Both albums were heavily influenced by traditional folk, pre-war jazz, and swing, with Bird relying on the violin as his primary musical instrument, as well as providing vocals along with his trademark verbose lyrics.
The Bowl of Fire featured musicians from Bird's home town of Chicago, including Kevin O'Donnell, Joshua Hirsch, Jon Williams, Nora O'Connor, Andy Hopkins, Jimmy Sutton, Colin Bunn, and Ryan Hembrey.
Although gaining critical praise (The Swimming Hour received a 9.0 from indie music website Pitchfork[2]), the band failed to attain commercial success or recognition, playing to audiences as small as 40 people.
In December of 2017, members of the band held a reunion performance at the Hideout Inn in support of the Foundations of Music's Andrew Bird scholarship.
The line-up included Andrew Bird, Nora O'Conner, Kevin O'Donnell, and Colin Bunn, as well as Are You Serious bassist, Alan Hampton.