Dirty Bird + Charles Ellsworth

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Charles Ellsworth is a NYC transplant by way of the White Mountains of Arizona where he was raised on Mormon hymns and Top 40 country music. A storyteller by nature, Ellsworth’s lyrics and near-familiar melodies weave to tell stories of heartbreak and loneliness, while shining a light on the perseverance of the human spirit. A self-proclaimed “recovering toxic sadboy” — Ellsworth’s music has evolved with him. Through sobriety and self-exploration, Ellsworth has shifted from writing songs lamenting “the ones that got away,” to singing honest reflections about what caused them to leave and doing the work to be better. 
In early 2020, Ellsworth recruited several musicians from the Brooklyn music scene -- Jared Schapker (Grandpa Jack) and Blake Suben (Dirty Bird) -- to help him record an album with Joe Reinhart (Hop Along, Algernon Cadwallader) at his Headroom Studio in Philadelphia, Pa. The subsequent recordings are "Honeysuckle Summer" out March 5th on Burro Borracho Records.

Dirty Bird hails from the concrete woodlands of New York City, and consists of Christie Belanger, Melissa Escudero, Natasha Thweatt, Nick Katz, John Crisan, Eli Greenhoe and Blake Suben. Though the band is young, each member has spent his or her life grounded in music. With roots going back to New York’s renowned arts school LaGuardia High School, the members of Dirty Bird reconnected in 2016, and in true New York style bring a wide variety of musical backgrounds—ranging from jazz to bluegrass to classical—together in one vibrant and wholly original folk sound.

Since forming, the band has presented powerful performances to venues including Bowery Ballroom, Mercury Lounge, Mass MoCa and Radio Bean, and the Northside Music Festival. Dirty Bird brings both new and long-devoted audiences intimate, poetic lyrics charged by three-part harmony and lively, distinctive arrangements. Soulful, harmonious, and ever-evolving, Dirty Bird’s music redefines what it means to be a folk band.