Similar Artists: Fleet Foxes, Kurt Vile, Big Thief
Recommended Tracks: “Stephanie,” “Long Distance Winner,” “Crystal”
The string that connects Andrew Bird and musical counterpart Madison Cunningham with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks glimmers with a modern sparkle in the eye turned to the past.
Teleporting back to 1973, Buckingham Nicks — American rock duo guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks — debuted their one and only album, Buckingham Nicks, before joining the legendary rock group Fleetwood Mac. Today, Cunningham Bird is born. Over half a century later, a cover album paying tribute to the classically magical 70s rock album, which was no longer produced after the year it was initially released, has been born.
With used copies going for $30-$300 on websites like eBay, if you are not an avid record collector, you may turn to the bootlegged performances on streaming apps such as Spotify or simply find the album on YouTube. Or, you can turn to Cunningham Bird, the mystical and serene 10-track album that has the signature Andrew Bird violin plucking, dreamlike string sections, and Cunningham’s rich and vintage voice.
The newly introduced Cunningham Bird is a more folk-driven rock revival. With well-known tracks like “Crystal” and “Crying in the Night,” Bird and Cunningham are not reinventing the wheel, but contributing love and light to a forgotten treasure in music history. With neither of the artists familiar with the record before beginning their endeavor, Buckingham Nicks being the “storied prequel to Fleetwood Mac,” as a friend told Bird, was enough for him to raise the collaboration.
Switching out and playing with the gender roles in which Buckingham Nicks would have typically sung, there are many factors of freshness in this renewed collection. Bird and Cunningham took to Instagram to explain a part of their process, taking on the project, “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.”
Many cover albums sound almost identical to their predecessors. Cunningham Bird plays against that unspoken rule. Bird and Cunningham were previously looking for an excuse to join forces, and when they came across Buckingham Nicks, they knew the challenge they’d be taking on in full. Coming out the other end, they seemed to have made the perfect partnership. The album is filled with nostalgia and a powerful adoration for the soundscape that originated with the iconic duo Buckingham Nicks.
For example, on “Stephanie,” instead of slide guitar playing softly in the back, Cunningham’s voice creeps over the track following the absent guitar, leaving us with the equivalent of fog rising over a swan-filled pond shining against the morning dew. As dramatic as that picture is painted, it is one truly whimsical piece. Cunningham and Birds’s touch rejuvenates that enchanted era of music in the 70s.
“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,” Cunningham said on X.
Keep up with Cunningham Bird: Website // MC Instagram // AB Instagram
