorded at Citizen Vinyl in Asheville, NC and produced by Kevin Moloney [U2, Sinéad O’Connor]. Along with Hinkle, it will feature Irish guitar legend John Doyle, acclaimed jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter, and Dobro master Billy Cardine.
Anya began her recording career in 2007 for the Virginia Folklife label, The Crooked Road, before moving to Asheville, NC, where she founded bands Dehlia Low (Rebel Records) and Tellico (Organic Records). She released the first full-length album under her own name, Eden and Her Borderlands, in July 2021 to favorable reviews from the genre’s top media outlets including No Depression, Folk Alley, and PopMatters, with features in The Bluegrass Situation, Americana Highways, and more. Several songs placed on Spotify editorial playlists such as Indigo, Grass Roots, and Emerging Americana, and the album was “Bubblin’ Up” on the Americana Radio Chart.
Anya often performs duo shows with Billy Cardine, who is recognized as a slide guitar pioneer, taking the dobro with him into unchartered genres. Dobro legend Jerry Douglas calls him “…an amazing Dobro player… He is fluent in everything that I do and… everybody that has come before. I couldn’t… pick a better example of where the Dobro is now or what the possibilities are with the instrument.”
Hinkle’s Trio includes Cardine along with Mary Lucey on bass and vocals. Mary is a talented vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and performer who played bass for the The Biscuit Burners, as well as for the all female group, Uncle Earl.
Anya also often tours with Drew Matulich who is known for his versatility and skill on mandolin and guitar. Drew has performed as part of Billy Strings (and can be heard on Billy’s 2017 album Turmoil & Tinfoil), The Grass is Dead, and Red Clay Revival. He makes his way musically through the festival scene and has been found sitting in with Leftover Salmon, Jon Stickley Trio, Fireside Collective, and more, as well as hosting a regular bluegrass night in Asheville at Jack of the Wood.
Anya tours regionally and nationally as well as extensively in Japan, and returned from her second European tour in May 2022. She has played stages at MerleFest, Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, La Roche Bluegrass Festival (France), Bristol Rhythm & Roots, and has supported/performed with Mipso, John Doyle, Malcolm Holcombe, The Stray Birds, and many others.
Anya Hinkle On Tour
In Virginia with Drew Matulich
11/4 Fri – Gene & Dale Raney House Concert – Richmond VA
11/5 Sat – Shady Grove Coffeehouse, Unitarian Universalist Church – Glen Allen, VA
11/6 Sun – Panorama Ballroom – Blacksburg, VA
California Tour with Billy Cardine
11/9 Wed – Makoutz Concert Series – Sierraville, CA*
11/11 Fri – Yodel Tone Presents at Flo’s Diner – Chalfant Valley, CA*
11/12 Sat – Mill Creek Station – Bishop, CA*
11/14 Mon – Fiddletown Community Center – Fiddletown, CA
11/15 Tue – The Lost Church – Santa Rosa, CA
11/16 Wed – The Green Room Social Club – Placerville, CA
11/17 Thu – Cow Hollow Courtyard Concert Series – San Francisco, CA
11/18 Fri – TBA
11/19 Sat – Bill Wagman’s House Concerts – Davis, CA
11/20 Sun – The Back Room – Berkeley, CA
*also with Mary Lucey
