Acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Janie Price, known professionally as Bird, releases her highly anticipated new album Held Here Together, available now on all streaming platforms and on vinyl.
Bringing together her acclaimed EPs Heads Or Tales (2025) and Strange As Folk (2026) alongside three brand-new songs, Held Here Together serves as Bird’s most complete and emotionally resonant collection to date. The album features collaborations with celebrated songwriters and musicians Andy Dunlop of Travis, Ally McErlaine of Texas, and Hal Lindes of Dire Straits, while showcasing the cinematic folk sound and rich storytelling that have earned Bird critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.
The album arrives amid a breakout moment in the United States. Bird’s recent EP Strange As Folk earned strong support at college radio, reaching the NACC Top 30 and receiving an official add from KZSC Santa Cruz, while Americana UK awarded the project a coveted “Highly Recommended” review.
Leading the release is the haunting new single “The Car,” a cinematic meditation on heartbreak and emotional collision. Built around finger-picked acoustic guitar that gradually expands into sweeping string arrangements, the song uses the imagery of a devastating car crash as an extended metaphor for a relationship pushed beyond its breaking point. Through vivid storytelling and immersive production, Bird transforms shattered glass, fire, and loss of control into reflections of emotional collapse, creating one of the most powerful songs of her career.
Known for her rich world-building and fearless introspection, Bird continues to blur the lines between contemporary folk, orchestral composition, and cinematic storytelling. Recorded between Tuscany, Nashville, and Austin, Held Here Together captures an artist at the height of her creative powers, balancing intimate songwriting with expansive arrangements.
Speaking about the album, Bird shares:
“I really never meant to make an album! The intention was really just to write a few songs again after spending so long on the last musical project, but a few songs became two EPs and then a few more new songs and suddenly it was a whole body of work. I also love releasing physical products – I still believe that an album should be listened to as a whole and that the ritual of listening to a group of songs together is a beautiful thing.
So I’m excited that this project will be released on vinyl as well as digitally. The EP tracks have been remastered specially for this release and we actually dug in and remixed a couple of tracks too.
The album artwork is also very meaningful – I shot it in my dear friends’ house in Denmark when I was making the video for ‘The Boy and The Swan’ with them. When I asked them if I could use the photo I took for my album that I wanted to call Held Here Together, they explained how those toys were important friends from their childhoods. They had offered comfort and calm during challenging times and when they got married the toys were joined together and placed in the corner of their living room.
I love how now the memories and emotions of my two best friends are held together in their childhood toys, in the same way that the joining of my songs as an album reflects a similar intention. My ideas, observations, reflections and emotions are all held together inside the songs that I have made over the past year.”
Listen to Held Here Together here. Listen to The Car here
The album artwork became a fitting visual representation of the project’s central theme: connection, memory, resilience, and the ways people and stories remain intertwined over time.
Beyond the album, Bird has recently attracted attention for her documentary short You Found A Friend In Elvis, which investigates one of rock and roll’s most enduring legends: the claim that Roy Orbison intervened to stop a plot to steal the body of Elvis Presley in 1977. Inspired by Bird’s song “Roy,” the film has been selected for the Lighthouse International Film Festival and further highlights her unique ability to uncover remarkable stories through both music and film.
An award-winning, classically trained multi-instrumentalist of Irish and English heritage, Bird has released five previous albums — The Insides, Girl and A Cello, Figments Of Our Imagination, Beat, and the award-winning soundtrack album Wider Than The Sky. Her live career continues to grow internationally, with recent appearances at the SXSW and Folk Alliance International, alongside performances at the The Great Escape and Black Deer Festival.
Her classical training has also led to a distinguished career as a session musician and composer, contributing string arrangements for GRAMMY, BRIT, and Ivor Novello Award-winning artists. She is a voting member of The Ivors Academy and serves on the Musicians’ Union Writers Advisory Board.
Recorded between Tuscany, Italy, Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas, Held Here Together highlights the qualities that have come to define Bird’s work: intimate storytelling, richly textured acoustic arrangements, and sweeping cinematic string compositions. Alongside “The Car,” the album features two additional new songs, “Winter Rose” and “Things Get Broken,” completing a collection that feels both expansive and deeply personal.
With Held Here Together, Bird distills years of artistic evolution into one album that feels both intimate and cinematic, weaving together stories of connection, vulnerability, resilience, and hope. It is the culmination of a remarkable creative period and further establishes Bird as one of contemporary folk music’s most distinctive voices.
Track Listing
SIDE 1
- The Film (written by Bird)
- The Boy And The Swan (written by Bird, Justin Degryse, Jens Dolleslagers)
- How Soon Is Now (written by Johnny Marr, Steven Morrissey)
- Winter Rose (written by Bird, Ross Bell, Nick Southwood)
- Havana Garden (written by Bird, Jane Ellen Bryant)
SIDE 2
- The Car (written by Bird)
- Lay Lady Lay (written by Bob Dylan)
- Roy (written by Bird, Ally McErlaine)
- Daddy (written by Bird, Hal Lindes)
- Sunny Days (written by Bird, Andy Dunlop)
- Things Get Broken (written by Bird, Andy Dunlop)