Andrew Bird will release a holiday album, titled Hark!, which is out October 30 via Loma Vista. On it, Bird offers up his particular spin on standards, covers of songs by John Prine, Handsome Family and Vince Guaraldi, and a few originals, too (including one titled "Christmas in April" which is about COVID lockdown).
"Let’s not talk about the dubious motives that might lead an artist to make a holiday record," says Andrew. "It’s a complicated relationship many of us have with the holidays and the requisite music we hear. So let’s admit that it’s a utilitarian thing. The music is just one contributing factor to our communal or solitary joy and melancholy. As a musician, it’s an excuse to take a break from writing the next record and indulge in an unapologetically nostalgic exercise. I’ve done my best to find some lesser known gems. A passing reference to wintertime sentiment is all it takes to make the cut on Hark! A mention of snow falling in John Cale’s 'Andalucia,' a namecheck of Christmas in John Prine’s 'Souvenirs” or as the setting of the drunken fiasco in the Handsome Family’s “So Much Wine,' remade as 'Greenwine.'"