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Mar 30, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Phoebe Bridgers

Phoebe Bridgers has shared a video of her covering Conor Oberst’s “Mamah Borthwick (A Sketch)” from home, as artists have been doing during the COVID-19 quarantine. She has done so to benefit Los Angeles’ Bootleg Theater, which has had to close down during the pandemic. There’s a GoFundMe campaign to help pay the staff while they are shut down, which she has linked to. Bridgers says she met Oberst at the Bootleg, hence the cover of the song from his 2016 solo album Ruminations. Check it out below.

In 2019 Bridgers teamed up with Oberst for the side-project Better Oblivion Community Center, who released their self-titled debut album last year via Dead Oceans. Oberst and Bridgers also recently appeared in a video for Conan O’Brien’s TBS show Conan, which has launched a new fake behind the scenes web series, Meet the Conan Staff. In one episode Oberst and Bridgers play production assistants on the show. Oberst can’t help but break into song during the staff meetings, much to the annoyance of O’Brien and his other employees, especially as his songs are usually quite depressing. Bridgers, meanwhile, is very well liked.

In February Bridgers shared a brand new track, “Garden Song,” via a video for it. “Garden Song” was #1 on our Songs of the Week list.

Bridgers released her debut album, Stranger in the Alps, back in September 2017 via Dead Oceans. For “Garden Song” she reteamed with that album’s producers/collaborators Tony Berg and Ethan Gruska. The song was recorded at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California. There’s no word on a new album or EP from Bridgers, right now it’s just a standalone single.

Bridgers has been plenty busy since the release of Stranger in the Alps.

In 2018 she teamed up with fellow singer/songwriters Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus to form supergroup boygenius, whose self-titled debut EP was released in October 2018 via Matador.

Last December Bridgers shared the new Christmas track, “7 O’Clock News/Silent Night,” which featured Fiona Apple and Matt Berninger (of The National). Last October Bridgers and Berninger also teamed up for the new song, “Walking On a String,” which they performed in Netflix’s Between Two Ferns: The Movie. Then they shared a studio version of the song via a black & white video featuring them recording it, making “Walking On a String” one of our Songs of the Week.

Read our 2017 exclusive interview with Phoebe Bridgers and check out our photo-shoot with her.

Read our 2019 cover story interview with boygenius.

The Bootleg is raising money to pay their employees and hopefully keep the doors open once this is over. Here’s me singing a Conor song because I met him there. It’s a special place. Help out if you can. Link in my stories. #coverthebootleg

27.5k Likes, 661 Comments - Phoebe Bridgers (@_fake_nudes_) on Instagram: “The Bootleg is raising money to pay their employees and hopefully keep the doors open once this is…”

if you can, donate to save the venue where I met conor. here’s a conor song. https://t.co/0WZ3IDw2QP pic.twitter.com/ytQighu4Jz

— traitor joe (@phoebe_bridgers) March 30, 2020

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