Like the band’s name, Birds and Arrows isn’t easy to pin down. Comprised of husband and wife duo Andrea and Pete Connolly and cellist Josh Starmer, the Chapel Hill and Durham-based group defies the genres and conventions that other bands inhabit. Like a sweet summer breeze that gusts through a wrap-around porch, Birds and Arrows blends Appalachian tradition and indie charm, weaving warm vocals with understated instrumentation and wistful romanticism. 2009’s Starmaker emblemized two musicians entwined, in life and in song — from the Native American imagery they evoke on the album’s cover to its intimate, loving lyrics, the Connollys’ music is an organic extension of the world they inhabit. Between chaste, honest harmonies and the melancholy strains of a cello, Birds and Arrows straddles bluegrass, pop and poetry, the ideal marriage of music, love and the moments when these elements intersect.

-by Linnie Greene 

"There’s a sepia-toned but strong-willed romanticism to the texture- and harmony-rich tunes of Birds and Arrows, the duo of Andrea and Pete Connolly. Inside these pop-righteous, country-graceful numbers, they keep each other awake on long road trips and rejoice even in the sight of peril, one’s voice bolstering the other like lifelong support." -- Grayson Currin, Independent Weekly

"It was Birds and Arrows that had the crowd in awe, weaving tender harmonies amidst a background of guitar, drums, pedal steel and cello." -- Linnie Greene, Assistant Diversions Editor

"If you take even just one passing listen to their music, it’s apparent these are voices that aren’t in harmony so much as interlocked. It’s as if two people wandering around the woods suddenly came upon each other and realized they were singing the same song– a romantic image made all the more apropos because Pete and Andrea are newlyweds... There’s a grounded, vintage tone to the arrangements, but a spacey, voyeuristic disconnect in the translation. All in all, it’s a head-scratchingly beautiful mess of music." --Ashley Melzer, The Mill (The Carrboro Citizen)

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Review: WGTB Georgetown Radio (B)

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Top 20 shows of 2009: Narrowcast (#5)

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Interview: Carrboro Citizen Mill: Gimme Five!

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Interview: The Independant interviews Andrea and Pete

Record Review: The Independant album of the month: Starmaker

Blog: The Great Southern Brainfart

Show Review: Baltimore City Paper