Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

Libby Titus (born Elizabeth Jurist on July 6, 1947) died earlier this month at the age of 77. Titus was a singer-songwriter who largely stayed out of the spotlight, and was best known for her personal and musical associations. She married Donald Fagen of Steely Dan in 1993, and the couple remained together until Libby's passing. In 1970, she dated Levon Helm of The Band, with whom she had a daughter. (Their daughter Amy Helm is now a recording artist as well). Titus collaborated with numerous musicians over the years, including Burt Bacharach in the late '70's. She was the subject of her friend Carly Simon's 1976 song "Libby". Titus recorded only two albums of her own, both of them self-titled. The second of those, Libby Titus from 1977 (Columbia PC 34152), is currently available. That album is a charming, tastefully arranged lounge-pop offering, which found Titus sharing songwriting credit with Carly Simon, Al Kooper, and Eric Kaz. The Titus/Kaz compositio...

Cunningham Bird is a duets album recorded by solo artists Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird, released digitally in October of 2024, with CD and vinyl formats coming in December. The title not only denotes the collaborating performers, but is also a play on the name Buckingham Nicks, the duo whose self-titled 1973 album is the basis for this new duets album. For those who are unaware -- and I can't blame anyone who is -- Buckingham Nicks was a duo which consisted of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, shortly before both of them joined Fleetwood Mac. The sole Buckingham Nicks album from 1973 is historically significant, because it led to the duo being discovered by Mick Fleetwood, which led to the two of them becoming members of Fleetwood Mac, which led to the creation of Rumours -- one of the best-selling albums of all time. So, you would think the Buckingham Nicks album would be similarly iconic, right? But it's not, because it has not been legitimately commercially ...