Evan Birdsong profile picture

Evan Birdsong

About Me


Recordings and Press for Evan's Previous Band, Blackbird Harmony:
"Hardwood Exits" - Available on Yer Bird Record
$12 in the US - $15 Elsewhere - Free Shipping
hardwood exits
1. hardwood exits
2. caution + dispatch
3. samaritans
4. turpentine
5. searchlights
6. picture of you
7. tonight...if its the last time i see you
8. blankets
The first pressing of the 2004 debut record "Angels with Outstretched Hands" is sold out. Thanks to all of you who purchased it. No re-issue plans at this time, but it will be available for download at the Yer Bird Aviary soon and can be downloaded here as well.
Love,
EB
From the Dallas Observer:
Blackbird Harmony is the project of Evan Birdsong, a local country-noir singer-songwriter joined on Hardwood Exits by members of Eleven Hundred Springs and Bosque Brown's Mara Lee Miller. From the start, the title track firmly establishes the album's template, with mournful pedal steel giving way to Birdsong's detached, weary vocals—equal parts Jay Farrar and Lou Reed—as he delivers the first of several dark-as-the-night choruses: "Let the record spin around/Till the silence pulls us down." The loping, electrified "Samaritans" ("Tilted back and swallowed down/smoking nothing to be found/Some drunken sun to drown us out/tired eyes open wide") could easily be an outtake from Neil Young's Tonight's The Night—or a Songs:Ohia album for that matter—with Miller's lovely backing vocals sharing the distinct air of Hope Sandoval.
Some Dutch Press:
"Yer Bird is een van die labels die ik goed in de gaten houd omdat zij zoveel moois uitbrengen. Eerder brachten ze bijvoorbeeld werk uit van Sounds Like Fall en de fantastische J. Tillman.
En nu plofte bij mij een cd-tje op de mat van Blackbird Harmony. Hardwood Exits duurt misschien een klein half uurtje, maar het is wel een klein half uurtje waarin je je heerlijk kunt onderdompelen in de melancholie van Blackbird Memory.
De steelgitaar jankt meesterlijk en Evan Birdsong fluister-zingt heerlijk. Zou dat zijn eigen naam zijn? Birdsong krijgt assistentie van Mara Lee Miller, die we natuurlijk nog kennen van haar werk onder de naam Bosque Brown. De stem van Mara Lee Miller kun je nauwelijks alledaags noemen, maar op de een of andere manier werken die duetten met Birdsong uitstekend. Yer Bird noemt het zelf ‘sublime and haunting Texas Noir-Folk’ en daarmee weten ze Blackbird Harmony goed samen te vatten.
De sfeer van Hardwood Exits doet mij op momenten nog het meeste denken aan die van Brightblack Morning Light’s album Ala.Cali.Tucky. Al kent Hardwood Exits iets meer up-tempo momenten."
- Geplaatst door Han Orsel
Some Italian Press:
Fare la cosa giusta. Sempre. Centrare la melodia. Entrare nel cerchio. Pochi minuti. Foglie smosse dal libeccio. Una strada scura e lunga inghiottita dalla notte. Fari puntati al di là del tremore. Mozziconi sbrindellati, aloni ambrati di whiskey andati. Storie che nessuno racconterà mai scivolano sulla slide guitar. Niente gira perfetto qui dentro mentre uccelli neri tagliano l'aria a pezzi. Voce incerta, fragile, disarmonica, a tratti impaurita di cantare la penombra vorace. Otto canzoni, otto pietre che luccicano in riva al mare. Evan Birdsong recupera da scatoloni impolverati l'ispirazione per tirare a lucido un piccolo album che odora di cose vere. In bilico tra un cantautorato lieve e sconfitto ed una devozione al country alimentato da Dolly Parton e dalla nuova generazione di talenti texani, 'Hardmond Exits' è un fiammifero che rischiara una stanza buia. Veloce come una scheggia di luce che si perde nel nulla immenso di un crepuscolo da provincia meccanica, il disco di Birdsong è qualcosa da tenersi stretto nelle notti piovigginose, quando tutto è distante, dove nulla è più luccicante di una pozzanghera smossa dalla luna. A puntellare le paturnie di Evan interviene la nitida e splendida voce di Mara Lee Miller, un morbido panno bianco che smussa le amarezze e i brutti sogni di cattivi presagi. Il resto lo fanno una gustosa pedal steel e le chitarre misurate degli altri membri dei Blackbird Harmony. Unica pecca la chiusura a volte brutale delle canzoni, che avrebbero guadagnato assaj più fascino da qualche arpeggio in più, giusto per prolungare l'aroma agrodolce nelle vene. Una manciata d'aria fresca spira dai solchi di una produzione ispirata, desiderosa solamente d'accarezzare malinconie per trasformarle in decisive melodie. (VOTO: 7,5)

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 08/07/2007
Influences:

"Hank Williams" by Henry Lee Lucas (From Evan's Personal Collection)

Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Porter Wagoner, Doc Watson, Hank Thompson, Sonic Youth, Sebadoh, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Ray Price, Hank Williams, Joy Division. Ralph Stanley, Skeeter Davis, Dock Boggs, Kitty Wells and Larry Brown
Record Label: Sound/Fury Recordings
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Farewell.....This Bird Has Flown

it is true that blackbird harmony is over......   we played our final show on march 7th with our friends, bosque brown......and i can't think of a better way to go.  i'll refrain from indulging in the...
Posted by on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 05:29:00 GMT

islands in the stream

trees like living hallways line the road in either direction......islands in the stream rushing through a couple of 6x9's we picked up at Wal-Mart to replace the old ones dont remember which song it w...
Posted by on Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:11:00 GMT

Download Hardwood Exits Demos @ Sound/Fury Blog

The solo acoustic demos for "Hardwood Exits" are now available exclusively at http://soundsoffury.blogspot.com .  Enjoy!!
Posted by on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:30:00 GMT

Here’s To You, Pancake

i watch the fireflies carefully navigate the heavy autumn dusk - stormy blue and seldom green the warmth taken with it--even the shattered boards logged with cool moisture and pieces of blood and ski...
Posted by on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:01:00 GMT

Turkeys:Buzzards

Listen to that sound? Hear that sound? Getting in an out of trees? That flop-flop sound? Mm, that sound will sure mistake you for turkeys. Listen. Hear that flop-flop. Limbs breaking. Hear that good f...
Posted by on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 06:58:00 GMT