Birds of Chicago (called “this year’s biggest roots surprise” by the L.A. Times) is a musical collective built around husband and wife duo JT Nero (Chicago, IL) and Allison Russell (Montreal, QC), constant vagabonds who tour internationally 10 months of the year.
Their brand of rock and roll poetry can be a little hard to categorize, for people that insist on categorizing. Their voices are undoubtedly the centerpiece Nero’s fractured country soul croon is wrapped in Russell’s silver and gold tones for a harmony blend that is like nothing else in music today. Fired by the band it’s a full tilt revival – streamlined poems, deep grooves, sharp hooks and joyful singing straight from the gut.
Birds of Chicago’s self-titled debut, released in 2012, spent 10 weeks in the CMJ Top 200. A critics’ darling, glowing praise rolled in from both sides of the Atlantic for the evocative poetry and simmering vocals. Americana UK gave it a 10/10 review, citing “two of the best voices in popular music.” The decision to put their respective bands on hiatus (JT’s “JT & The Clouds” and Allison’s “Po’ Girl”) and tour together, was a pivotal move.
After a year of hard touring, and much buzzed about summer festival appearances (Strawberry, High Sierra, Kerrville, Delfest, and more) the band recorded a live album in front of their hometown fans. The result, 2014’s “Live from SPACE,” captures the band’s full dynamic range – by turns raw, raucous, whispered and hushed. The London Telegraph included “Live” among its Top Ten Country Albums of 2014.
Russell and Nero are at home on the road – out in their family band van with their new baby daughter, Ida Maeve – zig-zagging across North America and Europe. You can bet they’ll be coming soon to some festival, theater, pub, VFW hall, roller rink or living room near you – dovetailing their voices, singing their songs of hope, despair, love…. and electric seahorses. It’s familiar and strange stuff – the everyday and the magical -light and shadow, shadow and light.
Plans for 2015 include releasing “Real Midnight,” recorded with Grammy Award winning producer Joe Henry.
“The combination of JT’s sweetly fractured blue eyed soul voice, and Allison Russell’s silver and gold tones, is a thing of sheer beauty. This is no manufactured thing-it’s real hair on the back of the neck standing up stuff. This is more or less perfect Americana” Americana UK
“Simply gorgeous. On the verge of breaking big time” Chicago Tribune
“10/10. ‘Live From SPACE’ leaves no genre unaccounted for, no touchstone unturned. If you want acappella spiritual – it’s here (‘Barley’), you want ‘soul’- it’s here (‘All The City Girls’), you want acoustic balladry – it’s here (‘I Have Heard Words’), you want driving country rock – it’s here (‘Sugar Dumplin’’). And that’s only the first four tracks.” Americana UK
“Mix a little gospel, a little soul, plenty of country attitude and you get the semblance of the forces at play here. Heard live, this couple display a spirit in performance that is really special and conjures up the celebratory feel of a revival meeting.” Lonesome Highway
show less
Their brand of rock and roll poetry can be a little hard to categorize, for people that insist on categorizing. Their voices are undoubtedly the centerpiece Nero’s fractured country soul croon is wrapped in Russell’s silver and gold tones for a harmony blend that is like nothing else in music today. Fired by the band it’s a full tilt revival – streamlined poems, deep grooves, sharp hooks and joyful singing straight from the gut.
Birds of Chicago’s self-titled debut, released in 2012, spent 10 weeks in the CMJ Top 200. A critics’ darling, glowing praise rolled in from both sides of the Atlantic for the evocative poetry and simmering vocals. Americana UK gave it a 10/10 review, citing “two of the best voices in popular music.” The decision to put their respective bands on hiatus (JT’s “JT & The Clouds” and Allison’s “Po’ Girl”) and tour together, was a pivotal move.
After a year of hard touring, and much buzzed about summer festival appearances (Strawberry, High Sierra, Kerrville, Delfest, and more) the band recorded a live album in front of their hometown fans. The result, 2014’s “Live from SPACE,” captures the band’s full dynamic range – by turns raw, raucous, whispered and hushed. The London Telegraph included “Live” among its Top Ten Country Albums of 2014.
Russell and Nero are at home on the road – out in their family band van with their new baby daughter, Ida Maeve – zig-zagging across North America and Europe. You can bet they’ll be coming soon to some festival, theater, pub, VFW hall, roller rink or living room near you – dovetailing their voices, singing their songs of hope, despair, love…. and electric seahorses. It’s familiar and strange stuff – the everyday and the magical -light and shadow, shadow and light.
Plans for 2015 include releasing “Real Midnight,” recorded with Grammy Award winning producer Joe Henry.
“The combination of JT’s sweetly fractured blue eyed soul voice, and Allison Russell’s silver and gold tones, is a thing of sheer beauty. This is no manufactured thing-it’s real hair on the back of the neck standing up stuff. This is more or less perfect Americana” Americana UK
“Simply gorgeous. On the verge of breaking big time” Chicago Tribune
“10/10. ‘Live From SPACE’ leaves no genre unaccounted for, no touchstone unturned. If you want acappella spiritual – it’s here (‘Barley’), you want ‘soul’- it’s here (‘All The City Girls’), you want acoustic balladry – it’s here (‘I Have Heard Words’), you want driving country rock – it’s here (‘Sugar Dumplin’’). And that’s only the first four tracks.” Americana UK
“Mix a little gospel, a little soul, plenty of country attitude and you get the semblance of the forces at play here. Heard live, this couple display a spirit in performance that is really special and conjures up the celebratory feel of a revival meeting.” Lonesome Highway
Birds of Chicago (called “this year’s biggest roots surprise” by the L.A. Times) is a musical collective built around husband and wife duo JT Nero (Chicago, IL) and Allison Russell (Montreal, QC), constant vagabonds who tour internationally 10 months of the year.
Their brand of rock and roll poetry can be a little hard to categorize, for people that insist on categorizing. Their voices are undoubtedly the centerpiece Nero’s fractured country soul croon is wrapped in Russell’s silver and gold tones for a harmony blend that is like nothing else in music today. Fired by the band it’s a full tilt revival – streamlined poems, deep grooves, sharp hooks and joyful singing straight from the gut.
Birds of Chicago’s self-titled debut, released in 2012, spent 10 weeks in the CMJ Top 200. A critics’ darling, glowing praise rolled in from both sides of the Atlantic for the evocative poetry and simmering vocals. Americana UK gave it a 10/10 review, citing “two of the best voices in popular music.” The decision to put their respective bands on hiatus (JT’s “JT & The Clouds” and Allison’s “Po’ Girl”) and tour together, was a pivotal move.
After a year of hard touring, and much buzzed about summer festival appearances (Strawberry, High Sierra, Kerrville, Delfest, and more) the band recorded a live album in front of their hometown fans. The result, 2014’s “Live from SPACE,” captures the band’s full dynamic range – by turns raw, raucous, whispered and hushed. The London Telegraph included “Live” among its Top Ten Country Albums of 2014.
Russell and Nero are at home on the road – out in their family band van with their new baby daughter, Ida Maeve – zig-zagging across North America and Europe. You can bet they’ll be coming soon to some festival, theater, pub, VFW hall, roller rink or living room near you – dovetailing their voices, singing their songs of hope, despair, love…. and electric seahorses. It’s familiar and strange stuff – the everyday and the magical -light and shadow, shadow and light.
Plans for 2015 include releasing “Real Midnight,” recorded with Grammy Award winning producer Joe Henry.
“The combination of JT’s sweetly fractured blue eyed soul voice, and Allison Russell’s silver and gold tones, is a thing of sheer beauty. This is no manufactured thing-it’s real hair on the back of the neck standing up stuff. This is more or less perfect Americana” Americana UK
“Simply gorgeous. On the verge of breaking big time” Chicago Tribune
“10/10. ‘Live From SPACE’ leaves no genre unaccounted for, no touchstone unturned. If you want acappella spiritual – it’s here (‘Barley’), you want ‘soul’- it’s here (‘All The City Girls’), you want acoustic balladry – it’s here (‘I Have Heard Words’), you want driving country rock – it’s here (‘Sugar Dumplin’’). And that’s only the first four tracks.” Americana UK
“Mix a little gospel, a little soul, plenty of country attitude and you get the semblance of the forces at play here. Heard live, this couple display a spirit in performance that is really special and conjures up the celebratory feel of a revival meeting.” Lonesome Highway
read more
Their brand of rock and roll poetry can be a little hard to categorize, for people that insist on categorizing. Their voices are undoubtedly the centerpiece Nero’s fractured country soul croon is wrapped in Russell’s silver and gold tones for a harmony blend that is like nothing else in music today. Fired by the band it’s a full tilt revival – streamlined poems, deep grooves, sharp hooks and joyful singing straight from the gut.
Birds of Chicago’s self-titled debut, released in 2012, spent 10 weeks in the CMJ Top 200. A critics’ darling, glowing praise rolled in from both sides of the Atlantic for the evocative poetry and simmering vocals. Americana UK gave it a 10/10 review, citing “two of the best voices in popular music.” The decision to put their respective bands on hiatus (JT’s “JT & The Clouds” and Allison’s “Po’ Girl”) and tour together, was a pivotal move.
After a year of hard touring, and much buzzed about summer festival appearances (Strawberry, High Sierra, Kerrville, Delfest, and more) the band recorded a live album in front of their hometown fans. The result, 2014’s “Live from SPACE,” captures the band’s full dynamic range – by turns raw, raucous, whispered and hushed. The London Telegraph included “Live” among its Top Ten Country Albums of 2014.
Russell and Nero are at home on the road – out in their family band van with their new baby daughter, Ida Maeve – zig-zagging across North America and Europe. You can bet they’ll be coming soon to some festival, theater, pub, VFW hall, roller rink or living room near you – dovetailing their voices, singing their songs of hope, despair, love…. and electric seahorses. It’s familiar and strange stuff – the everyday and the magical -light and shadow, shadow and light.
Plans for 2015 include releasing “Real Midnight,” recorded with Grammy Award winning producer Joe Henry.
“The combination of JT’s sweetly fractured blue eyed soul voice, and Allison Russell’s silver and gold tones, is a thing of sheer beauty. This is no manufactured thing-it’s real hair on the back of the neck standing up stuff. This is more or less perfect Americana” Americana UK
“Simply gorgeous. On the verge of breaking big time” Chicago Tribune
“10/10. ‘Live From SPACE’ leaves no genre unaccounted for, no touchstone unturned. If you want acappella spiritual – it’s here (‘Barley’), you want ‘soul’- it’s here (‘All The City Girls’), you want acoustic balladry – it’s here (‘I Have Heard Words’), you want driving country rock – it’s here (‘Sugar Dumplin’’). And that’s only the first four tracks.” Americana UK
“Mix a little gospel, a little soul, plenty of country attitude and you get the semblance of the forces at play here. Heard live, this couple display a spirit in performance that is really special and conjures up the celebratory feel of a revival meeting.” Lonesome Highway
show less
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