# Edie Brickell
**Edie Brickell** (born 1966) is an American singer-songwriter from Dallas, Texas, best known as the lead singer of [Edie Brickell & New Bohemians](https://www.edgepedia.org/edie-brickell-and-new-bohemians), whose 1988 single "What I Am" reached the American Top 10.[1](https://ebnewbos.com/about/) • [2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edie-brickell-mn0000179191) After the band's early success she married the singer-songwriter [Paul Simon](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-simon), recorded a series of solo albums, and built a second career in [Americana](https://www.edgepedia.org/americana) through collaborations with the banjo player and comedian Steve Martin, including the Grammy-winning album *Love Has Come for You* and the Broadway musical *Bright Star*.[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000179191) • [4](https://time.com/4089872/steve-martin-edie-brickell-interview/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1966, Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas[5](https://www.dmagazine.com/news/2026/09/edie-brickell-on-dallas-world-famous-pets-and-finding-magic-in-a-new-band/) |
| Breakthrough | "What I Am," a Top 10 single from *Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars* (1988), recorded for Geffen at Rockfield Studios in Wales[1](https://ebnewbos.com/about/) • [2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edie-brickell-mn0000179191) |
| Marriage | Married Paul Simon on May 30, 1992, after meeting when New Bohemians played *Saturday Night Live* in November 1988; three children[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000179191) |
| Grammy | *Love Has Come for You* (2013, with Steve Martin) won Best American Roots Song[4](https://time.com/4089872/steve-martin-edie-brickell-interview/) |
| Broadway | *Bright Star* (2016), with music by Martin and lyrics by Brickell, received five Tony nominations[5](https://www.dmagazine.com/news/2026/09/edie-brickell-on-dallas-world-famous-pets-and-finding-magic-in-a-new-band/) • [6](https://time.com/4270369/broadway-goes-bluegrass/) |
| Band albums | Five studio albums with New Bohemians, from *Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars* (1988) to *Hunter and the Dog Star* (2021)[1](https://ebnewbos.com/about/) • [7](https://albumism.com/interviews/celestial-communion-a-conversation-with-edie-brickell-new-bohemians) |
| Recent band | World Famous Pets, with Matt Chamberlain, Kaveh Rastegar, and Mason Stoops; self-titled debut album and a 2026 tour[5](https://www.dmagazine.com/news/2026/09/edie-brickell-on-dallas-world-famous-pets-and-finding-magic-in-a-new-band/) |
## Early life and joining the band
Brickell was born and raised in Oak Cliff, a Dallas suburb, and attended the Booker T. Washington [High School](https://www.edgepedia.org/high-school) for the Performing and Visual Arts.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edie-brickell-mn0000179191) She did not begin performing music until she attended [Southern Methodist University](https://www.edgepedia.org/southern-methodist-university), where she was persuaded to sing with New Bohemians, a band featuring fellow [Booker T. Washington](https://www.edgepedia.org/booker-t-washington) alumni.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edie-brickell-mn0000179191) Bassist Brad Houser, drummer Brandon Aly, and guitarist Eric Presswood had been playing as New Bohemians since the early 1980s, initially as a ska outfit, before Brickell sat in with them one night in early 1985.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edie-brickell-mn0000179191) • [8](https://www.chronogram.com/arts/a-familiar-voice-an-interview-with-edie-brickell-6649583/)
The join was impulsive. Brickell went to see the band at the Dallas comedy club where they held a residency, and, as she later told an interviewer, fortified by a shot of Jack Daniels, asked to sit in and began improvising.[8](https://www.chronogram.com/arts/a-familiar-voice-an-interview-with-edie-brickell-6649583/) Guitarist Kenny Withrow, a fellow student at the magnet school, recalled that "she just went up there and started improvising, and she was so great."[8](https://www.chronogram.com/arts/a-familiar-voice-an-interview-with-edie-brickell-6649583/) The band's classic lineup settled as Brickell with Withrow (guitar), Houser (bass), Aly (drums), and John Bush (percussion).[1](https://ebnewbos.com/about/)
## Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars and fame
The band signed to Geffen, changed its official name to Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, and recorded its debut album at Rockfield Studios in Wales.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edie-brickell-mn0000179191) *Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars* (1988) produced the single "What I Am," whose scattershot lyrics and lazy, ska-tinged guitar groove made it a Top 10 hit and vaulted the band onto the national stage.[1](https://ebnewbos.com/about/) • [8](https://www.chronogram.com/arts/a-familiar-voice-an-interview-with-edie-brickell-6649583/) The album went double platinum.[8](https://www.chronogram.com/arts/a-familiar-voice-an-interview-with-edie-brickell-6649583/) Brickell was 22 at the time.[5](https://www.dmagazine.com/news/2026/09/edie-brickell-on-dallas-world-famous-pets-and-finding-magic-in-a-new-band/)
The attention was difficult. Brickell later described the period as overwhelming and said that being overwhelmed was part of why she eventually stepped away from music for a while.[8](https://www.chronogram.com/arts/a-familiar-voice-an-interview-with-edie-brickell-6649583/) The band recorded a second album, *Ghost of a Dog* (1990), before Brickell launched a solo career and started a family.[1](https://ebnewbos.com/about/) The band never replicated the commercial success of "What I Am," though the song remained a staple of its era.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edie-brickell-mn0000179191)
It was on *Saturday Night Live* in November 1988 that she met Paul Simon; they married on May 30, 1992, and had three children.[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000179191)
## Solo career and side projects
Brickell eased into a solo career with *Picture Perfect Morning* (1994), whose single "Good Times" later appeared on a [Microsoft Windows](https://www.edgepedia.org/microsoft-windows) 95 CD-ROM.[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000179191) • [5](https://www.dmagazine.com/news/2026/09/edie-brickell-on-dallas-world-famous-pets-and-finding-magic-in-a-new-band/) After its release, and with almost no promotional push, she entered a hiatus of nearly ten years to focus on her family.[9](https://albumism.com/features/edie-brickell-debut-solo-album-picture-perfect-morning-album-anniversary) She returned with *Volcano* (2003) and the eponymous *Edie Brickell* (2011).[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edie-brickell-mn0000179191)
**Collaborations marked the 2010s.** In 2008 she teamed with Harper Simon, Paul Simon's son from his first marriage, to form the indie pop group the Heavy Circles, which released an eponymous album that year.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edie-brickell-mn0000179191) In 2011 she released the first of two albums with the Gaddabouts, a project with the drummer [Steve Gadd](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-gadd) and guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low.[8](https://www.chronogram.com/arts/a-familiar-voice-an-interview-with-edie-brickell-6649583/) Later, with her group Heavy MakeUp, she released a self-titled debut in 2023 and *Here It Comes* in 2024.[9](https://albumism.com/features/edie-brickell-debut-solo-album-picture-perfect-morning-album-anniversary)
## Work with Steve Martin
Brickell's partnership with [Steve Martin](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-martin) began with *Love Has Come for You* (2013), a bluegrass album that won the Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song.[4](https://time.com/4089872/steve-martin-edie-brickell-interview/) Their second album together, *So Familiar* (2015), expanded the bluegrass sound of the first toward a contemporary Americana style drawing on pop and rock.[4](https://time.com/4089872/steve-martin-edie-brickell-interview/) Many of its songs were written for characters in their stage musical, and Martin described character-driven lyric writing as an extremely difficult craft.[4](https://time.com/4089872/steve-martin-edie-brickell-interview/)
That musical, *Bright Star*, grew from their song "Sarah Jane and the Iron Mountain Baby." Martin wrote the book, set in [Asheville, North Carolina](https://www.edgepedia.org/asheville-north-carolina), at the end of World War II, and the two wrote the score together, Martin composing tunes on banjo and Brickell embellishing them and writing the lyrics.[6](https://time.com/4270369/broadway-goes-bluegrass/) The show received five Tony nominations.[5](https://www.dmagazine.com/news/2026/09/edie-brickell-on-dallas-world-famous-pets-and-finding-magic-in-a-new-band/) Brickell said the project arrived at the right moment, as her children with Simon were going off to college and she could focus on a large undertaking.[6](https://time.com/4270369/broadway-goes-bluegrass/)
## New Bohemians reunions and recent work
The band members kept finding their way back to one another. They wrote and recorded sporadically through the 1990s and 2000s, releasing *Stranger Things* in 2006, sixteen years after *Ghost of a Dog*, and *Rocket* in 2018, recorded in Austin at Arlyn Studios with keyboardist Matt Hubbard rounding out the lineup.[1](https://ebnewbos.com/about/) Their fifth studio album, *Hunter and the Dog Star*, arrived in February 2021; Brickell took its title from the night sky, after learning that Sirius, the "Dog Star," follows Orion the hunter and is the brightest star just before dawn.[7](https://albumism.com/interviews/celestial-communion-a-conversation-with-edie-brickell-new-bohemians) • [1](https://ebnewbos.com/about/)
In 2026 she formed a new band, World Famous Pets, with the drummer [Matt Chamberlain](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-chamberlain), bassist Kaveh Rastegar, and guitarist Mason Stoops, and toured behind a self-titled debut album, including an October homecoming show at The Kessler in Dallas.[5](https://www.dmagazine.com/news/2026/09/edie-brickell-on-dallas-world-famous-pets-and-finding-magic-in-a-new-band/)
## References
1. [About – Edie Brickell & New Bohemians (official site)](https://ebnewbos.com/about/)
2. [Edie Brickell – Biography, Discography, Albums & Expert Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/edie-brickell-mn0000179191)
3. [Edie Brickell – Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000179191)
4. [How Steve Martin and Edie Brickell Forged a Partnership Made in Americana Heaven, TIME](https://time.com/4089872/steve-martin-edie-brickell-interview/)
5. [Edie Brickell on Dallas, World Famous Pets, and Finding Magic in a New Band, D Magazine](https://www.dmagazine.com/news/2026/09/edie-brickell-on-dallas-world-famous-pets-and-finding-magic-in-a-new-band/)
6. [Broadway Goes Bluegrass With Steve Martin's *Bright Star*, TIME](https://time.com/4270369/broadway-goes-bluegrass/)
7. [Celestial Communion: A Conversation with Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Albumism](https://albumism.com/interviews/celestial-communion-a-conversation-with-edie-brickell-new-bohemians)
8. [A Familiar Voice: An Interview with Edie Brickell, Chronogram](https://www.chronogram.com/arts/a-familiar-voice-an-interview-with-edie-brickell-6649583/)
9. [Rediscover Edie Brickell's Debut Solo Album 'Picture Perfect Morning' (1994), Albumism](https://albumism.com/features/edie-brickell-debut-solo-album-picture-perfect-morning-album-anniversary)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Pop and R&B singer-songwriters › Indie and alternative pop, 1990s and 2000s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license