Birds of Chicago will perform everything from mountain gospel to street corner doo-wop and classic soul music on Wednesday at Fratters Speakeasy in Red Deer.
The husband-wife team of JT Nero (of JT & the Clouds) and Allison Russell (of the Toronto group Po’ Girl), combined their forces to become the core of the collective Birds of Chicago.
The two first struck gold working together on Nero’s release Mountains/Forests, which reached No. 2 on U.S. folk critics’ list for 2011. The Birds of Chicago song I Have Heard Words was since featured on the blogs Smart Girls (written by SNL alum Amy Poehler) and Soul Pancake, by Rainn Wilson of The Office TV show.
Nero writes songs inspired by Mark Twain and Sam Cooke, while Russell’s voice has been compared to that of Ma Carter or Loretta Lynn. She is also a multi-instrumentalist, playing banjo, ukulele, guitar and clarinet.
For more information about the show, call 403-356-0033.