Andrew Bird Unveils Special Guests T Bone Burnett and Yola For SXSW Live From The Great Room

Andrew Bird unveils special guests multiple Grammy and Oscar winner T Bone Burnettand rising British country-soul singer Yola for the SXSW installment of his Live From The Great Room series set to take place March 14 at The Line Hotel-watch past episodeshere. The event will mark the first time the series is performed outside of Los Angeles and in front of a live audience, and will be live streamed on Bird's Facebook here.

Also at SXSW, Bird will perform songs from his forthcoming album, My Finest Work Yet, at the festival's largest Outdoor Stage atLady Bird Lake on Saturday, March 16-full details here.

My Finest Work Yet is due March 22 onLoma Vista-preorder the album here. The album is receiving early critical praise with NPR naming single "Sisyphus" one of the best of January. Last week saw the release of album single "Manifest," which Consequence of Sound calls "dreamy" and "one part mournful and one part triumphant, the number focuses on the cycling of energy."

In celebration of the album release, Bird will perform a series of special, select shows atLargo in Los Angeles, Green Mill in Chicago and National Sawdust in New York. See below for the full details.

My Finest Work Yet was recorded live to tape at Barefoot Studios in Los Angeles, CA. Bird and band went for that Rudy Van Gelder jazz room sound where the instruments bleed in to all the mics in just the right way. Piano plays a strong role on these songs and most of the melodies are tinged with a gospel-jazz-60s soul feel while the lyrics are direct and risk-taking, cutting to the quick of what's happening in our world. Bird was joined on the album by producer Paul Butler, Tyler Chester on piano and organs, Madison Cunningham on vocals, Alan Hampton on bass, Blake Mills on guitar, Ted Poor on drums, plus Abraham Rounds on drums and Mike Viola on guitar on "Archipelago."

The album also includes previous single "Bloodless," which debuted in November along with the track's official music video (directed by Matthew Daniel Siskin).

ANDREW BIRD LIVE

March 14	Austin, TX	The Line Hotel
March 16	Austin, TX	Outdoor Stage at Lady Bird Lake
March 21	Los Angeles, CA	Largo
April 2	Chicago, IL	Green Mill
April 3	Chicago, IL	Green Mill
April 8	New York, NY	National Sawdust
April 9	New York, NY	National Sawdust
May 31-June 2	Las Vegas, NV	Emerge Festival
June 12-14	Louisville, KY	Forecastle Festival
Sept 20-22	North Adams, MA	FreshGrass Music Festival

Andrew Bird by Amanda Demme

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