![]() |
Bartees Strange | |
---|---|
![]() Strange performing in 2021 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Bartees Leon Cox Jr. |
Born | 1989 (age 35–36) Ipswich, England[1] |
Origin | Mustang, Oklahoma, United States |
Genres | |
Occupation | Musician |
Instruments |
|
Years active | 2020–present |
Labels | |
Formerly of | Stay Inside |
Website | barteesstrange |
Bartees Leon Cox Jr. (born 1989[1]), known professionally as Bartees Strange, is an English-born American musician. Strange was born in Ipswich, England,[1] raised in Mustang, Oklahoma, and is based in Baltimore, Maryland.[3]
Early life
Strange was born in Ipswich, England, to a military father and opera-singer mother. The family moved from England to Germany, Greenland, and various US states, before settling in Mustang, Oklahoma, when Strange was 12.[4]
Before becoming a musician, Strange worked as the director of communications for a nonprofit environmental organization in Washington, D.C.[5]
Career
While living in Brooklyn, Strange was a member of the post-hardcore band Stay Inside, from 2016 to 2018. In late 2017, he released his first solo effort, the acoustic folk EP Magic Boy, under the name Bartees & the Strange Fruit.[6]
In March 2020, Strange released an EP of re-imagined covers of songs by the National, titled Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, on Brassland.[7] After being named an "Artist to Watch" by Stereogum in 2020,[8] Strange released his debut full-length album, Live Forever, on October 2, 2020.[9] Featuring a mix of hip hop, indie rock, and jazz music,[10][11] the album received positive reviews.[12][13] Strange toured throughout 2021 and 2022, supporting artists such as Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, Courtney Barnett, and Car Seat Headrest.[citation needed]
In 2022, Strange released his second album, Farm to Table, to critical acclaim.[14][15] In 2025, he issued his latest record, titled Horror.
Personal life
Discography
Studio albums
- Live Forever (2020)
- Farm to Table (2022)
- Horror (2025)
EPs
- Magic Boy (2017) (as Bartees & the Strange Fruit)[6][17]
- Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy (2020)
- Magic Boy (2024) (2017 EP in new configuration, with different art and additional music)[citation needed]
Live albums
- Live at Studio 4 (2021)
Singles
As lead artist
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
---|---|---|---|
US AAA | |||
"About Today" | 2020 | — | Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy |
"Lemonworld" | — | ||
"Going Going" / "HAGS" | — | Non-album single | |
"The Geese of Beverly Road" / "Looking for Astronauts" | — | Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy | |
"Mustang" | — | Live Forever | |
"Boomer" | — | ||
"Kelly Rowland" | — | ||
"Weights" | 2021 | — | Live Forever (Deluxe) |
"Province" (with Eric Slick & OHMME) |
— | Non-album single | |
"Heavy Heart" | 2022 | — | Farm to Table |
"Cosigns" | — | ||
"Daily News" | 2023 | — | Non-album single |
"Lie 95" | 2024 | — | Horror |
"Sober" | — | ||
"Too Much" | — | ||
"Xmas" | — | Non-album single | |
"Wants Needs" | 2025 | — | Horror |
"Backseat Banton" | 33 |
As featured artist
Title | Year | Album |
---|---|---|
"Plead Insanity" (Spring Silver featuring Bartees Strange and Sad13) |
2020 | Non-album singles |
"Goldbrick Champion" (Broke Royals featuring Bartees Strange) | ||
"love that 4 u" (altopalo featuring Bartees Strange) |
2022 | frenemy |
Guest appearances
Title | Year | Artist | Album |
---|---|---|---|
"It's Gold" | 2020 | Project Diem | Pluto |
"Milky" | |||
"Top of the World" | Dave Hause | Patty | |
"Monsters" | 2021 | Hit Like a Girl | Heart Racer |
"The Pearl" | Lorenzo Wolff | Down Where the Valleys Are Low: Another Otherworld for Judee Sill | |
"You Always Hurt the One You Love" | 2024 | — | The New Look (Apple TV+ Original Series Soundtrack) |
"Big Glow" | I Saw the TV Glow | ||
"Wolf Like Me" | Anjimile, Kara Jackson | Transa | |
"You Are Special to Me" | Cadence Weapon | ROLLERCOASTER |
Remixes
Song | Year | Artist | Album | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
"Bone Skull" | 2021 | Glass Beach | alchemist rats beg bashful (remixes) | Bartees Strange Remix |
"Smartest Man" (featuring Arlissa) |
Homeschool | Homeschool: Book I | ||
"Pool" | Samia | The Baby Reimagined | Bartees Strange Version | |
"Dreams" | Hannah Georgas | All That Emotion Versions | Bartees Strange Remix | |
"Emergency Equipment & Exits" | Ganser | Look at the Sun | ||
"Pool Hopping" | Illuminati Hotties | Non-album singles | Strange Pool Remix | |
"Kyoto" | Phoebe Bridgers | Bartees Strange Remix | ||
"Figure 8" | 2023 | Paramore | Re: This Is Why | Re: Bartees Strange |
Production discography
Title | Year | Artist | Album | Role |
---|---|---|---|---|
"Good Luck Rd." | 2021 | Harmony Woods | GRACEFUL RAGE | Producer |
"Rittenhouse" | ||||
"Easy" | ||||
"End" | ||||
"Holding You to You" | ||||
"God's Gift to Women" | ||||
"Graceful Rage" | ||||
"I Can't" | ||||
"Mirror" | 2022 | Cinema Hearts | Your Ideal | |
"Your Ideal" | ||||
"Everyday Is a Day Without You" | ||||
"Can I Tell You I Love You" | ||||
"Sister" | ||||
"Morning" | Oceanator | Nothing's Ever Fine | ||
"Nightmare Machine" | ||||
"The Last Summer" | ||||
"Beach Days (Alive Again)" | ||||
"Solar Flares" | ||||
"Post Meridian" | ||||
"Stuck" | ||||
"From the Van" | ||||
"Bad Brain Daze" | ||||
"Summer Rain" | ||||
"Evening" | ||||
"You Good?" | Proper. | The Great American Novel | Producer | |
"Shuck and Jive" | Producer, electric guitar | |||
"Red, White, & Blue" | ||||
"Jean" | Producer | |||
"McConnell" | ||||
"Ganymede" | Producer, electric guitar | |||
"Barbershop Interlude" | Producer | |||
"In the Van Somewhere Outside of Birmingham" | ||||
"Juvie" | ||||
"The Routine" | ||||
"Huerta" | ||||
"Milk & Honey" | Producer, synthesizer | |||
"Done Talking" | Producer | |||
"Americana" | Producer, synthesizer | |||
"Yeah... I'm Good (Epilogue)" | Producer | |||
"I Am Right on Time" | 2024 | Bleachers | Bleachers | Electric guitar, background vocals, drums |
"We're Gonna Know Each Other Forever" | Electric guitar, background vocals | |||
"Tiny Moves" | Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synthesizer | |||
"Alma Mater" | Electric guitar, background vocals | |||
"Cadence £∞™.mp3" | Cadence Weapon | ROLLERCOASTER | Co-writer, producer | |
"YASTM.m4a" | Writer, producer | |||
"You Are Special to Me" (featuring Bartees Strange) |
Featured artist, writer, producer | |||
"No One" | Kacy Hill | Bug | Producer | |
"You Know I Love You Still" | Co-writer | |||
"Listen to You" | Producer | |||
"Frog Rinse" | ||||
"Poquito Mas" | ||||
"Improvement" | Daphne Eckman | Non-album singles | ||
"Juliet" | Kacy Hill | Co-writer | ||
"Ankles" | 2025 | Lucy Dacus | Forever Is a Feeling | Recording engineer |
"Best Guess" | Producer, recording engineer, triangle |
Tours
Headlining
- 2021 Tour[18]
Supporting
- Phoebe Bridgers – Reunion Tour (2021)[19]
- Lucy Dacus – 2021 Tour[20]
- Courtney Barnett – North American Tour (2021)[21]
- Car Seat Headrest – North American Tour (2022)[22]
- The National – 2022 Tour[23]
- Metric – The Doomscroller Tour (2022)[24]
- Boygenius – The Tour (2023)[25]
- The National – 2023 European Tour[citation needed]
References
- ^ a b c "Brassland | Bartees Strange". Brassland.org. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
- ^ Casciato, Tom (November 21, 2022). "Bartees Strange pushes the boundaries of indie rock". PBS News Hour. PBS. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
- ^ "Bartees Strange: Horror". Pitchfork.
- ^ Shaffer, Claire (October 8, 2020). "Bartees Strange Is Tired of Your Genres". Rolling Stone.
- ^ Barrios, Maria. "Bartees Strange makes some changes". The Washington Post.
- ^ a b "Bartees & the Strange Fruit – Magic Boy (2017, File)". Discogs. December 8, 2017.
- ^ McKenna, Lyndsey (October 2020). "For Bartees Strange, Everything Is Everything". NPR. NPR Music. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
- ^ Gordon, Arielle (September 16, 2020). "Artist to Watch: Bartees Strange". Stereogum. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
- ^ Shaffer, Claire (August 12, 2020). "Bartees Strange Announces Debut Album, 'Live Forever,' Shares 'Boomer'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
- ^ Payne, Chris. "Meet Bartees Strange, the D.C. Musician Who's Revitalizing Indie Rock". Billboard. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
- ^ Chelosky, Danielle. "Bartees Strange Gives in to Lawless Creation". MTV News. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
- ^ Josephs, Brian. "Bartees Strange: Live Forever". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
- ^ "Live Forever by Bartees Strange". Metacritic.
- ^ Pareles, Jon (June 17, 2022). "Bartees Strange Ponders Success in Dire Times". The New York Times. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
- ^ Greene, Jayson. "Bartees Strange: Farm to Table". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
- ^ @Bartees_Strange (October 11, 2022). "When I told my mom I was Bi she was very unsurprised. Happy coming out day. Do you, no matter what. ♥️🖤✌🏾" (Tweet). Retrieved October 12, 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ Manno, Lizzie (October 5, 2020). "Bartees Strange's Live Forever Refuses to Conform". Paste (magazine).
- ^ Williams, Keegan (July 28, 2021). "News: Bartees Strange Announces Headlining U.S. Tour Dates, Additional Supporting Dates". New Noise. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
- ^ Strauss, Matthew (August 23, 2021). "Phoebe Bridgers No Longer Playing Indoor Concerts on 2021 U.S. Tour". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
- ^ Hatfield, Amanda (April 13, 2021). "Lucy Dacus announces new album & tour w/ Bartees Strange (watch "Hot & Heavy" video)". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
- ^ Doria, Matt (June 18, 2021). "Courtney Barnett announces US tour dates for 2021 and 2022". NME. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
- ^ Rossignol, Derrick (October 26, 2021). "Car Seat Headrest Is Going on Tour in 2022 and Taking Bartees Strange with Them". Uproxx. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
- ^ Hatfield, Amanda (March 29, 2022). "The National announce summer tour w/ Japanese Breakfast, Lucy Dacus & Bartees Strange". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
- ^ "Metric North American 'The Doomscroller Tour' to Kick Off This August". Live Nation Entertainment. April 28, 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
- ^ Hussey, Allison (March 28, 2023). "Boygenius Announce 2023 North American Tour". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
External links
- 20th-century American LGBTQ people
- 21st-century American male singers
- 21st-century American singers
- 21st-century American LGBTQ people
- 4AD artists
- American rock singers
- American hip-hop singers
- American jazz singers
- Bisexual male musicians
- Bisexual singers
- Bisexual songwriters
- American LGBTQ singers
- American LGBTQ songwriters
- Living people
- 1989 births
- Musicians from Ipswich
- Musicians from Oklahoma
- People from Mustang, Oklahoma
- British emigrants to the United States