Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. His albums have spanned various genres including swing music, indie rock, and folk music. He is primarily known for his unique style of violin playing, accompanied by loop and effect pedals, whistling, and vocals.
In the 1990s, he sang and played violin in several jazz ensembles, including Squirrel Nut Zippers and Kevin O'Donnell's Quality Six. He went on to start his own swing ensemble, Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, which released three albums between 1998 and 2001. Weather Systems (2003) was his first solo album after Bowl of Fire disbanded, and it marked his departure from jazz music into indie music. Bird's 2019 album My Finest Work Yet was nominated for "Best Folk Album" at the 2020 Grammy Awards. He has collaborated with various artists, including The Handsome Family, Dosh, Fiona Apple, Madison Cunningham, and Nora O'Connor.
Bird appeared as Dr. Stringz in a 2007 episode of Jack's Big Music Show. In 2010, he appeared on a TED Talk performing his music. He wrote and whistled "The Whistling Caruso" for The Muppets movie in 2011, and composed the score for the television series Baskets, released in 2016. In 2019, Bird was cast in the fourth installment of Fargo, playing Thurman Smutny.
Early life and Bowl of Fire (1973–2002)
Andrew Bird was born in Lake Forest, Illinois, and raised in the North Shore of Chicago. He was raised Catholic, attending the Church of St. Mary in Lake Forest and attending Sunday school until he was "effectively kicked out [...] for mocking God." He is now a lapsed Catholic.
Bird's mother took him to violin lessons as a child and he trained in the Suzuki method starting at the age of four. His mother also learned how to play the violin from these lessons. He learned how to whistle from his grandmother at age 6 and learned bird-calls throughout his youth. He started taking violin seriously when he was around 13. Bird didn't learn how to read sheet music until high school, learning originally by ear.
Bird attended Interlochen Arts Camp in his youth. He graduated from Lake Forest High School in 1991 and from Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in violin performance in 1996. That same year he self-released his first solo album, Music of Hair. This album pays tribute to folk traditions, as well as jazz and blues. Following this, his initial commercial exposure came through collaborative work with the band Squirrel Nut Zippers, appearing on three of their albums (Hot, Sold Out, and Perennial Favorites) between 1996 and 1998.
Bird released Thrills on Rykodisc in 1998 with his group Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, shortly followed by a second album, Oh! The Grandeur, in 1999. Both albums were heavily influenced by folk, jazz, and swing, with Bird primarily on violin as well as providing vocals. Bowl of Fire featured musicians from Bird's hometown of Chicago, including Kevin O'Donnell, Joshua Hirsch, Jon Williams, Nora O'Connor, Andy Hopkins, Jimmy Sutton, Colin Bunn, and Ryan Hembrey. During this period, Bird was a member of the jazz group Kevin O'Donnell's Quality Six, for which he was the lead singer and violinist and contributed to arrangements and songwriting for Heretic Blues (Delmark, 1999) and Control Freak (Delmark, 2000) (both albums were produced by Raymond Salvatore Harmon).
In 2001, Bowl of Fire released their third album, The Swimming Hour. It featured a mixture of styles, from zydeco influences to more straightforward rock. Bird has referred to it as his "jukebox album." Although gaining critical praise, the band failed to attain commercial success or recognition, playing to audiences as small as 40 people. In 2002, Bird was asked to open for a band in his hometown of Chicago, but fellow Bowl of Fire members were unavailable for the date. Bird performed the gig alone, and the solo show was a success.
Bowl of Fire unofficially disbanded in 2003, and Bird reinvented himself as a solo artist. His two subsequent albums were released on Righteous Babe Records. 2003's Weather Systems (originally released on Grimsey Records) features the tracks "Skin" and "I", early versions of songs that would later become "Skin Is, My" (The Mysterious Production of Eggs) and "Imitosis" (Armchair Apocrypha).
The Mysterious Production of Eggs (2005) continued a progression towards an indie–folk sound, featuring layered samples of sound constructed using multitrack recorders and loop pedals. As his sound changed, Bird made increasing use of guitar, glockenspiel, and whistling in his songwriting, in addition to his traditional violin and vocals.
Bird is noted for improvising and reworking his songs during live performances; he has a series of self-released live compilations entitled Fingerlings, Fingerlings 2, Fingerlings 3, and Fingerlings 4, the first of which was released in 2002. Each Fingerlings EP was released prior to a studio album, and presented a mixture of live performances from different shows, including old tracks, covers, and previously unreleased songs, some of which have since appeared on studio albums. Fingerlings 2 provided Bird with a boost in recognition in 2004 when it was named album of the month by Mojo. Fingerlings 3, released in October 2006, also featured studio outtakes.
In 2005, collaborator Dosh joined Bird's lineup, adding percussion and keyboards. Jeremy Ylvisaker was later added to the group on bass and backup vocals.
Signed to Fat Possum Records (2006–2011)
In September 2006, Bird signed to Fat Possum Records, and in March 2007 he released his third post-Bowl of Fire album, Armchair Apocrypha. The album was recorded in collaboration with electronic musician Dosh, and includes a track composed by Dosh (with lyrics by Bird) entitled "Simple X". This song first appeared without Bird's lyrics as "Simple Exercises" on Dosh's 2004 release Pure Trash. The album was produced by Ben Durrant and also featured Haley Bonar and Chris Morrissey. The album went on to sell over 100,000 copies.
During promotion of Armchair Apocrypha, Bird made his network television debut on April 10, 2007, performing "Plasticities" on the Late Show with David Letterman. He also appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on June 14, 2007, performing "Imitosis". These appearances were accompanied by a tour, which ended with sell-out performances at the Beacon Theatre and the Orpheum Theatre.
In January 2007, Bird made an appearance on the Noggin television network's Jack's Big Music Show, playing the part of Dr. Stringz. Bird sang a brief song called "Dr. Stringz", written specially for the show. He often plays it live as an introduction to the song "Fake Palindromes".
On May 20, 2007, National Public Radio aired a live concert by Bird from Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club. He also worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for his 2007 spring tour.