Siri Undlin of Humbird on performing songs about home while on the road

[HUMBIRD, "RIGHT ON"] I'm not mad, but I should be

Since true love proved unlucky

I cast the dye

I stained my hands

On wrongful judgments and half baked plans

I was right on in loving you

NINA MOINI: So much good music today. That's Minneapolis favorite Humbird with their new song "Right On" off their new album with the same name. Humbird has been on the Minnesota music scene for a handful of years at this point, and their growing popularity has sent them on a national tour and supporting acts like Lady Lamb and the Cactus Blossoms. Siri Undlin is the voice and writer behind the musical project Humbird. She's here with me in the studio now. Siri, so great to have you here.

SIRI UNDLIN: Thanks for having me.

NINA MOINI: Was this your first time following a Ludacris, Justin Bieber number? I just got to know.

SIRI UNDLIN: That was, and I enjoyed every second of it. That was amazing.

NINA MOINI: I love it. So the song that we just heard, your song, "Right On," is beautiful.

SIRI UNDLIN: Thank you.

NINA MOINI: And it sounds like it's sort of maybe about a heartbreak story. What made you give your album the same name?

SIRI UNDLIN: Yeah. Well, it's a song that kind of appeared out of nowhere. Some songs are like that, almost like someone else wrote it. Not that I wasn't experiencing heartbreak in its own way, but when we were recording the album, it became our mantra in the studio. It started as a joke. Right on. Good idea. Right on. And then by the end of recording, we were like, well, shoot. I guess that's actually the title of the album.

NINA MOINI: Right on. Why not? Let's hear another song off your album. This one is called "Blueberry Bog."

[HUMBIRD, "BLUEBERRY BOG"] Take me to my favorite booth

On the Northeast corner of 13th Avenue

Mikkel's on the stage with somebody new

On a perfectly average Sunday afternoon

I feel the heartbeat from miles away

All the while water's rising

I got debts to pay

I'm not waiting for a savior

But I'm doing OK

Finding silver linings threaded through the day

NINA MOINI: I hear some Minneapolis references in here. What's the song "Blueberry Bog" about?

SIRI UNDLIN: It's about a lot of things, like most songs, but the second verse in particular is an ode to the 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis. Sunday afternoons, Mikkel Beckman is often holding it down on the stage with musicians from all over the place. And I was writing that song and really missing being able to go and do that. It was during the pandemic when I wrote it. So yeah, I wanted to pay homage to one of my favorite Sunday afternoon activities around town.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. So you've got this local presence here. That's obviously very important to you. You're in the midst of a tour, though, right now. I'm curious how people outside of Minnesota have been receiving your work.

SIRI UNDLIN: Yeah. Sometimes on tour, far from home, I think me and my bandmates feel like Minnesota diplomats or something. We're going to these big cities on the coast or heading to the southeast, playing in rural communities, or in a farm backyard. We just end up in the most wild, random situations. But we are singing about Minnesota and sort of this Midwest sensibility, and that's very much part of the music. So yeah, it's a weird tourism experiment or something.

NINA MOINI: I love that. Bringing Minnesota on the road. You seem to perform a lot of covers of more traditional, old time music. What draws you to that feeling?

SIRI UNDLIN: Yeah. I mean, I grew up sort of through a random series of events, singing traditional Irish music, which is not so far related from our traditional music tradition. I should not say tradition so much. But the American music tradition, too. So I feel like it's very grounding to engage with those types of singing and storytelling. And I think it's fun to experiment and try new sounds but to also kind of keep it rooted in those places where it began.

NINA MOINI: That feeling of nostalgia. So speaking of musical influences, this is fun. On the show, we always ask our guest musicians to share a song by a different artist that's inspiring to them. So we're going to take a listen to what you chose, and then we'll talk about it.

SIRI UNDLIN: Cool.

[MARGO CILKER, LOWLAND TRAIL]

(SINGING) Cattle pushing high up a canyon side

Looking for a lowland trail

Got miles before me, miles behind

Looking for my lowland trail

Looking for my lowland trail

NINA MOINI: I like that. That feels like you're on a road trip-- is kind of what I'm feeling. Tell me a little bit about this song and why you chose it.

SIRI UNDLIN: Yeah. Well, Margo Cilker is one of my favorite songwriters out there today, and I love this song because it's just an amazing little message to kind of sing to yourself if you're in the weeds. And I feel like so many of us feel like, man, I've come a long way, and I have a long way to go.

And this whole song is an extended metaphor for just taking it easy, doing your best. You don't have to summit mountains. You can take a lowland trail and still get to where you're going. So I listen to it often and regularly wake up with it stuck in my head, so it's just become a theme song. I love it.

NINA MOINI: I love that. Thank you for sharing that with us. Let's hear another song off of your album, Right On. This one is called "Child of Violence." Let's listen.

[HUMBIRD, "CHILD OF VIOLENCE"] Another twisted trick of fate

Of too little, too late

I could be a break in the chain

I could be a break in the chain

I could be a piece of the change

When I talk about it, I'll call it by it's name

NINA MOINI: Tell me a little bit about that. What does that song mean to you?

SIRI UNDLIN: Yeah. It's called "Child of Violence," and it's very much a reflection on the ways in which I navigate the world as a white woman living on stolen land. I think in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, there was so many of us that all of a sudden were on a crash course of all the things we needed to relearn or unlearn, and myself included.

And I think that song was a way to channel the anger I felt at how misled I had been by various parts of our society and how responsible I need to be to be part of building a different world. So yeah, definitely a focus on legacy and what it means to be part of something different going forward.

NINA MOINI: Sure. Lots of Minnesota themes. I'm curious, a lot of artists get more inspiration from being on the road. Is that the case for you, and is it too early to be thinking about what's next?

SIRI UNDLIN: I'm really inspired by the road, but I also am weary of singing about it because there's so many great road songs already, particularly within the folk tradition. I feel like that's really well covered territory in some ways, but I don't know as many artists that sing about home and the specificities of that. So that's where I've been drawn lately. But who knows? Creativity brings you all sorts of places, so we'll see.

NINA MOINI: I feel like you've got something in you. You're pretty creative. You're pretty good. Siri, I really appreciate you being here. This was just lovely. Thank you for sharing your music with us.

SIRI UNDLIN: Thanks for having me.

NINA MOINI: That was Siri Undlin, the voice of the musical project known as Humbird. She's on tour right now, and tomorrow night, she's supporting another Minnesota band, the Cactus Blossoms, at the Fitzgerald Theater here in downtown St. Paul. The next time you can catch her on tour in Minnesota will be the weekend of September 26th at the Boats and Bluegrass Festival in Winona.