Pitchfork

Ah, springtime. It turns the world of indie into a freakin' love-fest, drawing artists to one another like bees to flowers. To make music, naturally. And sometimes...other things.

The latest salsa-hot collabo comes courtesy of lovable former Sub Pop songstress Rosie Thomas, who has recruited two fellow lovable, wholesome folkies to spruce up her latest batch of recordings. The boys in question: Sufjan Stevens and Philly singer-songwriter Denison Witmer.

The trio shacked up at Suf-jeezy's pad in New York City for three days, ate junk food, had pillow fights, and wound up recording some Thomas-penned songs on Witmer's laptop. According to Witmer's blog, Rosie played classical guitar, Sufjan plucked banjo, and Denison rocked the electric. All three sang.

In an email to Pitchfork, Thomas said, "[Sufjan and I] both decided that it would be refreshing and fun to just record some songs together on a whim and we did. The songs came out so good that we decided to finish the project this winter, and what I hoped would be an EP surprisingly turned into a full length." For the winter wrap-up, Rosie enlisted Witmer to add instrumentation and engineer.

"It was all a very organic process," mused Witmer via email. "The three of us have toured together a lot in the past, and I'm sure that had something to do with planting the idea in [Rosie's] mind. She (well, all of us) just wanted to have a fun, stress free, relaxing time recording with friends. As far as I know, that's our only real agenda at this point."

Rosie echoed his sentiments: "Somehow along the way the very thing I loved became more about touring and record labels and record deadlines and ordering tee shirts on time and press releases," she observed. "It was almost as if the business side of things took over the passion side, you know? And I desperately needed to work on something that brought me back to my core.

"Working with Sufjan reminded us both of how we used to love to write for our own sense of well being, not by any other expectation."

Since Thomas is no longer signed to Sub Pop, there's no word yet who will put out the joint recording or when the adoring masses can hear it. "Perhaps," suggested Rosie-- who also has plans to record with Iron and Wine's Sam Beam sometime soon-- "it will end up being a record we give to our families for Christmas."

And that's not all Rosie and Sufjan have been collaborating on, as the two lovesongbirds are having a baby together. Serious! For once, Pitchfork is not joking.

"Sufjan and I are also expecting and that is something we both are beaming about," wrote Rosie. "Life is good."

Awwwwwwwww-- I mean, congratulations! And somebody please phone the Guinness Book, as the world is about the embrace the Cutest Kid Ever.

Rosie sets off on a spring tour tomorrow night, possibly her last one for a lil' while. Bring flowers, hugs, and diapers:

04-05 St. Paul, MN - Turf Club *
04-06 Madison, WI - Café Montmartre *
04-07 Chicago, IL - Schubas *#
04-08 Grand Rapids, MI - Calvin College Fine Arts Center *
04-09 Detroit, MI - Magic Bag *
04-11 Cambridge, MA - The Lily Pad *
04-12 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's *
04-13 Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live
04-14 Vienna, VA - Jammin' Java
04-15 Pittsburgh, PA - Club Café Live
04-16 Newport, KY - Southgate House Parlor
04-18 Springfield, MO - The Belmonte
04-19 Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar
04-21 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive
04-28 Spokane, WA - The Shop ^
05-13 Seattle, WA - Triple Door

* with Luke Temple
# with Jana Hunter
^ with Denison Witmer

Sufjan has one festival date scheduled for now. After that, he will embark on the ultimate, life-long tour that is fatherhood:

05-27 George, WA - The Gorge (Sasquatch! Music Festival) +

+ with the Flaming Lips, the Shins, the Tragically Hip, Neko Case, Iron and Wine, Gomez, Rogue Wave

Good ol' Denison's a-tourin' too. Observe:

04-18 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Café ^
04-19 Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios #
04-23 San Francisco, CA - Hotel Utah (day show)
04-24 Los Angeles, CA - Hotel Café
04-25 Roseville, CA - The Underground
04-28 Spokane, WA - The Shop &
05-10 Columbia, SC - New Brookland Tavern %$
05-12 Orlando, FL - Central Florida Fair Grounds (Cornerstone) %$
05-14 Atlanta, GA - Vinyl %$
05-15 Nashville, TN - Rocketown %$
05-16 Bowling Green, KY - Spencer's Coffeehouse %$
05-17 Dayton, OH - Nite Owl %$
05-18 Grand Rapids, MI - Skelletones %$
05-24 New York, NY - Knitting Factory $

# with Laura Gibson, Drew Grow
& with Rosie Thomas
^ with Graham Travis
% with Anathallo
$ with Saxon Shore

"