THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Andrew Bird is an acclaimed, Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, whistler, actor and songwriter. Madison Cunningham is a songwriter and virtuoso guitarist whose music bursts with electrifying ideas about life and art. Together, the jazzy, classical-leaning singer-songwriter types have made a full-length cover of Buckingham Nicks, the album Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham made before joining Fleetwood Mac.
Cunningham Bird is produced by Mike Viola, one of only two musicians who plays on the album besides Bird and Cunningham. Viola handles wurlitzer, bass and drums, while Dawes’ Griffin Goldsmith also contributes some drums and percussion. The track list remains the same, but the songs have been transformed into the kind of indie chamber music you’d expect from this pair.
Bird says: “It’s hard to listen to Buckingham Nicks’ 1973 debut album without trying to imagine it as a prequel to Fleetwood Mac’s legend. It’s hard to listen to this album period, as it’s out of print and not officially available on any streaming services. Yet it’s that youthful ambition and overindulgence that make it fascinating. The best reason to cover anyone is that little part of you that thinks you might do it better. This album epitomizes excess and confidence, and it only made sense to embody that spirit ourselves. The confidence, that is, to mess with an iconic, if underrated gem. Madison is the most talented musician I’ve encountered. She has a restless ear, always looking for a new sound or harmonic twist. Her voice is goosebump inducing, nimble and emotive at any volume. I just had to find the right project for us to go deep on and this is it.”
And Cunningham has her say: “Ever since knowing and playing with Andrew, I’ve wanted to join forces with him independently of our own projects. He’s one of my favorite artists alive and one of the deepest musical collaborators I’ve been lucky enough to have. This buried Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham record found us in a place where we were trying to figure out what we could do together. Unfamiliar with it, but excited by its scarcity on streaming platforms, we decided to take it on from front to back, in our own way. It was unsurprising to me how it ended up becoming one of the most creatively satisfying record-making experiences I’ve had, but the unforeseen bonus was how relevant some of those lyrics would be to my own life in the time of making it. It became a lifeline for me, and I hope we’ve done it justice.”
