ANDREW BIRD

'Andrew Bird' (born July 11, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Illinois and currently splits his time between Chicago and a farm near the town of Elizabeth in northwest Illinois. His musical proficiency includes violin, whistling, guitar, mandolin, and glockenspiel.

Contents

History

Instrumentation

Discography

Albums

EPs and singles

Other album appearances

References

External links

Listening

History

Trained in the Suzuki method from a young age, Bird first attended Illinois Wesleyan University but graduated from Illinois' Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in violin performance. He released his first solo album, ''Music of Hair'', in 1996. Vastly different from his later releases, this first album showcases his violin skills and pays tribute to his fascination with both American and European folk traditions, as well as jazz and blues.
His initial commercial exposure was in collaborative work with the band Squirrel Nut Zippers. He quickly was associated with the swing revival that swept the US music industry in the mid '90s, an affiliation that he is still working to shed.
Taking on the role of band leader in 1997, he released ''Thrills'' with his band Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire. This was followed by ''Oh! The Grandeur'' in 1998. Both albums were heavily influenced by traditional folk, pre-war jazz and swing, with Bird relying on the violin as his primary musical instrument.
In 2001, Bird released ''The Swimming Hour'', his third release with the Bowl of Fire and a dramatic departure from previous recordings. ''The Swimming Hour'' featured a mixture of styles, from the zydeco-influenced "Core and Rind" to more straightforward rock songs. He has often referred to this CD as his "jukebox album".

The Bowl of Fire unofficially disbanded in 2003, but featured many skilled Chicago musicians including Kevin O'Donnell, Nora O'Connor, Andy Hopkins (aka Mr. Rudy Day), Jimmy Sutton, Colin Bunn and Ryan Hembrey.
Bird released two subsequent solo albums distributed through the label operated by Ani DiFranco, Righteous Babe Records. The two CDs, 2003's ''Weather Systems'' (originally released on Grimsey records) and 2005's ''The Mysterious Production of Eggs'' continue a progression towards an eclectic indie/folk sound that is challenging to classify. In addition to the guitar, Bird's songs often feature violin, glockenspiel, and his very proficient whistling.
The artist's live solo shows have been notable in that he uses a multi-track system to sample and loop his own performance. For example, he may record a snippet of his performance on violin, then play a "loop" of that sound. This provides a more full-bodied sound and aurally suggests a band performance, rather than the sound of a solo artist. Once, at a gig in Amsterdam, at the Paradiso, he needed more movement on his feet in order to work the loop pedals, so he kicked off his shoe and hit a person in the audience. He later said "I should have simply twiddled my toes at her".
His live performances are highlighted in a series of self-released live compilations, ''Fingerlings'', ''Fingerlings 2'', and ''Fingerlings 3''. Each ''Fingerlings'' EP was released prior to a studio release and presents live versions of old tracks, cover songs, songs penned by Bird that do not appear on studio albums, and live versions of future tracks. ''Fingerlings 3'', released in October 2006, also features studio outtakes.
In September 2006, Bird was signed to Fat Possum Records. His latest full-length solo album, ''Armchair Apocrypha'', was released in March 2007.^[1] The album was recorded in collaboration with electronic musician Martin Dosh. It includes a track by Martin Dosh called "Simple X," with lyrics by Bird. The song first appeared without lyrics as "Simple Exercises" on Dosh's 2004 release, Pure Trash. The album was produced by Ben Durrant, who also worked with Martin Dosh on 2006's The Lost Take. Haley Bonar and Chris Morrissey also appear on the album.^[2] ''Armchair Apocrypha'' leaked to the internet in mid-January 2007.
In January 2007, Andrew Bird made an appearance on the ''Noggin'' television network's Jack's Big Music Show. He played character "Dr. Stringz" and sang a brief song written specifically for the episode and not found on any albums.
On April 10, 2007, Bird made his network television debut, performing "Plasticities" from ''Armchair Apocrypha'' on the ''Late Show with David Letterman''. He also made an appearance on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' on June 14, 2007 performing "Imitosis" from the same album.
On April 20, 2007, NPR aired a live concert with Andrew Bird & Band 1.
He worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for his 2007 spring tour.^[3]
Four of his songs — "Banking on a Myth" from ''The Mysterious Production of Eggs'', a medley of "I" from ''Weather Systems'' and "Imitosis" from ''Armchair Apocrypha'', and "Skin" and "Weather Systems" from ''Weather Systems'' — have been licensed for use by Marriott Residence Inn. [1]

Instrumentation

★ In his recent tours, Andrew has begun using a vintage Gibson ES-175 guitar; this has replaced his vintage Silvertone guitar.

★ During his tour with Ani DiFranco, he used a custom-built horn speaker created by SPECIMEN. [2] In 2007 he started using a custom-built spinning Janus Horn Speaker [3] also created by SPECIMEN.

★ Performing live, he makes use of two Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler Stompboxes, and uses them to develop the repeating phrases in his music. He also uses a Boss OC3 Super Octave Shifter to give his Violin a much deeper sound.

Discography

Albums

★ ''Music of Hair'' (1996)

★ ''Thrills'' (1998)

★ ''Oh! The Grandeur'' (1999)

★ ''The Swimming Hour'' (2001)

★ ''The Ballad of the Red Shoes'' (2002)

★ ''Weather Systems'' (2003)

★ ''The Mysterious Production of Eggs'' (2005)

★ ''Armchair Apocrypha'' (2007)

EPs and singles

★ ''Fingerlings'' (2002 · Grimsey Records) - Live EP

★ ''Fingerlings 2'' (2004 · Grimsey Records) - Live EP

★ ''Sovay'' (2005 · Fargo Records) - Single

★ ''Live at Bonnaroo Music Festival'' · (2006 · Live Bonnaroo) - Live EP

★ ''Fingerlings 3'' (2006 · Grimsey Records) - Live EP

Other album appearances

see also albums by Squirrel Nut Zippers.

★ Kiltartan Road - ''Joy to the Morning'' (1995)

★ Kat Eggleston - ''Outside Eden'' (1996 · Waterbug Records)

★ Lil Ed and Dave Weld with The Imperial Flames - ''Keep On Walkin' (1996 · Earwig Records)

★ Andrew Calhoun - ''Phoenix Envy'' (1996 · Earwig Records)

★ Charlie Nobody - ''Soup'' (1996)

★ Squirrel Nut Zippers - ''Hot'' (1997 · Mammoth)

★ Squirrel Nut Zippers - ''Perennial Favorites'' (1998 · Mammoth)

★ Rose Polenzani - ''Dragersville'' (1998 · The Orchard)

★ Pinetop Seven - ''Rigging the Toplights'' (1998)

★ Extra Virgin - ''Twelve Stories High'' (1999)

★ Kevin O'Donnell - ''Heretic Blues'' (1999 · Delmark)

★ Andrew Calhoun - ''Where Blue Meets Blue'' (1999 · Waterbug Records)

★ Sally Timms - ''Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos'' (1999 · Bloodshot Records)

★ Squirrel Nut Zippers - ''Bedlam Ballroom'' (2000 · Hollywood Records)

★ The Blacks - ''Just Like Home'' (2000 · Bloodshot Records)

★ The Handsome Family - ''In the Air'' (2000 · Carrot Top Records)

★ Devil in a Woodpile - ''Division Street'' (2000 · Bloodshot Records)

★ Kevin O'Donnell - ''Control Freak'' (2000 · Delmark Records)

★ Neko Case - ''Canadian Amp'' (2001)

★ The Verve Pipe - ''Underneath'' (2001 · RCA Records)

★ Jenny Toomey - ''Antidote'' (2001 · Misra Records)

★ Kelly Hogan - ''Because It Feel Good'' (2001 · Bloodshot Records)

★ Sinister Luck Ensemble - ''Anniversary'' (2002 · Perishable Records)

★ Abandon Jalopy - ''Mercy'' (2002)

★ Kristin Hersh - ''The Grotto'' (2003)

★ The Autumn Defense - ''Circles'' (2003 · Arena Rock Recording Co.)

★ Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - ''Sings Greatest Palace Music'' (2004 · Drag City Records)

★ Bobby Bare, Jr. - ''From the End of Your Leash'' (2004 · Bloodshot Records)

★ Nora O'Connor - ''Til the Dawn'' (2004 · Bloodshot Records)

★ Ani DiFranco - ''Knuckle Down'' (2005 · Righteous Babe)

★ My Morning Jacket - ''Z'' (2005 · Ato Records)

★ Bobby Bare - ''The Moon Was Blue'' (2005 · Dualtone Music Group)

★ Emily Loizeau - ''London Town'' (in French and English) (2006)

★ Dosh - ''The Lost Take'' (2006 · anticon.)

★ Candi Staton - ''His Hands'' (2006 · Astralwerks)

★ Magnolia Electric Co. - The Black Ram (2007 ˑ Secretly Canadian)

References

1. Andrew Bird Signs to Fat Possum, Titles Record
2. http://billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002345976
3. http://www.reverbrock.org/site/

3. Tom Lynch, "Bizarre Pop Scientist: Charting Andrew Bird's unconventional path toward rock stardom," Newcity cover story, March 15, 2007

External links

★ Andrew Bird official website

★ The Official Unofficial Andrew Bird Fansite

★ Live Video of Andrew Bird on scheduletwo.com

★ Righteous Babe Records

★ A great acoustic session for Vox podcast

★ A forum dedicated to Andrew Bird, en français and in english

★ A fanlisting for Andrew Bird

★ Live at SXSW 2007 on 89.3 The Current

★ Andrew Bird collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

Listening

★ ''The Mysterious Production of Eggs'' Streaming Audio at Righteous Babe

★ Andrew Bird on National Public Radio ''Talk of the Nation'' program, November 17, 2005

★ Andrew Bird on ''Studio 360'' program, March 23, 2007