Ting Pavilion, July 17
Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird has been in a few noteworthy bands and has released or joined in on more records than we have space to discuss here. The singer and songwriter first came to fame collaborating with swing band Squirrel Nut Zippers in the late 1990s and went on to put out three big, brave, folksy swing albums under the name Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire. On his own for years now, Bird tends to be found playing violin—sometimes with the support of looping pedals—but he gets his hands on many other stringed instruments as well. He’s also known for his virtuosity as a whistler, but don’t hold that against him. These days, Bird mostly performs under his own name as he delves into many mixed influences ranging from indie to jazz. His latest with the Andrew Bird Trio, Sunday Morning Put-On, sticks firmly to the latter genre with a 90 percent track list of standards. We can’t be sure whether that choice flat-out nixes the chances of him doing anthemic tracks like “Fake Palindromes” or the acoustic retro catchiness of “Sisyphus,” but one can always hope his live show won’t stay too rooted in the songs of others when he’s got so many good ones of his own.
Grammy Award-winning Nickel Creek belies the simplicity of the fact that the band is made up of a guitarist, a fiddler, and a mandolinist who are also relentless harmony singers. After nine years away, the band released its fifth album Celebrants, in 2023, which saw the group branch out even further from its bluegrass roots. The best Nickel Creek songs stray from expectations—across lyrics, arrangement, chord composition, and, on its recordings, surprising production choices. The trio combines soaring voices and enough ingenuity to make you think bluegrass is much bigger than categorization, and, in Nickel Creek’s case, it’s about playing outside the genre’s box—without having to chuck out the box. Listen to the Celebrants tracks “Holding Pattern” back-to-back with “Where the Long Line Leads” and it’ll all be perfectly clear.
—CM Gorey