BIO

“More than once I found myself wandering around the streets of Washington, D.C., with my shirt buttoned wrong, unsure of who I was, or where I was,” says Timothy Bailey. “Each time, I found a piece of paper in my pocket with a phone number on it that I did not recognize and called it. The number was for my therapist, and she would tell me how to get home.”

The search for a path out of trauma led to the founding of Timothy Bailey and the Humans. Fronted by singer/composer/arranger Bailey, the group leads listeners along a compelling road from darkness to light as it cross-pollinates the sophisticated poeticism of Leonard Cohen with the muscular intensity of 1980s post-punk.

With lush, artfully crafted, emotionally affecting songs in the vein of Jarvis Cocker and Aimee Mann, the project tells a powerful personal story of a journey through mental illness to find meaning and hope. It will connect with listeners of any age who appreciate heartfelt, beautifully made songs that have something to say.

Bailey, a veteran pop musician trained in jazz composition, came to the project after years of personal turmoil. A traumatic, abusive childhood eventually led in the 2000s to more than a decade of struggle with severe mental illness, including repeated hospitalizations. 

Music became both a path out and a lifeline. As his music took shape, Bailey’s life gained focus as well.

With the Humans, Bailey found collaborators who could make his musical visions real and push his music forward. Guitarist Ben Nicastro (Hoax Hunters, Cagey Watts) adds his own wide-ranging virtuosity. Bassist Doyle Hull (the Shangri-Lords, Red Hot Lava Men) and drummer Go Weatherford (Cracker, Chrome Daddy Disco, Dirtball) ensure that the music remains grounded on a foundation of classic soul and 1980s alternative. Violinist Melissa Sunderland Jones brings a blend of classical finesse and post-punk noise.

Producer Chad Clark joined the mix in 2021. Clark, the leader, vocalist, and primary songwriter for D.C.-based band Beauty Pill, is a legendary producer whose work includes alt-rock classics such as Dismemberment Plan’s “Emergency & I.” 

On the swaggering “Unseen Ocean” and the driving “Killer From the Mountain,” bass and drums become a relentless juggernaut around which intertwine Nicastro’s wiry guitar and Sunderland Jones’s violin. On “Weird Animal,” the music pulses like a murmuring heartbeat as Bailey’s velvety baritone caresses the lyrics.

“My life started out horrific, and that affected me in ways I never even recognized for many years,” Bailey says. “But music gave me a light to follow and a language to share what I have been through. It has helped me find a community of others who connect with these songs and find hope in them. That’s what I hope.”