andrew bird may be from chicago, but his style is worldly, combining german leider, new orleans jazz, swing, gypsy, folk, and rock.  andrew says, "i sort of play with words and ideas, and they eventually kind of find their way into the nooks and crannies of the melodies."  his lyrics often feature archaic language like "radiolarian" and "coprophagia" chosen mainly for the way they sound, but also how they feel.

from the age of four the eccentric artist was trained in the suzuki method (a musical teaching style that strives to create "high ability" and beautiful character in its students through a nurturing environment). 

andrew's first commercial exposure came through his collaborative work with the chapel hill band squirrel nut zippers.  in 1997 right before ending his association with the band, andrew released his first l.p., a heavily 1920's jazz/swing influenced album titled thrills.  thrills was created by his first band andrew bird's bowl of fire.  after touring with this line up for 5 years (and finding little success), they finally disbanded as he reinvented himself as a solo artist.

now a one man band, andrew sings, whistles, plays guitar, glockenspiel or violin during his live performances that are typically improvised and constantly changing.  in fact, he says, "every night i am rewriting all my songs for the audience." 

january 20, 2009 marked the release of andrew's fifth l.p. noble beast.  additionally, a limited edition version of the album that includes alternate packaging and artwork, and useless creatures, an all-instrumental companion disc is available at independent record stores.

click here or here for a february 03, 2009 and may 20, 2007 sets both recorded at dc's 9:30 club.  click here, here or here for in-studio sets and interviews recorded by kcrw's morning becomes eclectic from february 06, 2009, april 06, 2005, and march 19, 2004.  click here, here or here for short sets both recorded by wxpn's world café on march 30, 2009, december 26, 2007 and july 26, 2007 respectively.  click here for a set recorded on february 3, 2009 by kexp's favorite sessions.  click here for a sxsw set recorded by wxpn on march 15, 2007.  click here or here for all things considered stories from february 13, 2009 and september 15, 1998.  click here for a talk of the nation story originally airing on november 17, 2005.  click here for a weekend edition story originally airing on april 17, 2005.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

andrew bird is currently touring.  check here to view his tour schedule.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.