Songwriting is a near-mystical channeling of the imagination for Edie Brickell.
“I just trust the first line that comes. I’ve learned to do that, even if I don’t understand it,” the Texas-born musician explains, remembering writing “Lost in the Moment” as a freshly transplanted New Yorker working on her first solo album, 1994’s Picture Perfect Morning. “I was playing this little riff on the guitar, and the first thing that came was ‘the register stood open,’” she recalls. “It turned into this big story and a song that I love. It’s very meaningful to me.”
Decades later, the lyricist carries that free-associative instinct into a new project, World Famous Pets. Together with longtime collaborator Matt Chamberlain, bassist Kaveh Rastegar, and guitarist Mason Stoops, Brickell is penning songs based on a love of experimentation and a collective familiarity that shines through their easygoing, thoughtful compositions and heartwarming harmonies.
“It truly was a leap of faith,” Rastegar says of starting the project. The Persian American multi-instrumentalist has played with John Legend, Sting, Sia, Bruno Mars, and many more, but notes that the collaborative writing process at the heart of World Famous Pets felt distinct. “We just started creating in the moment and started making sounds, jamming,” he says.
“It’s kind of an addiction for me to work with other people and see how their energy affects mine,” Brickell adds. “This band is all good energy and all good playing. So it doesn’t get any better than this,” she beams.
“Happened So Fast,” off the band’s freshly released self-titled debut, came together much the same way as “Lost in the Moment,” with Brickell following her intuition and letting the story tell itself. Rastegar was noodling out a bass riff, and the words just started flowing, quickly shaping into the quartet’s first song.
“I used to have a membership at the YMCA/ I would go to the pool and do some laps/ I used to have a card to read at the library/ Now I have an electronic app,” she opens the ode to life’s breakneck pace.
“I realized there’s meaning here that was unintentioned and unintentional,” Brickell explains. It didn’t take long for the group’s leap of faith to pay off. They quickly finished the full-length and decided to take it on the road.
“By the time we get to Austin, we’re gonna already have a second record ready for you guys,” Rastegar says confidently, promising audiences a real-time look at the band’s improvisational process – without getting too choppy with it, according to Brickell. “This band can definitely do it and make it smooth and not boring,” she says with a laugh.
World Famous Pets
Friday (Weekend Two only), 3:30pm, Beatbox stage
This article appears in October 2 • 2026.
