Madison Cunningham & Andrew Bird Reimagine ‘Buckingham Nicks’ Album At Newport Folk

Sunday’s Newport Folk Festival lineup included a collaborative performance by Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird. Billed ahead of time as Cunningham Bird, the pair performed Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s 1973 debut album during the set at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island.

Produced by Keith Olsen, Buckingham Nicks was the only album released by Nicks and Buckingham. The album was the only one recorded by the musical and at-the-time romantic partners who joined Fleetwood Mac shortly after Buckingham Nicks was released.

The album consists of nine songs written or co-written by Nicks and Buckingham, as well as a cover of the instrumental “Django,” which was composed by the Modern Jazz Quartet’s John Lewis. Starting with “Crying in the Night,” Cunningham and Bird played the rest of the album in sequence, concluding with the album closer “Frozen Love.”

The pair’s main stage set saw Bird playing violin and whistling alongside Cunningham on acoustic guitar. The duo was backed by Dawes drummer Griffin Goldsmith, as well as Mike Viola on keyboards for the main stage set, which also saw Bird and Cunningham play a few songs from their own catalogs, including Bird’s “Sisyphus” and Cunningham’s “Life According To Raechel.” Bird and Cunningham also played Buckingham Nicks songs during a set at the smaller Foundation stage.

Watch video footage of Cunningham Bird performing songs from Buckingham Nicks and more at Newport Folk Festival below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtUcF-mPoIw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYOgmDYHtHo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsqevdfkmbk