Edie Brickell & New Bohemians is an

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational "jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often cr ...

that originated in Dallas,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, in the mid-1980s. The band is widely known for their 1988 hit "

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'' (1988). The song is highlighted by a guitar solo that notably features an ...

" from the album '' Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars''. Their music contains elements of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. Following the 1990 release of their second album ''

Ghost of a Dog ''Ghost of a Dog'' is the second album by American alternative rock band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, released in 1990. In the printed lyrics that accompany the album, each song has a word with a single letter missing. In order, they spell out ...

'', lead singer Edie Brickell left the band and married singer-songwriter

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

. In 2006, she and the band launched a new web site and released a new album, ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...

''.

Early history

New Bohemians started as a three-piece band in the early 1980s, gaining experience in the Deep Ellum neighborhood of downtown Dallas, Texas. The original line-up featured Brad Houser on vibraslap, 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 Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (BTWHSPVA) is a state school, public secondary school located in the Arts District, Dallas, Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. Booker T. Washington HSPVA en ...

. 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. "New Bos" were a local favorite, packing in the fans at now-famous Deep Ellum venues such as Theater Gallery, 500 Cafe, and Club Dada. They were also regular performers at the annual

Fry Street Fair Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

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. Their debut album, '' Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars'', was a commercial success, and produced the US top 10 hit "

". The follow-up album, ''

'', was less successful. Soon after the album's release, New Bohemians disbanded.

Recent activity

In recent years, 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 ''

''.

Carter Albrecht Jeffrey Carter Albrecht (23 June 1973 – 3 September 2007) was an American musician best known for his keyboard and guitar work in Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. Biography Originally from Derby, Kansas and a 1995 graduate of Southern Methodis ...

was killed in Dallas, on September 3, 2007. The band's song "Circle" appeared on an episode of '' Cold Case'', ''

Ugly Betty ''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which was originally broadcast on ABC. It premiered on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian t ...

'', and '' Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later'', and in 2013 it was covered by the

pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...

band

Bowling for Soup Bowling for Soup (abbreviated as BFS) is an American rock band formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Burney (guitar, backing vocals), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion, backing voc ...

on the album ''

Lunch. Drunk. Love. ''Lunch. Drunk. Love'' is the ninth studio album by American rock band Bowling for Soup, released on September 10, 2013, through Brando Records and Que-so. The album was completely fan-funded, as well as being released on the band's own record ...

''. The band played live at the North Oak Cliff Music Festival in October 2014 with the current lineup as well as keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist

Matt Hubbard Matt Hubbard is an American television writer and screenwriter who has worked on many television shows. He graduated from Beverly High School, in Beverly, Massachusetts in the class of 1996, where he excelled in the English Department. He la ...

. The band reunited again in April 2017 with three concerts at the Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff. On February 19, 2021, the band released its second album since reuniting, entitled ''

Hunter and the Dog Star ''Hunter and the Dog Star'' is the fifth studio album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, released in 2021. Reception Writing for ''American Songwriter'', Lee Zimmerman gave the album four out of five stars, and called it a "remarkably uplifting ef ...

''.

Members

Current members

* Brandon Aly – drums * Edie Brickell – vocals, guitar * John Walter Bush – percussion * John Bradley Houser – bass guitar, woodwinds * Kenneth Neil Withrow – guitar

Previous members

– keyboards, electric guitar, harmonica, vocals (died 2007) * Wes Burt-Martin – guitar * Matt Chamberlain – drums * Eric Presswood – guitar * Chris Wheatley – keyboards *

Chris Whitten Chris Whitten (born 26 March 1959) 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. Two notab ...

– drums *

Paul "Wix" Wickens Paul Wickens (born 27 March 1956) is an English musician, composer, and record producer, professionally known as Wix. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Wickens has worked with artists including Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bon ...

– keyboards

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

{, class=wikitable , - ! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result , - , 1988 ,

Billboard Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

, "

" , Top Modern Rock Track , , - , rowspan=4, 1989 ,

International Rock Awards The International Rock Awards was a United States music award ceremony meant to honor the top musicians in the rock music genre. The awards were broadcast on ABC for three years from 1989 to 1991. The award show is interpreted to have been an attem ...

, Themselves , Newcomer of the Year , , - , rowspan=2, Pollstar Concert Industry Awards , rowspan=2, ''Tour'' , Small Hall Tour of the Year , , - , Best Debut Tour , , - , rowspan=1,

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

, "

" , Best New Artist , , - , rowspan=2, 1990 , ASCAP Pop Music Awards , "What I Am" , Most Performed Song , , - ,

, "

A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" is a song written by American musician and Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan in the summer of 1962 and recorded later that year for his second album, ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' (1963). Its lyrical structure is modeled after ...

" , Best Video from a Film , , - , 1991 ,

, "Mama Help Me" ,

Best Art Direction The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in film. The category's original name was Best Art Direction, but was changed to its current name in 2012 for the 85th Academy Awards. This change resulted fro ...

References

External links

Brandon Aly's official websiteJohn Bush's official websiteNew Bohemians Live Music Archive at archive.org
– Article from Dallas Observer, 1998

– Dallas Observer, 1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Brickell, Edie and New Bohemians American alternative rock groups American folk rock groups Neo-psychedelia groups American southern rock musical groups Jam bands Musical groups from Dallas Musical groups established in 1985 Musical groups disestablished in 1991 Musical groups reestablished in 1997 1985 establishments in Texas Edie Brickell Female-fronted musical groups Thirty Tigers artists