Birds of Paradise by Thomas Dollbaum

Thomas Dollbaum is a Tampa-born, New Orleans-based singer/songwriter. Dollbaum enlisted some stellar musicians for this album: MJ Lenderman (best known for his solo work and Wednesday), Nick Corson (from The Convenience), and Josh Halper (best known for his solo work). The results are top notch.

Birds of Paradise is the followup to his 2022 debut album, Wellswood. This album is my introduction to his work. The nods to Molina and Jurado were enough to get me interested. While his influences may be obvious, his songwriting and storytelling are nothing to discount. I’m certainly excited to see where he goes from here, because this album is great.

From the label:

“Birds of Paradise is a goodbye letter to lost loved ones and former selves. These songs find Dollbaum searching for acceptance in the transient in-between places: Florida’s pine flatwoods, backroads leading to I-95, where birds fly across the water. And even though the ghosts of his alt-county predecessors Townes and Molina are definitely present, on Birds of Paradise, Dollbaum emerges from their shadows – waving to the past, sounding all the more like himself.”

To show his storytelling chops, here are some of my favorite lyrics from the song “Coyote” – definitely Molina-esque:

Heard the coyote howl Looking for your cat for dinner All the birds fly south, the whole damn sky is red Sitting with you on your rooftop you’re high and drunk You’re ready to jump but you just fly away

And as you rose, you glimmered with gold before you burned out Bet you’d set this house on fire just to watch it burn down Bet you’d set this house on fire just to watch it burn down Bet you’d set this house on fire just to watch it burn down