Andrew Bird

Hey! Who's up for a whistling violinist?

OK. That's a crappy, although accurate, description of Andrew Bird. "Whistling violinist" conjures up images of someone who would have visited Mr. Rogers. Bird brings it better than any of Mr. Rogers guests that I remember.

Bird has been putting out albums annually since 1997 but this year the release of The Mysterious Production of Eggs really caught my fancy. He does whistle and he does play violin but he also plays guitar and xylophone and sings. The cool part is that he does it all himself live too as you can see in this concert video. He does sub-contract for the drums and keys though (which are played by one guy simultaneously).

You can stream the entire album here (click on the Quicktime box on the left). The album is solid the whole way through but if you want to jump to the highlights, you can fast forward to "Fake Palidromes", "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left" and "Skin, My Is". Or if you want to download one for later listening, his site offers the mp3 of "A Nervous Tic Motion...".

The other nice thing about Bird is that he'll be at the Iron Horse on Nov. 14 (more show congestion...see below).

Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left