This is one of the most exciting moments in my short blogging career. The Yellow Bird Project has provided me with the opportunity to interview one of my favourite new artists, who I was introduced to by my American friend, Jeremy. Birdie Busch has been getting a lot of play time by me ever since I was told about her and was immediately hooked on the catchy as hell “Mystical”, a song off of her second full length album, Penny Arcade. Birdie was nice enough to allow us to interview her, and we are so glad we did, because not only is she super talented, but she is quite witty too. Take a look.

Middle Distance Runner: I understand your real name is Emily. When and how did you come to be known as “Birdie” Busch?

Birdie Busch: Birdie was a nickname bestowed upon me by a friend after a beret with metal studs was bestowed upon my head. It had nothing to do with singing just silliness. So when they ask, “what came first the beret or the bird? I do say the beret.”

MDR: At what age did you start writing music?

BB: I started writing music at the age of 5 on my portable tape recorder, a tune in which I rhymed Manhattan with “blatten”, a fictitious word that served the purpose of rhyming with Manhattan, so I sung, “I will take Manhattan with my blatten.” I had a dormant period that ended in my twenties where life just started to feel right to me distilled into the shape and feeling of a song. I must have been looking for songs for a long time and didn’t know it but when they came, oh boy.

MDR: What kind of music did you listen to growing up and what are your major musical influences?

BB: In my parent’s station wagon it were these tapes, Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, and I distinctly remember Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night. Patsy still has a gigantic place in my heart and memory. I like how she really takes her time with her delivery, kind of behind the beat. My sister, almost a generation older than me passed down her cassettes and mix tapes, fluorescent 80’s colors and all. I remember her Grateful Dead cassettes she would draw her own pictures for and also, Paul Simon’s Graceland. Another fond memory is when she decided to pop in George Michael’s single, “I Want Your Sex” into the player on a family road trip. Kinda awkward.

Major musical influences? I love Canadians! Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Rick Danko of the Band. I also love Bill Withers, John Prine, Nina Simone. I love Tahitian lullabies and Mexican Nortenos. Jeff Tweedy and Jerry Garcia. The Staple Singers. Toots Hibbert. Gillian Welch. Daniel Lanois. So many I could talk about though. Folks that I call my influences I do because I take from them the inspiration to be myself, for that is what is so appealing about all of them to me, that they were and are so free with giving their own thing to the people.

MDR: Do you play any other instruments besides guitar?

BB: I played violin in grade school from about 5-7. I remember that I really liked Minuet 3. I started playing some again cause I really find that different instruments open up different portals of melodies and violin for sure has some great ones.

MDR: What have you been listening to lately?

BB: Lately I’ve been really enjoying instrumental things, lots of John Fahey, Jim O’Rourke, and I just recently heard for the first time Juana Molina and love the way it’s making my brain bend. I am also hugely in love with early rock steady/ska/reggae. My friend and I want to do a whole record of those old songs, like “Adam & Eve”. It’s this great song, not sure if he wrote it, but Bob Marley sang it way way back.

MDR: Are you a fan of any of the bands that have been a part of the Yellow Bird Project?

BB: Oh yeah. You’ve got quite a crew. It’s funny, I lived behind this bar in Philly and would go there after work to just have a beer and ended up in the midst of a Devendra Banhart concert pretty early on in his touring and playing, without knowing anything about it and always took the line he sung, “from the womb to the tomb, I’ll always be a child” around with me in my head. Really enjoy Neko Case and the way her records sound.

MDR: If you could see any 3 artists or bands dead or alive playing the same show who would they be and why?

BB: I’ve been asking this question all around town since I read it, wondering what others say….Anything contemporary I just assume that I will be able to see if I want some time, which isn’t necessarily true but it allows me to widdle it down to music of folks that have passed from this here world that I might bring back for this show. I would have loved to have seen Bob Marley in his prime, with that big stage show and all the girls singing…also, Nina Simone. Nina Simone being backed by Bill Withers band, which someone told me happened at some point. And of course, John Lennon singing Instant Karma. When I told someone John Lennon, they said, “How about the f****** Beatles!?” And the list goes on and on. Can I add an opener or special guests? Like Charles Mingus, Led Zeppelin, and Clara Rockmore on the theremin?

MDR: What is your favourite movie?

BB: As a lot of my favourites, there’s a huge range, in which is included Ghostbusters, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Forrest Gump, Aliens, and Waiting for Guffman. When I have the chance, most times I’ll rent a movie to laugh before I cry, and if it does both, beautiful.

MDR: What is your favourite book?

BB: Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. Just Above my Head by James Baldwin. Books of poetry by Langston Hughes. These are some that come to mind. I really like the era of American Literature from the turn of the Nineteenth century and onwards some, in which all of these favourites are included.

MDR: What is your favourite thing to do on a lazy Sunday?

BB: Park myself on my couch facing and in between two old wooden speaker cabinets and listening to records I’ve gotten along the way. Not washing dishes and listening, not reading and listening, or even folding laundry. I’m just listening. I also am a big fan of walk-abouts in my West Philly hood. Does walking cancel out lazy though? Not sure.

MDR: Do you have any new material in the works? Tour plans?

BB: Yes! We are finishing up a recording in the next couple months; it’s about lampshades, Eden’s suburbs, and Mexican dishwashers amongst other things. I promise they do all come together. Stay tuned……

I recently received an e-mail from an enthusiastic Frenchman who wants to book us in France so now I am working at turning that into a first time European tour come the New Year. The U.S. is tough lately with the gas crisis so we’ve been riding our bikes around Philly and concentrating on the recording. We need more trains. We need gigantic zip-lines or sling shots.

MDR: And finally, When are you coming to play in Montreal?

BB: As soon as you have a Yellow Bird Festival!

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Well YBP, it seems a Yellow Bird Festival is in need. Get on that!

And as a special gift, Birdie has provided us with a video of her playing a new song from her upcoming album. The song is called “Penny Arcade” and I absolutely love it! Check it out.

Here is the song as an mp3 for you:

Birdie Busch - Penny Arcade

I would like to thank Birdie for taking the time to answer my questions. I can’t wait to hear your new album, I will keep my eyes wide open for it!

Until next week…

-The Middle Distance Runner

Who doesn’t love a soft female vocalist singing along with the sweet sounds of an acoustic guitar, piano, or in some cases, a harp. If you’re anything like me, there’s nothing sweeter than the sound of a talented female artist doing her thing. Artists that we know and love, like Joanna Newsom, My Brightest Diamond, Feist and Regina Spektor (to name a few) and artists that aren’t so well known like the one’s I’m about to name. This is a tribute to some up and coming female artists that I think we will be hearing a lot more from in the coming years.

Laura Marling

At the mere age of 18, Marling has created quite a stir not only in her Eversley, England hometown, but across the pond, here in North America. I was lucky enough to see her open for Adam Green last month in New York City, and even though many people didn’t know who she was, the performance was great, and I’m sure it got whoever was at the show talking about her. She has a whole bunch of shows coming up this summer, mostly in the UK with 2 more stops in New York City next week.

Check out all of her dates here.

And here is her video for the song “Ghosts” which is off of her debut album Alas I Cannot Swim:

Birdie Busch

This is a new discovery of mine, recommended to me by my friend Jeremy of good musical taste. There isn’t a lot about her out there on the internet (just yet) but I think she has a nice sound, and could be big one day. She has already released 2 full length albums, and I think she may have a third in the works.

Here is a sample track and the best quality video I could find for you, the song is called “Mystical” and the video is called “Go Go Gadget Heart”, both songs off of her latest release, Penny Arcade :

Birdie Busch - Mystical

Basia Bulat

The first I heard of Basia Bulat was at the inaugural Osheaga Festival in 2006 in Montreal. Unfortunately, I just stopped for a few minutes on my way to see Final Fantasy play so i didn’t really get to enjoy her set. If I knew that I would like her as much as I do today I would have definitely made a point of watching her entire set. Along with acoustic guitar Basia also plays the autoharp regularly at all of her shows. And best of all, she is Canadian!

This is a video of her performing “Snakes and Ladders” from her latest release Oh, My Darling, live in Brussels

Holly Throsby

My last up and coming solo female artist is the amazingly talented Holly Throsby, who has gained significant popularity in her hometown of Sydney, Australia and is continuing to gain popularity around the world. She has toured with the likes of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Joanna Newsom and YBP’s first official artist, Devendra Banhart. She has already given us two amazing albums and the third will hit shelves on July 12 entitled “A Loud Call”

Here is Holly performing the song “Spare-Ohs” along with violin/whistler extraordinaire Andrew Bird:

And finally, here is a little taste of Holly’s new album A Loud Call. The song is called “A Heart Divided”:

So, readers, you have some homework to do…check out these artists and then go to their shows!

Until next week…

-The Middle Distance Runner