The much anticipated recording of Rhode Island’s Brown Bird Salt for Salt will be released in just a few days. First the band teased with The Sounds of Ghosts EP with two incredible tracks from the forth coming album ‘Bilgewater’ and ‘Cast No Shadow’. Brown Bird has been teasing fans all Summer playing songs from the album. In fact the Newport Folk Festival show (which you can download) was nearly all Salt for Salt, In early September two more tracks were released. “Fingers to the Bone’ and ‘Thunder & Lightening’. Now the pre-album excitement is almost at its tantalizing end.
As I was preparing for the World Cafe Live - Philadelphia show, that just passed, I realized how little I knew about Brown Bird.
According to the Newport Folk Festival bio we learn this about Brown Bird:
From the influences of the blues, outlaw country, roots rock, early American folk, Gypsy and Eastern European music, Brown Bird offers harmonized voices, haunting lyrics and diverse rhythm and instrumentation, which surges in waves that often swell into high-spirited, foot-stomping madness.
Brown Bird began in 2003, while singer/songwriter David Lamb (guitar, banjo, percussion, vocals) was living in Seattle. Lamb has since toured across the country, experiencing life changes and musical revelations, and come to settle in Rhode Island with his partner MorganEve Swain. (vocals, fiddle, cello, upright bass).
Brown Bird’s journey is illustrated by four released albums, two of them featuring banjo, accordion, cello and vocals by Jeremy and Jerusha Robinson (South China) as Brown Bird’s main members. The third was released as a solo album, and the latest, The Devil Dancing (Peapod Recordings, 2009) features Brown Bird’s three original members, while adding MorganEve Swain, Mike Samos (lap steel, dobro) and Micah Blue Smaldone (bass) to create a full, orchestral sound.
Since the release of The Devil Dancing, Brown Bird has toured along the Eastern coast of the US, and joined The Low Anthem for a European Tour in 2009. Currently the duo is working on a fifth album, to be released in the coming year, while touring extensively in the North East.
After the incredible World Cafe Live show and meeting the talented MorganEve Swain, I was determined to learn more about the band..
So, check out some tracks from the pending album, and sign up for their e-mail list to get 'Fingers To The Bone' while checking out what MorganEve has to say about the history of Brown Bird and life on the road!
The current Brown Bird is simply David Lamb & MorganEve Swain. How did you come to be in Brown Bird?
Dave and I met in the summer of 2008. I was playing violin in a RI-based “Indie-rock” band, called Barn Burning, and Dave was touring solo. The two bands met up in Virginia to play three dates together. That first date, in Roanoke, VA, I sat in with Dave on vocals for one song, and the next night (in Philly), I joined him on violin. That night I asked him if he’d like a fiddler to tour with him, and it was pretty much a done deal from then. The third night was in Providence, where I was living. From there, Dave was continuing on tour with Joe Fletcher of The Wrong Reasons, whose band I’d also played in for a while, and I joined the tour as a member of Brown Bird. And the end of that tour, Dave moved in with me.
Was the current lineup decrease from 5 members to 2 an evolution, or a difficult business decision?
The Five were Jeremy and Jerusha Robinson, who are a married couple from Maine who also make up the band South China, Mike Samos, who had been in Barn Burning with me, Dave and Myself. The Robinsons were Dave’s original bandmates for the first two albums. They left the band right before ‘The Bottom of the Sea’ came out to focus on South China, which is why Dave was touring solo when we met. Mike joined shortly after I did, and when we were ready to record ‘The Devil Dancing’, we asked the Robinsons to join us. And so, we were a five piece briefly. We wanted to be touring more than the Robinsons were able to, though, so they decided to leave again, which left us as a three piece for about a year. Mike left in 2010, due to artistic differences. We’re all still good friends.
Based on sound check at World Cafe Live, it appears your band & crew are one and the same. Dealing with all the set-up, tear down, merch & various requests at each show, is it difficult to tend to your artistic needs?
It certainly gets a little trying after a while. We sort of take turns being the merch person, while the other one focuses on tear-down. It’s tough when there’s another band playing after us and we need to get all our stuff out of the way, but I think we’ve got the system down pretty good. On larger tours we’re lucky enough to have my brother, Spencer on board as our tour manager, tech, and roadie, which helps immensely. He has 10 years of touring experience from his former band, Zox, and he’s been a huge form of support for us. He’s also a fantastic musician. You’ll hear him join us on our track “Shiloh” on the new album.
Is it tough being on the road with the same 1 person all the time?
It helps that Dave and I are a couple. Not that being together constantly doesn’t have it’s challenges, but at least we really like each other. It’s fun when Spencer or our sometimes merch guy/roadie Tim the Tooth join us. It changes the dynamic a little and keeps things fresh.
Who have you toured with so far?
We’ve toured the most extensively with The Devil Makes Three, The Low Anthem, and Joe Fletcher and The Wrong Reasons.
MorganEve’s favorite bands?
Faith No More, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Mastadon, Queens of the Stone Age, Secret Chiefs 3, Led Zeppelin, The Talking Heads, Bar Kokhba, The Black Keys, Moondog, Temple of the Dog, and a bunch of rather random stuff from the 60s and early 80s that my dad is entirely responsible for.
Any new albums you’ve been trying to digest?
We got the new Mastadon album the day it came out. It’s great. Especially if you listen to all the albums chronologically, which we did after the World Cafe Life show to drive back to my folks’ place in CT. Fantastic.
What does Brown Bird tour in?
A black 2001 Dodge 1500 conversion van named “Steak”.
What’s on the tape deck/radio/cd player/media player in the Brown Bird tour vehicle?
Recently a lot of Queens of the Stone Age, Mastadon, Parts and Labor, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Black Sabbath, Zeppelin, Kyus, and these great Balkan and Romanian Gypsy compilations that Dave picked up somewhere.
What is more exciting, the upcoming release or the pending tour with Devil Makes Three?
We are totally psyched to be joining the Devil Makes Three. They are great friends and the last tour we did with them was more fun than we ever imagined it to be. Can’t wait for this one to begin!
You played Sunday morning at the 2011 Newport Folk Fest? Were you around Saturday? Who did you get to see Sunday?
We didn’t get to see much, actually. We were basically doing interviews all day on Sunday. We were around for a bit on Saturday, too. We saw Gillian Welch, Mavis Staples, Emmylou Harris and just small snippets of Middle Brother, The Carolina Chocolate Drops and The Devil Makes Three.
Any other chances to catch live music this year?
We saw The Secret Chiefs 3 in Boston a few months ago. They are fucking great.
Any suggestions or new favorites?
We discovered Bar Kokhba and The Massada String Trio not too long ago. Both are made up of incredible musicians, put together by John Zorn to perform his compositions of Jewish-inspired music. Nothing I could say would prepare you for how incredible this stuff is. There’s also this guy in RI, Alec K. Redfearn. He has a few different projects: The Seizures and The Eyesores are the two most prominent. He plays accordion, often through distortion, and writes some of the darkest most intricate compositions we’ve heard. Big fan. Death Vessel is another local Rhode Islander. One of our favorites.
How long did it take to record Salt for Salt? Where did you two hole up to record the album?
We recorded ‘Salt for Salt’ and the EP, ‘The Sound of Ghosts’ simultaneously in three sessions at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, RI.
Any special Rhode Island show for the release of SALT FOR SALT?
The release show will have to wait until we get back from DM3 tour, but it will in fact happen. December 17th at The Met in Pawtucket, with Joe Fletcher and The Wrong Reasons.
If Brown Bird was able to set up a 1 day festival with no limitations. Who’d be on the lineup
A Hawk and a Hacksaw, The What Cheer? Brigade, Queens of the Stone Age, Mastadon, my brother’s former band Cowgirl!, Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores, Death Vessel, Taraf De Haiduks, Olas, The Black Keys, The Devil Makes Three, The Secret Chiefs 3, and Brown Bird.
If you had to pick just one instrument, would it be the old stand by violin, one of your newer instruments cello or double bass, or something else?
That’d be a pretty tough choice, and I hope I never actually have to make it! I’m most proficient on violin, as I’ve been playing it for 23 years, but cello and bass are still new and challenging and fun. I’ve been really enjoying them both, but I guess if I absolutely had to choose, it’d be cello- with enough practice, it could be used for both bass lines and melody/ lead instrument lines.
Any other Brown Bird highlights to share?
We played in Sao Paulo, Brazil in April. That was a pretty great highlight. A girl there found us on LastFM.com and invited us to come be part of their ‘Virada Cultural’ festival. It’s a huge 24-hour event in downtown Sao Paulo, where they close down all the streets and have stages set up all over and different art forms showcased consistently for 24 hours. We played at 5am to a surprisingly large crowd and met our number-1 fan who was very sweet and cried when she met us. The whole experience was totally surreal and wonderful. We definitely hope to go back someday soon.
What do you consider success to be for Brown Bird?
We just want to make a living doing what we love to do. I think in my mind we’ll have “made it” when we can be touring, maintaining a home, and raising a family comfortably.
To purchase the new album, Salt for Salt, head to bandcamp.com/
To see catch one of the incredible Brown Bird live shows , which should be especially awesome with Devil Makes Three on board.
As I was preparing for the World Cafe Live - Philadelphia show, that just passed, I realized how little I knew about Brown Bird.
According to the Newport Folk Festival bio we learn this about Brown Bird:
From the influences of the blues, outlaw country, roots rock, early American folk, Gypsy and Eastern European music, Brown Bird offers harmonized voices, haunting lyrics and diverse rhythm and instrumentation, which surges in waves that often swell into high-spirited, foot-stomping madness.
Brown Bird began in 2003, while singer/songwriter David Lamb (guitar, banjo, percussion, vocals) was living in Seattle. Lamb has since toured across the country, experiencing life changes and musical revelations, and come to settle in Rhode Island with his partner MorganEve Swain. (vocals, fiddle, cello, upright bass).
Brown Bird’s journey is illustrated by four released albums, two of them featuring banjo, accordion, cello and vocals by Jeremy and Jerusha Robinson (South China) as Brown Bird’s main members. The third was released as a solo album, and the latest, The Devil Dancing (Peapod Recordings, 2009) features Brown Bird’s three original members, while adding MorganEve Swain, Mike Samos (lap steel, dobro) and Micah Blue Smaldone (bass) to create a full, orchestral sound.
Since the release of The Devil Dancing, Brown Bird has toured along the Eastern coast of the US, and joined The Low Anthem for a European Tour in 2009. Currently the duo is working on a fifth album, to be released in the coming year, while touring extensively in the North East.
After the incredible World Cafe Live show and meeting the talented MorganEve Swain, I was determined to learn more about the band..
So, check out some tracks from the pending album, and sign up for their e-mail list to get 'Fingers To The Bone' while checking out what MorganEve has to say about the history of Brown Bird and life on the road!
The current Brown Bird is simply David Lamb & MorganEve Swain. How did you come to be in Brown Bird?
Dave and I met in the summer of 2008. I was playing violin in a RI-based “Indie-rock” band, called Barn Burning, and Dave was touring solo. The two bands met up in Virginia to play three dates together. That first date, in Roanoke, VA, I sat in with Dave on vocals for one song, and the next night (in Philly), I joined him on violin. That night I asked him if he’d like a fiddler to tour with him, and it was pretty much a done deal from then. The third night was in Providence, where I was living. From there, Dave was continuing on tour with Joe Fletcher of The Wrong Reasons, whose band I’d also played in for a while, and I joined the tour as a member of Brown Bird. And the end of that tour, Dave moved in with me.
Was the current lineup decrease from 5 members to 2 an evolution, or a difficult business decision?
The Five were Jeremy and Jerusha Robinson, who are a married couple from Maine who also make up the band South China, Mike Samos, who had been in Barn Burning with me, Dave and Myself. The Robinsons were Dave’s original bandmates for the first two albums. They left the band right before ‘The Bottom of the Sea’ came out to focus on South China, which is why Dave was touring solo when we met. Mike joined shortly after I did, and when we were ready to record ‘The Devil Dancing’, we asked the Robinsons to join us. And so, we were a five piece briefly. We wanted to be touring more than the Robinsons were able to, though, so they decided to leave again, which left us as a three piece for about a year. Mike left in 2010, due to artistic differences. We’re all still good friends.
Based on sound check at World Cafe Live, it appears your band & crew are one and the same. Dealing with all the set-up, tear down, merch & various requests at each show, is it difficult to tend to your artistic needs?
It certainly gets a little trying after a while. We sort of take turns being the merch person, while the other one focuses on tear-down. It’s tough when there’s another band playing after us and we need to get all our stuff out of the way, but I think we’ve got the system down pretty good. On larger tours we’re lucky enough to have my brother, Spencer on board as our tour manager, tech, and roadie, which helps immensely. He has 10 years of touring experience from his former band, Zox, and he’s been a huge form of support for us. He’s also a fantastic musician. You’ll hear him join us on our track “Shiloh” on the new album.
Is it tough being on the road with the same 1 person all the time?
It helps that Dave and I are a couple. Not that being together constantly doesn’t have it’s challenges, but at least we really like each other. It’s fun when Spencer or our sometimes merch guy/roadie Tim the Tooth join us. It changes the dynamic a little and keeps things fresh.
Who have you toured with so far?
We’ve toured the most extensively with The Devil Makes Three, The Low Anthem, and Joe Fletcher and The Wrong Reasons.
MorganEve’s favorite bands?
Faith No More, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Mastadon, Queens of the Stone Age, Secret Chiefs 3, Led Zeppelin, The Talking Heads, Bar Kokhba, The Black Keys, Moondog, Temple of the Dog, and a bunch of rather random stuff from the 60s and early 80s that my dad is entirely responsible for.
Any new albums you’ve been trying to digest?
We got the new Mastadon album the day it came out. It’s great. Especially if you listen to all the albums chronologically, which we did after the World Cafe Life show to drive back to my folks’ place in CT. Fantastic.
What does Brown Bird tour in?
A black 2001 Dodge 1500 conversion van named “Steak”.
What’s on the tape deck/radio/cd player/media player in the Brown Bird tour vehicle?
Recently a lot of Queens of the Stone Age, Mastadon, Parts and Labor, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Black Sabbath, Zeppelin, Kyus, and these great Balkan and Romanian Gypsy compilations that Dave picked up somewhere.
What is more exciting, the upcoming release or the pending tour with Devil Makes Three?
We are totally psyched to be joining the Devil Makes Three. They are great friends and the last tour we did with them was more fun than we ever imagined it to be. Can’t wait for this one to begin!
You played Sunday morning at the 2011 Newport Folk Fest? Were you around Saturday? Who did you get to see Sunday?
We didn’t get to see much, actually. We were basically doing interviews all day on Sunday. We were around for a bit on Saturday, too. We saw Gillian Welch, Mavis Staples, Emmylou Harris and just small snippets of Middle Brother, The Carolina Chocolate Drops and The Devil Makes Three.
Any other chances to catch live music this year?
We saw The Secret Chiefs 3 in Boston a few months ago. They are fucking great.
Any suggestions or new favorites?
We discovered Bar Kokhba and The Massada String Trio not too long ago. Both are made up of incredible musicians, put together by John Zorn to perform his compositions of Jewish-inspired music. Nothing I could say would prepare you for how incredible this stuff is. There’s also this guy in RI, Alec K. Redfearn. He has a few different projects: The Seizures and The Eyesores are the two most prominent. He plays accordion, often through distortion, and writes some of the darkest most intricate compositions we’ve heard. Big fan. Death Vessel is another local Rhode Islander. One of our favorites.
How long did it take to record Salt for Salt? Where did you two hole up to record the album?
We recorded ‘Salt for Salt’ and the EP, ‘The Sound of Ghosts’ simultaneously in three sessions at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, RI.
Any special Rhode Island show for the release of SALT FOR SALT?
The release show will have to wait until we get back from DM3 tour, but it will in fact happen. December 17th at The Met in Pawtucket, with Joe Fletcher and The Wrong Reasons.
If Brown Bird was able to set up a 1 day festival with no limitations. Who’d be on the lineup
A Hawk and a Hacksaw, The What Cheer? Brigade, Queens of the Stone Age, Mastadon, my brother’s former band Cowgirl!, Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores, Death Vessel, Taraf De Haiduks, Olas, The Black Keys, The Devil Makes Three, The Secret Chiefs 3, and Brown Bird.
If you had to pick just one instrument, would it be the old stand by violin, one of your newer instruments cello or double bass, or something else?
That’d be a pretty tough choice, and I hope I never actually have to make it! I’m most proficient on violin, as I’ve been playing it for 23 years, but cello and bass are still new and challenging and fun. I’ve been really enjoying them both, but I guess if I absolutely had to choose, it’d be cello- with enough practice, it could be used for both bass lines and melody/ lead instrument lines.
Any other Brown Bird highlights to share?
We played in Sao Paulo, Brazil in April. That was a pretty great highlight. A girl there found us on LastFM.com and invited us to come be part of their ‘Virada Cultural’ festival. It’s a huge 24-hour event in downtown Sao Paulo, where they close down all the streets and have stages set up all over and different art forms showcased consistently for 24 hours. We played at 5am to a surprisingly large crowd and met our number-1 fan who was very sweet and cried when she met us. The whole experience was totally surreal and wonderful. We definitely hope to go back someday soon.
What do you consider success to be for Brown Bird?
We just want to make a living doing what we love to do. I think in my mind we’ll have “made it” when we can be touring, maintaining a home, and raising a family comfortably.
To purchase the new album, Salt for Salt, head to bandcamp.com/
To see catch one of the incredible Brown Bird live shows , which should be especially awesome with Devil Makes Three on board.
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