MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND

Saturday 4:00 PM at the Bijou Theatre

Clogs (w/Sufjan Stevens, Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner and Shara Worden) with Gyan Riley

Sufjan Stevens, Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner of the National and Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) will be joining Clogs in their performance of the new song cycle The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton.  Big Ears 2010 will feature the only live performance of the piece currently scheduled with all of the guest vocalists on the recording.

Sunday 9:00 PM at the Bijou Theatre

The National + My Brightest Diamond

My Brightest Diamond is Shara Worden, granddaughter of an Epiphone-playing traveling evangelist, fathered by a National Accordion Champion, and mothered by a classical organist.  After picking up an opera degree at the University of North Texas, Shara moved to New York City to simultaneously continue her opera studies and pursue her songwriting ambitions. She began studying composition with Australian composer Padma Newsome (of Clogs/The National).  She soon assembled a coterie of musicians to accompany her with bass and drums, strings, wine glasses, and wind chimes and thus the sound of My Brightest Diamond was formed.

In August of 2006, My Brightest Diamond released their first record, Bring Me The Workhorse, on Asthmatic Kitty Records to critical acclaim. Shara’s Manicini-esque string arrangements laced with dramatic guitars and punk rock drums defined the Diamond sound. In performance she showed unusual versatility, channeling the vocal theatrics of Jeff Buckley, the soulful seductiveness of Nina Simone and the gothic pop of Portishead. Her infatuation with theater and costumes inspired her to wear superhero capes, ball gowns, or Tudor corsets on stage, depending on her mood.

The second album by My Brightest Diamond, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, released in 2008, was originally meant to be a more classical, string quartet affair, but ultimately evolved and expanded in vision and scope.  The songs, whose themes broach intimacy, kisses by moonlight, laundry, lost friendship and more, marry vast instrumentation – marimbas, harps, clarinets, French horns, rabid guitars, vibraphones to name a few – to create an unequaled amalgamation of style and color.

One of today’s most dynamic and exhilarating performers, Shara Worden will perform as My Brightest Diamond at Big Ears, as well as with Clogs for their performance of songs from their new album on which she also appears.