The Haunted Continent and Andrew Bird's Apocrypha
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University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2013 Chasing That Ghost On Stage: The Haunted Continent And Andrew Bird's Apocrypha Mary Elizabeth Lasseter University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons Recommended Citation Lasseter, Mary Elizabeth, "Chasing That Ghost On Stage: The Haunted Continent And Andrew Bird's Apocrypha" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1163. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1163 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHASING THAT GHOST ON STAGE: THE HAUNTED CONTINENT AND ANDREW BIRD’S APOCRYPHA A Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Southern Studies The University of Mississippi by M.E. LASSETER May 2013 Copyright M.E. Lasseter 2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT This thesis traces the various physical and metaphorical journeys south of Chicago musician Andrew Bird. Using what historical record is publicly available, I examine Bird’s formal musical training. I then explore the years between 1995 and 2001, or what I call Bird’s period of apprenticeship. Next is an exploration of the canonical narratives surrounding the blues of the Mississippi Delta, especially the music of Charley Patton. When Andrew Bird encountered a canon, or dominant histories and meanings of Southern music that influence how musicians play and how audiences interpret that music, he began to react against that canon in his own compositions and performances. Next I investigate this notion of a canon of Southern music with particular attention paid to Bird’s album Armchair Apocrypha (2007) – apocrypha being narratives that exist alongside a canon. I also address certain technological shifts in Bird’s performance methodologies in this time period that further the reach of Bird’s apocrypha. I look at Bird’s recent engagement with gospel music, where Charley Patton raises his head again, and argue that Bird adopts a gospel-inflected performance model that invites an invisible third, or a ghost, into the relationship between performer and audience. Using the work of Avery Gordon and Joseph Roach, I argue that Bird has taken on a condition of haunting in his recent recordings and performances, that his performances are spaces for his audiences to take on a similar condition of haunting, and that his performances are about, among other things, encountering and learning to live with the deep, unspeakable trauma of the colonization of the New World. I end with a forecast, looking at Bird’s recent work in light of these patterns of haunting, and ii suggesting some themes to keep track of in Bird’s work – including Bird’s symbolic return to Chicago in light of his journeys south. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In Chicago, Greg MacAyeal at the Northwestern University Music Library and Colby Maddox at the Old Town School of Folk Music delved into their archives and found just what I needed. Andrea Troolin and Victoria Roe at Ekonomisk Management offered unstinting help, useful artifacts from the historical record, and their own insider’s perspectives on Mr. Bird’s work. Xan Aranda’s brave film Andrew Bird: Fever Year gave this project of mine color, texture, and shade. And Sarah Avampato, who knows Mr. Bird’s catalog better than I do, offered me her crash space, her research assistance, her record collection, her company at shows from Atlanta to Nashville to Chicago (not to mention the Fluevog store in Wicker Park), and her perspective on the work of Mr. Bird. In addition to my thanks, I would like to offer a formal apology to Sarah for any bruises I may have caused in our excitement at what was happening on stage. In Eastman, Georgia, I met Rachel Hilliard and her colleagues at the Magnolia Music and Medicine Show, who introduced me to Rennie Sparks and Jason Toth of Albuquerque and Chicago, respectively; all of these people offered their encouragement as well as their assistance with this project. In Lexington, Kentucky, Alison Whipple and Crystal Little offered me hospitality and friendship. In Denver, thanks go to an unknown woman at Herbs and Arts on East Colfax who suggested that Mr. Bird’s travels have something to do with past lives. Thanks to the folks across the country who have either come with me to see Mr. Bird or gone to see him with my encouragement and reported back: Susan Moore and Michelle T. Boyer of Denver, Beth Kerr, Shannon Granville, and Megan Ruyle of Washington, D.C. and environs, Lynne Powers of Portland, Maine, Penelope Jeche of Los Angeles, Batya L. Wittenberg and iv Rebecca Fraimow of New York City, and Anthea Carns of Anchorage, Alaska. The conversations spurred by your attendance (and your gracious company in other worlds than these) convinced me that this work is worth doing. Here in Oxford, kindred spirits offering conversation, distraction, and vital support include Michele Coffey, Mary Hartwell Howorth, and Joseph M. Thompson III. Ted Ownby, Becca Walton, and Jimmy Thomas created spaces where I was able to think through and workshop pieces of this project. David Wharton, Kathryn McKee, and Charles Reagan Wilson, committee extraordinaire, allowed me to put various parts of what follows together for their classes; their collective supervision and guidance is superlative, and it did me unfathomable amounts of good to work in the environments they have created here. Especial thanks go to David Wharton, Batya L. Wittenberg, and Susan Moore, for wrangling and reining in my writing (and banishing various megrims) on extremely short notice. All of the above, most especially and emphatically the gratitude, I also apply and submit to J.W. Lasseter and M.A. Lasseter, née Cooke, and all our family, and all that means – the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is for you, and for us. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iv INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................. 10 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................. 25 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................. 40 CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................. 64 CHAPTER 5 ................................................................................................................................. 86 CHAPTER 6 ............................................................................................................................... 107 FORECAST ................................................................................................................................ 133 DISCOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 144 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 146 VITA ........................................................................................................................................... 148 vi The ghosts that haunt your building are prepared to take on substance. - John Darnielle There are no trivial rituals. - Joseph Roach "I have not asked your name, sir, nor offered mine." "Ci Gît," he said. "Monsieur Ci Gît -- a big family, a common name." When he went away I felt a sweetness like music, if music could pleasure the skin with a little chill. - John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley 1 INTRODUCTION The view from Evanston Wearing a heavy bag to tote various research materials, I stood on the campus of Northwestern University on June 14, 2012, and looked up at the Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The Pick is a boxy-looking building dating to the mid-1970s. Its lower floor is all recessed glass, with the mezzanines upward constructed of concrete painted beige. The front of the building faces southeast. Emerging from the glass and concrete building onto the well-manicured traffic roundabout provides an unobstructed view of Lake Michigan. In summer, the lake is a glacial blue-green color, while the color of the sky goes deeper, and the breeze off the water is a welcome counterpart to the sun’s warmth – a boon for the weary scholar who’d spent all afternoon in the music library. There’s a traffic roundabout in front of the Pick, giving access to the front of the building as well as the other fine arts buildings on either side. I walked from the front of the building onto the front lip of the roundabout, let my imagination run away with me – and stumbled onto a useful way to think about my afternoon’s work. Imagine standing just in front of the Pick in the center of the roundabout, your back to the hall, facing the