Biography
Recognizable through the fervent vocals of frontman Wes Leavins, Chicago outfit Brigitte Calls Me Baby blend yearning, '80s-inflected new wave with retro-rock echoes of Elvis Presley. Their profile rose sharply after issuing the Dave Cobb-produced debut EP This House Is Made of Corners in 2023, a five-track set that secured them a deal with Dave Matthews' ATO imprint and formed the core of their first full-length album, the 11-song The Future Is Our Way Out, which arrived the following year.
The Presley link runs deeper than mere stylistic resemblance. Leavins portrayed the singer in a touring staging of the jukebox musical Million Dollar Quartet and contributed to the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's 2022 feature Elvis. Raised in Port Arthur, Texas, he absorbed Roy Orbison sides from his grandparents and new-wave albums by the Cars from his parents; friends later introduced him to Radiohead and the Strokes. He began playing guitar and composing at 13. While still a high-school senior, Leavins landed the Presley role in the touring production, which dramatized the 1956 Sun Studios session that united Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Luhrmann attended one of those performances and subsequently reached out directly to enlist Leavins' help recreating Presley material for the biopic.
By then Leavins had moved to Chicago, where he assembled Brigitte Calls Me Baby alongside guitarists Jack Fluegel and Trevor Lynch, bassist Devin Wessels, and drummer Jeremy Benshish; the group took its name from an actual correspondence between the teenage Leavins and Brigitte Bardot. The band was still shaping its earliest material when Leavins was summoned to the Elvis set. There he crossed paths with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb (John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile), played him some demos, received performance guidance, and ultimately recorded at Nashville's RCA Studio A under Cobb's direction.
This House Is Made of Corners surfaced on ATO Records in November 2023, generating immediate attention for its expansive, soaring '80s textures and aching balladry. The band performed on CBS Saturday in February 2024 and made its network-television bow that July on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In August 2024 ATO released the full-length The Future Is Our Way Out, which interleaved six new tracks with the earlier EP material.
The Presley link runs deeper than mere stylistic resemblance. Leavins portrayed the singer in a touring staging of the jukebox musical Million Dollar Quartet and contributed to the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's 2022 feature Elvis. Raised in Port Arthur, Texas, he absorbed Roy Orbison sides from his grandparents and new-wave albums by the Cars from his parents; friends later introduced him to Radiohead and the Strokes. He began playing guitar and composing at 13. While still a high-school senior, Leavins landed the Presley role in the touring production, which dramatized the 1956 Sun Studios session that united Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Luhrmann attended one of those performances and subsequently reached out directly to enlist Leavins' help recreating Presley material for the biopic.
By then Leavins had moved to Chicago, where he assembled Brigitte Calls Me Baby alongside guitarists Jack Fluegel and Trevor Lynch, bassist Devin Wessels, and drummer Jeremy Benshish; the group took its name from an actual correspondence between the teenage Leavins and Brigitte Bardot. The band was still shaping its earliest material when Leavins was summoned to the Elvis set. There he crossed paths with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb (John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile), played him some demos, received performance guidance, and ultimately recorded at Nashville's RCA Studio A under Cobb's direction.
This House Is Made of Corners surfaced on ATO Records in November 2023, generating immediate attention for its expansive, soaring '80s textures and aching balladry. The band performed on CBS Saturday in February 2024 and made its network-television bow that July on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In August 2024 ATO released the full-length The Future Is Our Way Out, which interleaved six new tracks with the earlier EP material.
Albums
