{{Short description|American music group (2003–2014)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Brown Bird | image = BrownBird-01.jpg | caption = MorganEve Swain and David Lamb (2011) | origin = Portland, Maine<br>Providence, Rhode Island | genre = {{Hlist|Americana|gothic country|contemporary folk|indie folk}} | years_active = 2003&ndash;2015 | label = Peapod Recordings | associated_acts = | website = {{Official URL}} | past_members = David Lamb<br/>MorganEve Swain<br/>Jerusha Robinson<br/>Jeremy Robinson<br/>Mike Samos }}

'''Brown Bird''' was an American music group, originally formed in 2003 in Seattle, Washington as a solo project by David Lamb. Adding and changing its membership over time, the band's final incarnation was the duo of Lamb and his wife MorganEve Swain. The band ceased in 2014 following Lamb's death from leukemia.

==History== Lamb formed Brown Bird in 2003 in Seattle, Washington but moved soon thereafter<ref name=interview>{{cite news|title=Interview with Providence-based multi-instrumental duo Brown Bird|publisher=Providence Examiner|date=October 26, 2011}}</ref> to Portland, Maine.<ref name=maine>{{cite news|title=10 Maine bands to watch|publisher=Portland Press Herald|date=January 17, 2008|author=Stephanie Bouchard|page=D10}}</ref> The line-up soon included Jerusha Robinson on cello and her husband Jeremy Robinson on multiple instruments.<ref name=maine/> The Robinsons left the group in 2009, leaving Lamb, MorganEve Swain on fiddle,<ref name=duo>{{cite news|title= As a duo, Brown Bird loves touring together|publisher=Amarillo Globe-News|date=November 22, 2011|author=Chip Chandler}}</ref> and Mike Samos on lap steel guitar and dobro<ref name=duo/> in the line-up.<ref name=how/>

In 2010,<ref name=interview/> with the departure of Samos, the band became a duo.<ref name=how>{{cite news|title= How Now Brown Bird - Brown Bird now light as a feather as duo|publisher=New Haven Advocate|date=December 15, 2011|author=Brian Bake|page=A37}}</ref>

Brown Bird played the Newport Folk Festival for the first time in 2011<ref name=how/> and were based in Providence, Rhode Island at the time.<ref name=interview/> They have toured with The Devil Makes Three.<ref>{{cite news|title= Foot-Stomping Good Time A Promise From Rising Duo Brown Bird|publisher=The Evening Tribune (Hornell, NY)|date=September 16, 2011|author=Angela Sutfin}}</ref>

Brown Bird went on hiatus in early 2013 after David Lamb was diagnosed with leukemia.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Friend in Need - Local and regional acts come together to help one of their own |publisher= New Haven Advocate |date= August 8, 2013 |author= Alison Geisler |page=A21}}</ref> Lamb died from the disease on April 5, 2014.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title= David Lamb of folk duo Brown Bird dies of leukemia |work= Providence Journal |date= April 6, 2014 |accessdate=April 6, 2014 |url=http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20140406-david-lamb-of-folk-duo-brown-bird-dies-of-leukemia.ece}}</ref>

In April 2015 Brown Bird released their final album, ''Axis Mundi'', produced by MorganEve Swain. Most of Axis Mundi was written and demoed while David was recuperating at home from his bone marrow transplant. It peaked at #12 on the Billboard Heatseeker Chart.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/brown-bird/chart-history/heatseekers-albums |title=Brown Bird Chart History |magazine=Billboard |access-date=2018-08-02 |archive-date=2018-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180802103712/https://www.billboard.com/music/brown-bird/chart-history/heatseekers-albums |url-status=dead }}</ref> MorganEve continues to record and release music, now under the name ''The Huntress and the Holder of Hands''.<ref name="The Story">{{cite web | url=https://brownbird.net/the-story/ | title=The Story }}</ref>

In 2021, Brown Bird's "Bilgewater" was featured as the theme song of the Syfy television series ''Resident Alien''.<ref name="Lives On">{{Cite web|url=https://www.providencejournal.com/story/entertainment/arts/2021/03/11/ri-duo-brown-birds-music-lives-syfy-series-resident-alien/6932154002/|title=Brown Bird's music lives on in Syfy series 'Resident Alien'|first=Rob|last=Duguay|date=March 11, 2021|accessdate=March 15, 2021|publisher=The Providence Journal}}</ref>

==Musical style== Brown Bird is influenced by American folk music, Gypsy music,<ref name=duo/> and bluegrass.<ref name=interview/> The band crosses many genres and cites their inspiration as the music they love including Middle-Eastern psych-rock from the ‘60s and ‘70s, intricate post-metal, and the music of the Balkan gypsies.<ref name="The Story"/> According to Aimsel Ponti of the ''Portland Press Herald'' "[t]heir sound is one that lives on the darker side of American folk, ensconced in Eastern European roots music."<ref>{{cite news|title=Humans, Space, Nirvana: the best of all worlds|publisher=Portland Press Herald|date=September 22, 2011|author=Aimsel Ponti|page=E6}}</ref>

==Works== *''Tautology'' (2007) *''Such Unrest'' (Spring 2007)<ref name=touch>{{cite news|title= Cheap Thrills - Brown Bird touches down for a Biddeford show|publisher=Portland Press Herald|date=December 20, 2007|page=D14}}</ref> * ''Bottom of the Sea'' (2008) * ''The Devil Dancing'' (2009)<ref name=how/> * ''The Sound of Ghosts'' (EP, March 2011)<ref>{{cite news|title= Brown Bird EP Release Party. May 19 at The Met|publisher=Providence Examiner|date=May 17, 2011}}</ref> * ''Salt for Salt'' (October 2011)<ref name=how/> * ''Fits of Reason'' (April 2013) * ''The Teeth of Sea and Beasts - The Poetry of Brown Bird'' (Book, April 2014) * ''The Brown Bird Christmas Album'' (November 2014) * ''Axis Mundi'' (April 2015)<ref>{{cite web|last1=Fahey|first1=Linda|title=First Listen: Brown Bird, 'Axis Mundi'|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/04/19/399647659/first-listen-brown-bird-axis-mundi|website=npr.org|date=19 April 2015 |publisher=NPR|accessdate=21 April 2015}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite news |title=Concert celebrates legacy of Brown Bird's Dave Lamb |first=James |last=Reed |date=April 10, 2014 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2014/04/10/tribute-concert-celebrates-legacy-brown-bird-dave-lamb/6tTgdh5GzBBRGvLJt69HrM/story.html}}

==External links== * {{Official website}} * {{AllMusic}} * {{Discogs artist}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:American folk music groups Category:Gothic country groups Category:Musical groups established in 2003 Category:Musical groups from Portland, Maine Category:Musical groups from Providence, Rhode Island Category:Musical groups from Seattle Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2014