Bartees Strange

Bartees Leon Cox Jr., born on January 30, 1989, is an English-born American musician known by his stage name Bartees Strange. He was born in Ipswich, England, and raised in Mustang, Oklahoma. Cox's father was in the military and his mother was an opera singer. He spent his childhood in various places including Germany, Greenland, and different states in the US before settling in Mustang. Before pursuing music, Cox worked as a director of communications for a nonprofit environmental organization in Washington D.C. In 2016 to 2018, he was a member of the post-hardcore band Stay Inside. Cox released his first solo effort, an acoustic folk EP called 'Magic Boy,' under the name Bartees & The Strange Fruit. He gained recognition after releasing the EP 'Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy,' a collection of re-imagined covers of songs by The National, and was named an 'Artist To Watch' by Stereogum.