B'eirth
| B'eirth | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 25, 1973 |
| Origin | United States |
| Genres | Folk, psychedelic folk, early music |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Labels | World Serpent, Bluesanct, Helmet Room Recordings, Little Somebody Records, Les Disques du 7ème Ciel |
Bobin Jon Michael Eirth, better known as B'eirth or B'ee, is the lead singer, lyricist and sole songwriter in the psychedelic folk band In Gowan Ring and folk band Birch Book.
Biography
Rarely mentioned in articles and reviews without an adjective, B'eirth has been called "mysterious," "reclusive," "nomadic," "effusive," and "singular." Much of this attention is due to his cultivated image as a modern-day troubadour and preferring instruments with Renaissance roots.
He explains his moniker and artist name B'eirth as a contraction for his "less wieldy" given name, and B'ee as a simpler version still, with a fitting polysemy: his father was a beekeeper. On his mother's side, he is related to the fourth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Wilford Woodruff. Despite this, he does not follow the Mormon discipline. He was born in the U.S., but is vague about where he was raised, saying it was "further east in green territory" rather than in Salt Lake City proper.
B'ee is proficient at playing a myriad of instruments, including guitar, cittern, harps (both mouth harps and folk harps), harmonica, recorder, reeds and flutes. He is largely self-taught (though says he has didactically studied "16th century polyphony"). He designs and fabricates his own stringed instruments.
As a live performer, B'ee is commonly associated with his easily recognizable pear-shaped and double-necked guitars. The later is a guitar/cittern hybrid made by B'eirth himself in 1998, which he calls the Stringed Spade. It is, in his own words: "a standard 6 string on the top neck and 9 strings in 5 courses (low course single) on the lower neck. I wanted the combination so as to avoid changing instruments between songs during performance. Occasionally I play both necks during one song and sometimes use the cittern neck as resonant strings while the top neck strings are sounding."
In November 2005, B'ee released the first in a series of three albums of his new project Birch Book. These records marked an evolution in sound away from the overtly psychedelic towards a simpler, direct song based approach. They simultaneously brought the older mystical folk into the current and pointed a new individualistic way forward for the artist.
Discography
Studio albums
In Gowan Ring
- Love Charms – (World Serpent, 1994)
- The Twin Trees – (World Serpent, 1997)
- The Glinting Spade – (Bluesanct, 1999)
- Hazel Steps Through a Weathered Home – (Bluesanct, 2002)
- The Serpent and the Dove – (Les Disques du 7ème Ciel, 2015)
Birch Book
- Birch Book – (Lune Music, 2005)
- Fortune & Folly – (Helmet Room Recordings, 2006)
- A Hand Full Of Days – (Little Somebody Records, 2009)
- Tomorrow's Sun Will Rise The Same - (Birch Book Self-released, 2010)