Recent Press:
   “……While Western Addition still drips with old-timey charm, it also finds The Vivants drawing from a deep well of influences from the early vernacular of American music. “Only Got Time” bears distinct lineage to Appalachian folk. The shuffling “All in All” pulls from Western swing and Dixieland jazz. “Don’t Call Me Darling,” anchored by high and lonesome pedal steel, evokes early country-western ballads. “Touzel Twofer,” with its warbling woodwinds and tap-dance percussion, is a jolly ragtime swinger. And the grand instrumental highlight “Fillmore Swing” draws from all of the above, even rolling a bit of bebop into its marbled trombone solo…”– Columbia Free Times, 7/30/2014
http://www.free-times.com/music/the-vivants-pay-homage-to-san-francisco-americana-heritage-073014

“…..Given this fascination with music from a bygone era, it makes sense that her band’s style of music is steeped in old-time swing and honky tonk, a fact which is on full display on The Vivants’ most recent album, last year’s Western Addition. The country-swing track “All in All,” for example, sounds like a classic vaudevillian number from the early 20th century, and “Simple Thing” is a subtly groovy piece of jazz and ragtime. Toss in some raw percussion on old-time numbers like “Long Hot Summer Day” and the piano-led finale “Touzel Twofer” — which sounds like it was tailor-made for a saloon scene in a classic Western film — and you will easily be transported to another time and place…” — Charleston City Paper, 8/1/2014
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/the-vivants-craft-enchanting-old-time-swing-and-honky-tonk/Content?oid=4964482

“Western Addition plays like a musical portfolio of a band applying for traveling fandom. No, it’s more like a cornucopia of genres–with ample

opportunities for Bonn’s Vivants to show off their arsenal of instruments, as well
as said stock’s won’t-be-pigeonheld candor.” Classicalite.com, 2014

“Bonn sings in a laconic drawl that’s as homespun as a gingham bonnet.” — Marin Independent Journal, 1/6/2012

“Much of their material is tried and tested, but they can whip up a crowd with whatever they choose to play.”
–The Bay Bridged, 6/20/2011

“Nostalgia-based music seems to fare better when it’s littered with timely references. Drawly-voiced Emily Bonn makes songs about washboard shuffles, evening magpies, Mission dives, and RC Cola. Songs From Alabama Street kicks off with an ode to San Francisco’s Rite Spot Cafe, followed by six vibrant honky-tonk tracks. Bonn’s banjo plucking is the highlight.”
–The East Bay Express, 10/6/2010

“Musically, the starting point for songs is bluegrass, but she always manages to give every song its own identity by delivering a pinch of cajun, country, folk and swing to add. Thus begins the record, with authentic accompaniment by washboard on the Cajun song “Riot At The Rite Spot”, the highlight of this album.”— Americana UK

And for those francophiles, here’s a review in French of our show in Brussels during our 2010 tour of Belgium and Holland.