Dear Friends, Family and Fans- We need your help.

On Friday night, May 10th, Dave was admitted to a hospital in Houston, TX with complaints of fatigue and shortness of breath. After an initial blood test, we were told he was severely anemic, with dangerously low red blood cell counts. Dave had been fighting and been treated for flu-like symptoms for the past six weeks, but until now we were unaware of the seriousness of his condition. Since admittance into the hospital, he has had several blood transfusions, which he is responding to well, and has undergone several tests to determine what is causing his illness. As of yet we still do not have a diagnosis, but are maintaining optimism.

We will be able to fly home on Saturday to pursue treatment in RI, and will be canceling a large percentage of shows until Dave is well enough to get back on the road. For us, canceling shows means not only disappointing our fans and missing out on what we enjoy most, but also going without income. Since the 10th we’ve already accrued over $29,000 in medical expenses and losses, and will be faced with ongoing expenses once we’re home. We love being full-time musicians, but it can be a financially challenging lifestyle, and without health insurance or day jobs to fall back on, our situation is dire.

We humbly ask you to help us out in any way you can. We set up this fundraiser to help us pay for the medical expenses we've already accrued, and for the projected cost of treatments. There are unknowns ahead of us and the possibility for needing more is very real, but we promise to keep you updated and are eternally grateful to the support our friends, family and fans already give us. There's nothing we want more than to be back on the road, and with your help, we could be back out there very soon.

https://www.youcaring.com/brownbird

As a precaution, we have cancelled the tour dates listed below. Once we know more about Dave's diagnosis and plan for treatment, we expect to cancel more shows. When that happens, we will send out another update.

5/17 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge - CANCELLED
5/18 - Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room - CANCELLED
5/21 - Phoenix, AZ - Sail Inn - CANCELLED
5/22 - Los Angeles, CA - The Satellite - CANCELLED
5/23 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent - CANCELLED
5/24 - Yosemite, CA - Strawberry Music Festival - CANCELLED

Thank you for your support - we look forward to Dave getting healthy and getting back on the road as soon as we can.



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Thomas Paine once said, “reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it”. Fits of Reason, the new self-produced album by Brown Bird, raises its hat to Mr. Paine in a flurry of cerebral themes that surface in the album’s eleven songs.

The band’s two members, David Lamb and MorganEve Swain, continue to build their sound from the foundations of blues and American roots music, utilizing the simple foot-percussion, violin, cello and upright bass that they have become known for, while expanding Swain’s vocal presence and flaunting Lamb’s lyrical mastery. Recorded in their home-state of Rhode Island at Machines With Magnets, Fits of Reason is inspired by the writings of Omar Khayyam, Christopher Hitchens, and Plato, among others, and grapples with the human condition in a smooth but unapologetic departure from the band’s previous release, Salt for Salt. With the introduction of electric guitar, electric bass, and a more prominent display of the band’s Middle Eastern, metal, and psych-rock influences, Fits of Reason delves into heavier territory and invites the listener to hear with discerning ears.

Brown Bird spent most of 2012 on the road, supporting Trampled By Turtles, The Devil Makes Three, Yonder Mountain String Band and Horse Feathers, and wowed the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival with their first main-stage appearance. The band will continue criss-crossing the US in 2013, with a full US tour planned in April, and an appearance scheduled at the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, CA. Fits of Reason will be released on Supply & Demand Music on April 2nd, 2013.

One part Rolling Thunder Revue, one part banged-and-bruised balladeering, two parts just plain strange, These United States have their sights set on a rock-and-roll reformation. Taking their cues as much from Walt Whitman as from Wilco, Jesse Elliott and co. walk the thin line between the coffeehouse and the roadhouse, spinning something fiercely, unapologetically positive out of the sinking reality of an empire gone Titanic.

After releasing 2 albums and playing 200 shows in 2008, the DC-Kentucky- psych-folk-lit-pop rockers are rumbling surely towards the next benchmarks in a long string of critical acclaim, including several Best of 2008 mentions for Crimes and A Picture of the Three of Us..., and features on NPR's "All Things Considered," Paste, Filter, Village Voice, Brooklyn Vegan,Daytrotter, My Old Kentucky Blog, The Onion, Jambase, KEXP, WOXY, and KCRW.

Press Quotes:
"It is, without being at all overly enthusiastic, one of the best records you will hear this year, and it will make you feel completely human." - DAYTROTTER

"A beautiful collection of understated, orchestral roots rock that will enrapture both NPR and Pitchfork devotees." - ALTERNATIVE PRESS
" A bevy of images, all delivered with the same gentle intensity... small melodic bits pull and push the listener's attention, moving continuously under layered melodies and a wash of words. - NPR

"The production is spot-on and few albums in recent memory put a candle to the lyricism present here." - KEXP

"It is easily one of the grooviest efforts of 2008. Even though it sounds like it was made in 1968." - WIRED

"Labyrinthine and grandiose... the 12-song cycle coils around itself in tales that rage and lull in turns. An impressive achievement... a rousing communal affair befitting it's epic and twisted ambition" - PASTE MAGAZINE

"It’s a phenomenal record..this is almost as much of a supergroup as the New Pornographers or Broken Social Scene. And even though they might not have a fraction of those bands’ fame, to judge solely on Saturday’s performance, they’ve already started playing with a level of energy that suggests that nobody bothered to tell them." - YOU AIN'T NO PICASSO