KCRW Music at Sundance: Andrew Bird and Lili Haydn

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival continues through this week but KCRW signed off Sunday night with our final nighttime showcase, featuring two violin maestros who combine pop with their classical influences.

Lili Haydn is quite a force, having been dubbed the “Jimi Hendrix of the violin” by George Clinton and accompanied a number of notable musicians (including Roger Waters at Coachella in 2008!). She composed music from the documentary “Anita”, which premiered at Sundance, and graced us with a powerful set of innovative arrangements and compositions.

I’ve seen Andrew Birdwith a full band, but I always appreciate him most when he performs as a solo artist. He is an extraordinarily talented multi-instrumentalist and watching him build a song from scratch, with loops, is such an exhilarating experience. Watch a video of his performance over at the Sundance site and stream the opening to his Sunday set below!

Andrew composed music for Director Lynn Shelton’s newest film “Touchy Feely” and recently released “Hands of Glory”, where he covers classic country tunes and reinterprets songs from his critically-acclaimed release “Break it Yourself” in an “old-time” style, with his band gathered around a single microphone with an entirely acoustic setup. Andrew always seems to be exploring new territory, which is why he’s been a KCRW favorite for so many years!

Thanks to both artists for bringing it home to a PACKED crowd on our last night in town.

RR