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Today, hours before playing a very special show at a very sold-out Troubadour, Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham have shared another magnetic preview of Cunningham Bird. Out October 18th via Loma Vista Recordings / Verve Forecast, the collaborative new album is a top-to-bottom cover of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks' cult-beloved, out-of-print debut, Buckingham Nicks. But Cunningham Bird "works as a piece of music that will stand on its own," praises Variety. "And surely will reach audiences that Lindsey and Stevie's buried classic never has." On the latest single, "Without A Leg To Stand On," Bird and Cunningham fully reimagine the song's rhythm, tempo and arrangement, making the sound all their own, while maintaining the same emotion, devotion, confidence and ambition of the original.
Pre-Order Cunningham Bird, and listen to "Without A Leg To Stand On" Here: https://i.andrewbird.net/WithoutALeg
"Without A Leg To Stand On" follows the recently released pair of "Crying In The Night" and "Crystal," and rest of Cunningham Bird further sees the two close friends, virtuosic musicians and longtime collaborators "comfortably stepping into the shoes of the legendary duo," said Paste, when naming "Crying In The Night" one of the week's Best New Songs. Produced by Mike Viola, led by the singular stylings of Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham, and featuring only Griffin Goldsmith on drums/percussion, and Mike Viola on wurlitzer/bass/drums, Cunningham Bird "presents a decidedly intimate take on the original" (The Needle Drop) – "the tracklist remains the same, but the songs have been transformed" (Stereogum).
Although Buckingham Nicks is still unavailable on digital platforms, and was never issued on CD or reissued on vinyl, Cunningham Bird will arrive to DSPs on October 18th, with a physical LP and CD release set for December 13th. Tonight, Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird perform their rendition of the album in its entirety at The Troubadour, the same Los Angeles venue that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham headlined in support of the eponymous record in fall 1973. The historic homecoming is happening on the heels of a sporadic, surprise series of Cunningham Bird appearances at Newport Folk Festival, The Hollywood Bowl, Bumbershoot and Infinite Dreams. The Troubadour will be followed by a set at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass on October 5th, and with each performance, Bird and Cunningham have fallen deeper in love with the source material.
"It actually made it a lot easier to climb into it," Madison Cunningham told Variety. "Because we didn't have any real attachment to or previous deep fondness for it. I thought the chord changes were so fascinating, and they felt very close to what we do, or the chords we would be drawn towards. But it felt like this wonderful project of just trying to make it our style, something we would want to sing and play together. And because there's the folklore of all of their sort of dysfunction brewing in the songs, it was a really great thing to go into and try and make duets out of, because there's a lot of emotion to work with."
"I got a little alarmed how far afield we were going with new sections," added Andrew Bird. "It's like, is this gonna be okay? Is this gonna piss people off? But we couldn't censor that. You know, I just have thought for years that Madison is one of the most talented…maybe the most talented musician I've encountered, and I wanted to do something more full-on than just having her come sing on one of my albums or something, or vice versa. And it was a very fun session, very freeing and full of ideas. But there was this thing hanging over us, like, are we going to get in trouble for this? Is this gonna work? Are we allowed to do this?"
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