Jeff Bird is best known for his long time association with Cowboy Junkies. His multi- instrumental talents can be heard on the legendary recording The Trinity Session and many other Cowboy Junkies’ albums.
He tours extensively with them throughout the world and has performed with them in such venerable venues as the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall , Massey Hall. Television appearances include Saturday Night Live, Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson as well as Jay Leno and the contemporary The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
In 2019 Jeff with Cowboy Junkies was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
In 2015 The Trinity Session was awarded the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize for decade of the1980’s
Jeff is also a founding member of the renowned Canadian folk group Tamarack founded in 1978.
Since 1980, Jeff has realized 17 recordings on his own and in collaboration.
His latest project is Felix Anima, interpretations of the transcendent music of 12th century mystic Hildegard von Bingen realized through his love of the harmonica.
His record producer credits include Sue Smith, Ian Reid, Gathering Sparks, Shannon Kingsbury, Margo Timmins, Black Cabbage, Tamarack, The Bird Sisters, Celtic Blue, Dark Monkey, Ondine Chorus and Kim Dong-Won, The Silence Collective.
As a sideman he has performed and recorded with such diverse artists as Cowboy Junkies, Teresa Ennis, Fred Eaglesmith Stephen Fearing, Loreena McKennitt, Natalie Merchant, Scott Merritt, Lynn Miles , Jane Siberry, The Skydiggers, Over the Rhine, Sue Smith, Mike Stevens, Gwen Swick, Tony Quarrington, , Graham and Eleanor Townsend and Townes Van Zandt.
In 2016 Jeff toured Korea and Japan with the experimental world fusion group Trio Cabiki. The group was comprised of Kim dong-Won, a celebrated traditional Korean drummer, singer and member of The Silk Road Ensemble. Jeff Cairns a master shakuhachi player from Japan with Jeff Bird adding theremin, bass and harmonica. On some shows they were joined by Korean Pansori singer Bae Il-Dong. Trio Cabiki was also part of a TedTalk in Kumamoto Japan.
He can be heard playing one or more of these instruments on more than one hundred recordings: Electric and acoustic bass, electric and acoustic mandolin, fiddle, piano, keyboards, guitar, harmonica, percussion, various wind instruments, theremin, taisho goto, zhong ruan, and vocals.
He has recorded, produced and arranged music for a spoken word piece with award winning Magnum photographer, Larry Towell. It celebrates his book The Mennonites, photographs of old order Mennonites living in Mexico and southern Ontario.
Jeff has composed music for both film and television, including the feature films South of Wawa, House, Niagara Niagara and the documentaries Harvest Queens and To Make a Farm
Jeff has put his hand to short experimental video production. His works have been screened at festivals from Dawson City,Yukon to Vladivostok, Russia. Happy Breath was awarded the prize for best music video in the 2021 Paris Play film Festival.
In 2003 he produced and directed Rink. It documents one complete season of an outdoor neighbourhood skating rink. Rink moves beyond traditional documentaries by using original and traditional folk tales lending a magical air to the film.
As a performance artist his works include 3 Parades (live and the video installation), 1000 Fiddle tunes and three iterations of Spring Awakes, an outdoor performance hike.