Brown Bird

Since I joined up with the Revue, I’ve written a lot about Americana, Folk, and Bluegrass, genres I truly love.  Over the last few years, Brown Bird had become one of my favorite bands, I’d seen them in Newport at the Newport Folk Festival, and saw them countless times in New York with bands like The Devil Makes Three and Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons.  Last year Brown Bird singer/drummer/guitarist/songwriter Dave Lamb became ill with leukemia, sadly on Saturday, David passed on at the young age of 35.

David Lamb had been making music as Brown Bird since 2003, and in recent years Brown Bird has consisted of Lamb and MorganEve Swain.  On the second day MorganEve Swain knew David, she quit her band and joined up with him in Brown Bird. For years, Brown Bird released absolutely astounding albums, 2009’s The Devil Dancing, 2011’s Salt For Salt, and their latest, Fits of Reason from 2013 were all incredible.  Lamb’s lyrics and always perfect instrumentation really made Brown Bird stand out from most of the music in that genre.

After being diagnosed with leukemia, Brown Bird had to take time off from the road while David underwent treatment.  At first, things seemed pretty optimistic.  Dave and MorganEve married in 2013 and the duo began working on new music together.  I wish I were writing about the music of Brown Bird under other circumstances.  I have a list of bands and music I’d love to write about and Brown Bird was one of the first bands I ever put on that list.  I was patiently waiting for that aforementioned new music from Lamb and Swain to write about them, sadly it was not to be.

I have a few friends who knew Dave personally, and they all have said Dave was an incredible person.  On stage you could see a smile through his epic beard, and you could feel the passion in the music.  The world of music lost a great person this weekend, but the world will have his music to remember him by forever. RIP David Lamb

There will be a memorial show for David Lamb tonight in Provicence, RI at the Columbus Theatre.

Follow The Revue On...

Share This Article On...