No. 3: Andrew Bird

Chicago's own Andrew Bird might be one of the most original musicians to come out over the past 10 years. In today's day in age where one has probably heard just about everything and nothing seems that new, Andrew Bird is like a musical messiah to me. The multi-instrumentalist graduated from Northwestern in 1996 with a degree in...violin performance? He released a folk diddy that same year called "Music of Hair". After gaining little exposure from such a straight up classical folk record he decided to form a new group, Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire. The Bowl of Fire's albums are a mixture of swing and jazz. They sound like records straight out of the Depression era but with a rockier beat. These records gained critical success, but never sold many copies. One night in 2002 The Bowl of Fire was supposed to open for a local band, Handsome Family, but the rest of the band members couldn't make it. Andrew had to play the show solo. This is when he began reinventing how the violin should sound and be played. He brought a looping station he had been messing with to the show thinking people would be upset there was no supporting band. He experimented with looping while plucking a violin and whistling. The Bowl of Fire was no more. Andrew Bird had found his sound and wouldn't look back.

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