Birds of Chicago: 2018

Birds of Chicago is the marriage in music and life of bluesy Canadian folksinger Allison Russell and American rocker J.T. Nero. They met in Vancouver, lived in Chicago, then moved to Nashville. After working with Joe Henry in L.A. on their second album, Real Midnight, they returned to Chicago to record their latest, Love in Wartime, with Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars.

On their return visit to WFUV they discussed the relative merits of Henry and Dickinson as producers, life in Nashville, Rhiannon Giddens as a role model, and raising a child as touring musicians. They performed three songs — two from Love in Wartime and one from the EP American Flowers — all of which resonate with compassion and commitment in this fraught zeitgeist.