HEATHER MALONEY SUNDAYS ON THE RIVER IN OLIVETTE

Massachusetts-based “writer song-singer” Heather Maloney found music in the midst of three years at a meditation center, honing a sound moored in days of silent reflection and reverence for storytellers like Joni, Rilke, Ken Burns, and the anonymous authors of Zen parables. While she eventually traded the quiet, structured life of a yogi for the kinetic life of a touring musician, the core of her songwriting has remained centered around same curiosity about our inner world and the desire to articulate it through storytelling.

With over 1,000 international shows and 8 studio albums under her belt, she is now on the brink of releasing her 9th and most personal record to date, “Exploding Star” (out January 31, 2025). Written in the wake of her father’s death, “Exploding Star” is a collection of 12 songs that Maloney originally had no intentions of recording or releasing until some of her closest friends and family convinced her otherwise.

From tracking for 2 days in her abandoned childhood home, to playing her father’s guitar throughout the record, “Exploding Star” is packed with the sonic, lyrical and emotional details of a life story — and the result is something celebratory and heartbreaking all at once.

With production from Darlingside’s Don Mitchell and arrangements from High Tea’s Isabella DeHerdt and Isaac Eliot, “Exploding Star” is a dynamic listening experience that moves thoughtfully through landscapes that range from lush to sparse — sometimes driving, urgent and cathartic and other times quiet, tremulous and reflective — but always woven together with lyricism that bravely and articulately explores both the darkest depths and the unexpected moments of lightness that grief can bring.

Heather and her collaborators will embark on an international album release tour throughout 2025, with shows in the US and Europe.

On Heather’s 2019 album, Soil In The Sky, her “ability to channel emotion is radical” (PopMatters) and the tracks are stacked with special guests who help her deliver an immense range of sound and sentiment in 12 songs; there’s a duet with Dawes front-man Taylor Goldsmith on the Walt Whitman-inspired love song “We Were Together”, an appearance by Rachael Price on the album’s opening track “Enigma”, and Jay Ungar lends his legendary folk fiddle to “Oklahoma Lullaby”, a song inspired by Ken Burns’ documentary The Dustbowl. (Ungar composed Ashokan Farewell in Burns’ The Civil War). The all-star band includes drummer Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes), and multiple members of the Amos Lee band. 

The Bluegrass Situation called her 2015 release, Making Me Break (produced by Band of Horses’ Bill Reynolds) “an intoxicating blend that captures the sonic texture of indie rock, the humanity of folk and the spirituality of a Rumi poem.”

In 2014 she released “Woodstock”, her collaborative effort with Boston quartet Darlingside, which drew praise from the New York Times and Graham Nash.

Heather’s songs have played on NPR stations across the country and her live appearances have aired on syndicated programming like eTown and AudioTree. Her song “Nightstand Drawer” was featured in the season finale of the CBS TV series "Elementary", and her songs have also been streamed hundreds of thousands of times on editorial Spotify playlists & Starbucks’ in-store nationwide playlists.

As well as a songwriter and performer, Heather is an illustrator and linocut artist who carves and prints visual representations of her songs on a variety of mediums.

Heather has toured throughout the US & Canada as a headliner and also in support of acts including Lake Street Dive, Shakey Graves, Gary Clark Jr., Rodrigo y Gabriela, Colin Hay (Men at Work), Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Dar Williams and many more.

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Host or Publisher CHATT HILLS MUSIC