CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Brian McBride (musician)

American musician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ4964644
Source-derived summary

Brian Edward McBride (July 6, 1970 – August 25, 2023) was an American musician best known as one half of the ambient duo Stars of the Lid. He also released two solo albums, When The Detail Lost Its Freedom and The Effective Disconnect, on Kranky using his own name. McBride moved to Austin, Texas, in 1990 where he met Adam Wiltzie, forming Stars of the Lid in the early 1990s. He also worked with the now defunct Pilot Ships. McBride was also a member of the duo Bell Gardens.

McBride lived in Los Angeles. He was an active member of the policy debate community. In 2009, Brian teamed up with musician Kenneth James Gibson to form the band Bell Gardens. Their first EP Hangups Need Company was released on their own imprint Failed Better in 2010. Southern Records released their first LP Full Sundown Assembly in 2012 and Rocket Girl released their second LP Slow Dawns For Lost Conclusions in 2014.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Brian McBride (musician)” is american musician. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Brian, McBride and musician, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1970, 2023, 1990, 2009—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1970-01-01. For this dossier, Brian, McBride and musician is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american musician” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4964644. VIAF identifies the subject as 315084940. The Library of Congress control number is no2015019240. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1970, 2023, 1990 and 2009.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Brian McBride (musician)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Brian McBride (musician) primary sources, Brian McBride (musician) archive and Brian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Brian McBride (musician)”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Brian McBride (musician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.