Singer-songwriter-guitarist Peter Mulvey and fellow Milwaukeeans, the in-demand dynamic duo SistaStrings have joined hands once again for a brand new studio album, Love Is The Only Thing, due out August 12 on Righteous Babe Records. A self-proclaimed anti-fascist record, Love Is The Only Thing keeps kindness and compassion in the foreground, following a similar musical path to Mulvey and SistaStrings’ Live at the Café Carpe, which was released in late 2020 and, like the new album, includes drummer Nathan Kilen rounding out the ensemble. Fans can pre-order or pre-save Love Is The Only Thing right now at this link and get refamiliarized with Mulvey and SistaStrings’ brilliant sound by checking out Live at the Café Carpe right here. (Peter Mulvey/SistaStrings, 2022)

SistaStrings—cellist-vocalist Monique Ross and violinist-vocalist Chauntee Ross—bring all the beautiful versatility of their cello and violin music—along with sibling-strong vocal harmonies—to Love Is The Only Thing. Classically trained string players who grew up singing in church, Monique and Chauntee were destined to defy conventions of genre and race alike, blending R&B, gospel, and classical sounds. Mulvey met the Rosses in 2016, and all three felt an instant kinship.

The bright light of family illuminates this record and all that went into making it. Its existence hinges on the way we take care of each other, from its fan-supported funding to the sanctuary of Café Carpe to the blood sisterhood of the Rosses to Mulvey’s newfound fatherhood. Making Love Is The Only Thing at such a tumultuous time in history reinforced Mulvey’s and SistaStrings’ role as activists just as much as musicians. “Finding refuge and rejuvenation in these songs with this group of musicians was healing and personally some sort of mission statement for why we even make music in the first place,” Chauntee remembers. Love Is The Only Thing explores loss, tension, and the love that sees us through it.

Love Is The Only Thing track list:
Shenandoah
Soft Animal
O My Dear (the Demagogue)
Old Men Drinking Seagram’s
You and (Everybody Else)
Early Summer of ‘21
Five Hundred Days
On the Eve of the Inaugural
Pray for Rain
February Too
Song for Michael Brown
Love Is the Only Thing

Catch Peter Mulvey on tour:
July 28 – Portsmouth, NH – Portsmouth Music Hall w/ Mark Erelli
July 29 – Brownfield, ME – Stone Mountain Arts Center w/ Mark Erelli
July 30 – Concord, NH – Capitol Center for the Arts w/ Mark Erelli
August 18 – Sandwich, NH – John Davidson’s Club Sandwich

Catch SistaStrings on tour:
August 5 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum*
August 6 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island*
August 11 – Salt Lake City, UT – Vivent Arena*
August 18 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion#
August 19 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center For the Arts#
August 20 – Philadelphia, PA – Mann Center For The Performing Arts#
August 24 – London, UK – Omeara^
September 9-10 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks#
September 25 – Bridgeport, CT – Sound on Sound 2022*
October22 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden*

*performing w/ Brandi Carlile
^performing w/ Allison Russell
#performing w/ Allison Russell and Brandi Carlile