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Edie Brickell was a pioneer of sorts, reviving the gangly sound of hippie folk-rock in the late 1980s just before it became trendy. With her band
New Bohemians,
Brickell scored an unexpected Top Ten hit in 1988 with "What I Am," a dreamy, loose-limbed number that quietly stood in opposition to the heady materialism of the '80s. While the band never managed to replicate the commercial success of "What I Am," the song remained a staple of its era, and
Brickell parlayed its enduring popularity into an unpredictable career that stretched over the decades. Following the disbandment of
New Bohemians in the early '90s,
Brickell spent some time on a solo career before experiencing a renaissance in the 2010s, first with
the Gaddabouts and then with a series of albums with
Steve Martin -- a stretch that culminated in the reunion of
New Bohemians and the subsequent releases of
Rocket (2018) and Hunter and the Dog Star (2021).
Brickell was born and raised in the Dallas suburb of Oak Cliff, attending the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts as an adolescent. She didn't begin performing music until attending Southern Methodist University, where she was convinced to sing with
New Bohemians, a band featuring fellow Booker T. Washington alumni. Bassist
Brad Houser, drummer
Brandon Aly, and guitarist Eric Presswood had been playing as
New Bohemians since the early '80s, long before
Brickell sat in with the band one night in early 1985. The pairing went so well that the union became permanent shortly afterward.
New Bohemians began playing various Dallas suburbs, adding guitarist
Kenny Withrow -- who replaced Presswood -- and percussionist John Bush along the way.
New Bohemians quickly became a fixture on the college rock circuit of the Dallas environs, self-releasing the cassette album It's Like This… in 1986 and earning the attention of major record labels. The band signed to Geffen, altered their official name to
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, and headed to Rockfield Studios in Wales to record their first album. During the sessions,
Aly was axed by the label, with
Chris Whitten taking over drumming duties for a good chunk of the album. The resulting
Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars appeared in 1988 and climbed all the way to number four on the Billboard Top 200 thanks to the Top Ten hit "What I Am."
Hiring
Matt Chamberlain as their drummer,
New Bohemians recorded
Ghost of a Dog, which appeared in October 1990. Failing to generate a hit along the lines of "What I Am,"
Ghost of a Dog quickly stalled the band's momentum, leading to their dissolution shortly after its release.
Brickell married
Paul Simon on May 30, 1992 -- the couple met when
New Bohemians played Saturday Night Live in November 1988; they would have three children together -- and eased into a solo career with the 1994 release of
Picture Perfect Morning. Debuting at 68 on the Billboard Top 200,
Picture Perfect Morning generated the modest adult contemporary hit "Good Times," but didn't gain a lot of attention during the peak years of alternative rock.
Brickell sat out the remainder of the '90s, resurfacing in 2003 with
Volcano, a record produced by
Charlie Sexton. It peaked at 188 on the Billboard 200.
The original
New Bohemians line-up featuring drummer
Brandon Aly reunited to record 2006's
Stranger Things with producer
Bryce Goggin.
Stranger Things featured keyboardist
Carter Albrecht, a fellow member of the Dallas alt-rock scene; he died on September 3, 2007 after being shot by his girlfriend's neighbor.
In 2008,
Brickell teamed up with
Harper Simon --
Paul's son from his first marriage -- to form
the Heavy Circles, an indie pop group that released an eponymous album on Dynamite Child that year. Her next project was
the Gaddabouts, a band also featuring guitarist
Andy Fairweather Low and bassist
Pino Palladino.
The Gaddabouts released an eponymous album in 2011, followed by
Look Out Now! in 2012, before fading away.
Brickell teamed with
Steve Martin for 2013's
Love Has Come for You, a handsome Americana album released on Rounder Records. The album inspired the pair to write the musical Bright Star, which was workshopped in 2013, receiving its world premiere at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre on September 28, 2014. By that point,
Brickell and
Martin had wrapped up a supporting tour for
Love Has Come for You with
Martin's bluegrass band,
the Steep Canyon Rangers; 2014's
LIVE: Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers featuring
Edie Brickell documented the jaunt.
Brickell and
Martin quickly followed their first studio album with
So Familiar in 2015.
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians reunited in 2017 for a series of live shows benefitting the Oak Cliff school La Rondalla. These shows sparked the group to write and record
Rocket, which was released in October 2018. Three years later the band returned with their fifth full-length effort, Hunter and the Dog Star. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine