Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
Encyclopedia
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians is an alternative rock
jam band
that originated in Texas
in the mid-1980s. The band is best known for their 1988 hit "What I Am
" from the album Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars
. Their music contains elements of rock
, folk
, blues
, and jazz
. Following the release of their 1990 second album Ghost of a Dog
, lead singer Edie Brickell
married singer-songwriter
Paul Simon
after leaving the band. In 2006 they launched a new web site and released a new album Stranger Things
.
-style band in the early 1980s, gaining experience in the new Deep Ellum
neighborhood of downtown Dallas. The original line-up featured Brad Houser
on bass, Eric Presswood on guitar, and Brandon Aly on drums.
Drummer Aly, guitarist Kenny Withrow, and percussionist John Bush went to the same arts magnet high school
in Dallas, Texas
, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
. Singer Edie Brickell
also went to this school. However, the others didn't know her until later. According to Houser, Edie was there for art. Houser attended Hillcrest High School and lived in the same neighborhood as the others. He played in various neighborhood bands like The Knobs which included Kenny, and was also in the Munch Puppies.
The additional core members joined in 1985. Edie became the singer after being encouraged to join the band onstage during a show. It was soon after that first show that a local agent who was booking bands at Rick's Casablanca was brought to hear the band. The band signed a six month management contract which brought with it better paying gigs at Rick's. When the six months ended, they started regular gigging in Deep Ellum
. Presswood left and Kenny Withrow joined as guitarist, playing his first show in July 1985 at the Starck Club in Dallas. John Bush joined on percussion in September of that year. His first show with the band was September 12, 1985 at Poor David's Pub in Dallas, when the band was backing Bo Diddley
.
The "New Bos" were always a local favorite, packing in the fans at now famous Deep Ellum venues such as Theater Gallery, 500 Cafe, and Club Dada. The Bohemians were also regular performers at the annual Fry Street Fair on the University of North Texas
campus in Denton, Texas
. During this period of the band's history, Edie's name was not used in the band's name. That was a strategy used by Geffen Records
.
In recent years, the New Bohemians have released compilations and a live album and have recorded new material. In the mid-1990s Brickell, Bush and Withrow reunited as The Slip. In 2006 the current members reunited to record and tour with the release of Stranger Things
.
Carter Albrecht
died September 2007.
The band's song "Circle" appeared on an episode of Cold Case and Ugly Betty
.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
jam band
Jam band
-Ambiguity:By the late 1990s use of the term jam band also became ambiguous. An editorial at jamband.com suggested that any band of which a primary band such as Phish has done a cover of be included as jam band. The example was including New York post-punk band Talking Heads after Phish performed...
that originated in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in the mid-1980s. The band is best known for their 1988 hit "What I Am
What I Am
"What I Am" is a song written by Edie Brickell and Kenny Withrow and recorded by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians for their debut album, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars . It peaked at number thirty-one in the United Kingdom, while reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States...
" from the album Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars
Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars
-Personnel:NEW BOHEMIANS*Edie Brickell - vocals*Kenny Withrow - guitar*Brad Houser - bass*Brandon Aly - drums *John Bush - percussionwith:*Robbie Blunt - guitar*John Henry - background vocals...
. Their music contains elements of rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. Following the release of their 1990 second album Ghost of a Dog
Ghost of a Dog
Ghost of a Dog is the second album by American alternative rock band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, released in 1990 .-Track listing:-Personnel:NEW BOHEMIANS*Edie Brickell - acoustic guitar, guitar, vocals...
, lead singer Edie Brickell
Edie Brickell
Edie Arlisa Brickell is an American singer-songwriter best known for 1988's Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, the debut album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which went #4 on the US Albums Chart.-Life and career:...
married singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
after leaving the band. In 2006 they launched a new web site and released a new album Stranger Things
Stranger Things
Stranger Things is the fourth album by American jam band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, released July 25, 2006 on Fantasy Records.- Track listing :#"Stranger Things" - 3:20...
.
History
The New Bohemians started as a 3 piece skaSka
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
-style band in the early 1980s, gaining experience in the new Deep Ellum
Deep Ellum
Deep Ellum is an arts and entertainment district near downtown in east Dallas, Texas . It lies directly east of the elevated I-45/US 75 freeway and extends to Exposition Avenue, connected to downtown by, from north to south, Pacific, Elm, Main, Commerce, and Canton streets...
neighborhood of downtown Dallas. The original line-up featured Brad Houser
Brad Houser
John Bradley Houser is an American bass guitar, baritone saxophone and bass clarinet player, originally from Dallas, Texas. He was a co-founding member of the New Bohemians, later to become known as Edie Brickell & New Bohemians...
on bass, Eric Presswood on guitar, and Brandon Aly on drums.
Drummer Aly, guitarist Kenny Withrow, and percussionist John Bush went to the same arts magnet high school
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...
in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is a public secondary school located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas . Booker T. Washington High School enrolls students in grades 9-12 and is the Dallas Independent School District's arts magnet school...
. Singer Edie Brickell
Edie Brickell
Edie Arlisa Brickell is an American singer-songwriter best known for 1988's Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, the debut album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which went #4 on the US Albums Chart.-Life and career:...
also went to this school. However, the others didn't know her until later. According to Houser, Edie was there for art. Houser attended Hillcrest High School and lived in the same neighborhood as the others. He played in various neighborhood bands like The Knobs which included Kenny, and was also in the Munch Puppies.
The additional core members joined in 1985. Edie became the singer after being encouraged to join the band onstage during a show. It was soon after that first show that a local agent who was booking bands at Rick's Casablanca was brought to hear the band. The band signed a six month management contract which brought with it better paying gigs at Rick's. When the six months ended, they started regular gigging in Deep Ellum
Deep Ellum
Deep Ellum is an arts and entertainment district near downtown in east Dallas, Texas . It lies directly east of the elevated I-45/US 75 freeway and extends to Exposition Avenue, connected to downtown by, from north to south, Pacific, Elm, Main, Commerce, and Canton streets...
. Presswood left and Kenny Withrow joined as guitarist, playing his first show in July 1985 at the Starck Club in Dallas. John Bush joined on percussion in September of that year. His first show with the band was September 12, 1985 at Poor David's Pub in Dallas, when the band was backing Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
.
The "New Bos" were always a local favorite, packing in the fans at now famous Deep Ellum venues such as Theater Gallery, 500 Cafe, and Club Dada. The Bohemians were also regular performers at the annual Fry Street Fair on the University of North Texas
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
campus in Denton, Texas
Denton, Texas
The city of Denton is the county seat of Denton County, Texas in the United States. Its population was 119,454 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the eleventh largest city in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex...
. During this period of the band's history, Edie's name was not used in the band's name. That was a strategy used by Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
.
In recent years, the New Bohemians have released compilations and a live album and have recorded new material. In the mid-1990s Brickell, Bush and Withrow reunited as The Slip. In 2006 the current members reunited to record and tour with the release of Stranger Things
Stranger Things
Stranger Things is the fourth album by American jam band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, released July 25, 2006 on Fantasy Records.- Track listing :#"Stranger Things" - 3:20...
.
Carter Albrecht
Carter Albrecht
Jeffrey Carter Albrecht was an American musician perhaps best known for his keyboard and guitar work in Edie Brickell & New Bohemians...
died September 2007.
The band's song "Circle" appeared on an episode of Cold Case and Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
.
Current members
- Brandon Aly – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Edie Arlisa BrickellEdie BrickellEdie Arlisa Brickell is an American singer-songwriter best known for 1988's Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, the debut album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which went #4 on the US Albums Chart.-Life and career:...
– vocals - John Walter Bush – percussion
- John Bradley HouserBrad HouserJohn Bradley Houser is an American bass guitar, baritone saxophone and bass clarinet player, originally from Dallas, Texas. He was a co-founding member of the New Bohemians, later to become known as Edie Brickell & New Bohemians...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, woodwindsWoodwind instrumentA woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate... - Kenneth Neil Withrow – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
Previous members
- Carter AlbrechtCarter AlbrechtJeffrey Carter Albrecht was an American musician perhaps best known for his keyboard and guitar work in Edie Brickell & New Bohemians...
– keyboardsElectronic keyboardAn electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
, electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, vocalsHuman voiceThe human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary... - Wes Burt-Martin – guitar
- Matt ChamberlainMatt ChamberlainMatthew Chamberlain is an American drummer, producer and sound engineer. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California.-Early life:...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Eric Presswood – guitar
- Chris Wheatley – keyboards
- Chris WhittenChris WhittenChris Whitten is a British session drummer who provided drums for the hit singles "What I Am" by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, "World Shut your Mouth" by Julian Cope and "The Whole of the Moon" by The Waterboys...
– drums - Paul "Wix" WickensPaul WickensPaul "Wix" Wickens is a keyboardist and composer from Essex, United Kingdom. Wickens has worked with musicians such as Paul McCartney, Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bon Jovi and many other artists. Wickens has been a member of McCartney's touring band since 1989.-Career:Wickens began...
– keyboards
Albums
- Shooting Rubberbands at the StarsShooting Rubberbands at the Stars-Personnel:NEW BOHEMIANS*Edie Brickell - vocals*Kenny Withrow - guitar*Brad Houser - bass*Brandon Aly - drums *John Bush - percussionwith:*Robbie Blunt - guitar*John Henry - background vocals...
(1988) US #4 - Ghost of a DogGhost of a DogGhost of a Dog is the second album by American alternative rock band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, released in 1990 .-Track listing:-Personnel:NEW BOHEMIANS*Edie Brickell - acoustic guitar, guitar, vocals...
(1990) US #32 - The Live Montauk Sessions (1999)
- Stranger ThingsStranger ThingsStranger Things is the fourth album by American jam band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, released July 25, 2006 on Fantasy Records.- Track listing :#"Stranger Things" - 3:20...
(2006)
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||
| U.S. Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
U.S. Modern Rock | U.S. Mainstream Rock | UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
|||
| 1988 | "What I Am What I Am "What I Am" is a song written by Edie Brickell and Kenny Withrow and recorded by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians for their debut album, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars . It peaked at number thirty-one in the United Kingdom, while reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States... " |
#7 | #4 | #9 | #31 | Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars |
| 1988 | "Circle" | #48 | - | #32 | #74 | Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars |
| 1989 | "Little Miss S." | - | #14 | #38 | - | Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars |
| 1990 | "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is a song written by Bob Dylan in the summer of 1962. It was first recorded in Columbia Records' Studio A on 6 December 1962 for his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The lyric structure is based on the question and answer form of the traditional ballad "Lord... " |
- | #21 | #28 | - | Born on the Fourth of July Born on the Fourth of July (film) Born on the Fourth of July is a 1989 American film adaptation of the best selling autobiography of the same name by Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic. Tom Cruise plays Kovic, in a performance that earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Oliver Stone co-wrote the screenplay with Kovic, and also... [Soundtrack] |
| 1990 | "Mama Help Me" | - | #17 | #26 | - | Ghost of a Dog |
External links
- New Bohemians' official website
- New Bohemians Live Music Archive at archive.org
- Brandon Aly's official website
- John Bush's official website
- What They Were - Article from Dallas Observer, 1998
- History of Deep Ellum - Dallas Observer, 1999
- Woyaho Fansite