Addie Juell
Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird’s past four years have been a wild bronco ride. His wife, clothing designer Katherine Tsina, survived intensive treatments for thyroid cancer and gave birth to the couple’s first child, Sam. The family has moved from New York City to Los Angeles. In fact, Bird wrote most of the lyrics for his newest album, Are You Serious, at his childhood farm in western Illinois, where he and his wife and son spent a week while traveling to their new California home. Isthmus spoke with Bird in advance of his Sept. 6 concert at the Overture Center’s Capitol Theater.
Words like “eccentric,” “mysterious,” and “intellectual” describe a lot of your past music. “Warm,” “grounded” and “engaging” are words I’d use to describe Are You Serious. How do you describe that artistic transition?
As I get older, I appreciate more straightforwardness. To use as few words as possible and with a very distinct melody. A couple words can be a whole novel. Writers like John Prine and Townes Van Zant can do it quite well. Lucinda Williams. That’s what I’m striving toward. Something really distilled and honest.
You’re a father now. In “Valleys of Young” you describe having a child as an act of treason. What do you mean by that?
We’re kind of pioneers among our friends. This is a good example of a song that I wanted to be as universal as possible. I wanted to reach across that divide and grab your former self by the collar and say, “Look, you think your life is full of drama and romance and heartbreak, just wait.” I think a lot of young people starting a family think it means complacency and settling, and it’s anything but.
I read a quote of yours where you said “live performance is probably the most sacred thing I do.” How is that?
Something happens to me when I get on stage. And since I was little it was always like that. I was a painfully quiet, shy kid, and whenever I had to get in front of the class and give a book report or something, it all snapped, came together, and I was perfectly poised and articulate. I sometimes feel more comfortable in front of a couple thousand people than I do in front of family and friends.
You’ve now lived in the big three American cities: Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. When I name one of those places, will you give me a one-word descriptor of the city? Los Angeles?
Private.
New York?
Harried.
Chicago?
Emotional.
What’s your favorite novel?
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi.
What’s the secret to becoming a good whistler?
Hydration. And having an omnidirectional tongue.
