Love In Wartime Birds Of Chicago

• 1Now / Sunlight01:03
• 2Never Go Back02:33
• 3Love In Wartime05:49
• 4Travelers04:40
• 5Try05:11
• 6Lodestar04:37
• 7Roll Away02:40
• 8Baton Rouge06:07
• 9Roisin Starchild04:49
• 10Superlover03:53
• 11Derecho04:05
• Total Runtime45:27

Info for Love In Wartime

American Flowers is the revelatory Signature Sounds debut from acclaimed husband and wife led band, Birds of Chicago. Known for their "near perfect Americana" (No Depression), JT Nero and Allison Russell had recently finished recording their sprawling rock and roll circus of an album Love in Wartime, to be released next year. Nero had a suite of songs that didn’t feel quite at home on Love in Wartime. Having relocated to Nashville, they decided to throw themselves their own welcome to town party by recording an acoustic E.P. at Steve Dawson’s Henhouse Studio. New friends like Kenneth Pattengale of The Milk Carton Kids, and Maya de Vitry of The Stray Birds got in on the fun, and the Birds emerged after a couple days with the raw, spontaneous, and warm American Flowers. The E.P. is Love in Wartime’s cousin from the country, and it rounds out Birds of Chicago’s offering of healing, communion and celebration of life in a dark and troubled time. Proceeds from American Flowers will benefit Chicago's South Side based Teen Living Programs- a non-profit that builds community, hope and opportunity for youth who are homeless and at risk.

Allison Russell and JT Nero recorded the album in Chicago against a backdrop of bewilderment, deep-divide and dread, and Love in Wartime is a rock and roll suite with a cinematic sweep.Co-produced by Nero andLuther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), it evokes epic efforts of the 60’s and 70’s, with love as the undeniable through-line. As Russell puts it, “Any act of love is an act of bravery. These songs are snapshots of covenants, big and small, of trust and understanding. We want to give people some good news, and we want them to be able to dance when they hear it.”

When the band released their last album, theJoe Henry produced Real Midnight, in 2016, critics scrambled to find the right terminology to describe the deep lyricism, gut-punch singing and fevered musicality… “Secular gospel” was one phrase that caught some traction. That fervor is evident in Love in Wartime as well: “Roll Away the heavy stone/roll away the heavy hours/roll on in the summer moon/who’s alive who’s alive who’s alive? ” The invitation is joyous, but urgent … call it “secular gospel,” or call it what they used to call poetry intoned over roots music mash-ups: rock n roll. The Birds of Chicago consider themselves a rock and roll band first and foremost, and Love in Wartime doesn’t leave any doubt about that.

Built around the chemistry and fire between Russell and Nero, the band has included a core band of empathetic assassins since it took to the road full time in 2013. Russell and Nero played with different bands in the mid-aughts (Po’ Girl and JT and the Clouds) before finding their way to each other. Nero found himself a transcendent vocal muse in Russell (a powerful writer in her own right) and the band honed its chops on the road, playing 200 shows a year between 2013-17. All that shaping and sharpening, over so many miles, led them back to Chicago’s Electrical Audio in January of 2017, to begin recording.The first day in studio was inauguration day, and they didn’t need any more motivation than that to do what they came to do.

JT Nero (aka Jeremy Lindsay), vocals, acoustic guitar
Allison Russell, vocals, clarinet, banjo
Christopher Merrill, double bass
Nick Chambers, drums, percussion, harmony vocals
Additional musicians:
Steve Dawson, dobro, national steel, pedal steel, acoustic guitar (6), Weissenborn
Michelle McGrath, harmony vocals
Kenneth Pattengale (The Milk Carton Kids), lead acoustic guitar (2, 5), harmony vocals (5)
Maya De Vitry (The Stray Birds), fiddle

Birds of Chicago
have been riding a swell of good mojo in the Americana scene since their inception in late 2012. With their new album, Love in Wartime, they are set to both confirm that roots world buzz, and break on through to a much wider audience.

Recorded in Chicago against a backdrop of bewilderment, deep divide and dread, Love in Wartime is a rock and roll suite with a cinematic sweep. Co-produced with Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), it evokes epic efforts of the 60’s and 70’s, with love as the undeniable through-line.

Built around the chemistry and fire between Allison Russell and JT Nero, and their rock-steady band, BOC tours hard. Russell and Nero played with different bands in the mid-aughts (Po’ Girl and JT and the Clouds) before finding their way to each other. Nero, who writes the bulk of the songs, found himself a transcendent vocal muse in Russell (a powerful writer herself) and the band honed its chops on the road, playing 200 shows a year between 2013-17. All that shaping and sharpening, over so many miles, led them back to Chicago’s Electrical Audio in January of 2017, to begin recording Love in Wartime. "Any act of love is an act of bravery," says Russell.. We want to give people some good news. And we want them to be able to dance when they hear it."

Their most recent releases include 2016's Joe Henry-produced Real Midnight and 2017's EP American Flowers, BOC's debut from the label Signature Sounds Recordings. Critics have searched for the right words to describe Real Midnight’s deep lyricism, gut-punch singing and musicality…. “Secular gospel” was one phrase that caught some traction. That fervor is evident in Love and Wartime as well:

“Roll Away the heavy stone/roll away the heavy hours/roll on in the summer moon/who’s alive who’s alive who’s alive?”

The invitation is joyous, but urgent. There’s another phrase that they used to describe poetry intoned over roots music mash-ups: Rock n Roll. The Birds consider themselves a rock and roll band first and foremost, and Love in Wartime doesn’t leave any doubt about that.

Birds’ shows attract a mix of indy rockers, jam-kids and Americana/roots lovers, mixing moments of hushed attention with wild, rock and soul abandon. Says Nero, “a good show can send you back out into the night feeling -- for at least a little while - that everything isn’t broken.”

These days, that’s no small thing.

This album contains no booklet.