The Teacher Is a Rock Star

Anna Conner, born and raised in Baltimore City, has taught kindergarten through fifth grade art at Logan Elementary School in Dundalk for the past seven years.

“I just happen to be in a band,” the 29-year-old says.

Thrushes, the Baltimore-based indie band Conner fronts, has been playing its blend of original dream pop in the region for nearly as long as she’s been teaching.

Conner, who now lives in Mount Washington, picked up guitar at age 14 and was in and out of bands in high school, playing small venues in Baltimore and churches in Dundalk, both in bands and as a singer-songwriter performing solo shows and open mics.

Her all-girl band, Johnny 5, played the Small Intestine, a now-defunct Baltimore club, where Thrushes’ guitarist Casey Harvey once played, too. Conner and her various bandmates, it turns out, have taken similar musical and professional paths.

At Catholic University, Conner started as an illustration major but switched to education, having received a Hope Scholarship, a grant to help college students become teachers. About a year after college, and a year into teaching at Logan Elementary, Conner ran into Harvey again—and his future wife, Rachel, also a musician. They knew Conner played guitar and coaxed her into joining a band with them.

“We all kind of focused on school and getting jobs,” Conner says, “but after that happened … I thought, I kind of wanna play in a band again.”

The three brought on a drummer and formed Thrushes, with Conner as their chief lyricist. Recently switching drummers, they added Scott Tiemann to the mix.

The band has been moving steadily since it began, releasing its first full-length album, the well-received Sun Come Undone, in 2007. Thrushes' 2010 release, Night Falls, got rave reviews.

A few music reviewers labeled the indie band “shoegaze,” a genre Conner and her bandmates hadn’t heard of but agreed fit their style. The genre is marked by dreamy moods (think Jesus and Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine).

It should be noted that Thrushes also rock out, so Conner doesn’t label them strictly shoegaze—Casey Harvey’s phrase “dream pop” might describe them better.

Thrushes have played Sonar, Ottobar, the Windup Space, The Metro Gallery and Artscape, among other favorite Baltimore venues. They’ll play The Metro Gallery again in June, followed by a show in Washington, D.C.

Baltimore magazine described the local quartet's songs as “towering, reverb-drenched melodies that thunder alongside Anna Conner's vulnerable and sweet voice,” calling it “a compelling contrast.”

Filter magazine named Thrushes its “Undiscovered Band of the Month” in March 2010. The Pittsburgh Daily News called the band “a must-discover” for any fan of Mazzy Star or Baltimore’s breakout duo, Beach House.

Like Conner, each Thrushes member has a professional career; in fact, three of the four are teachers—Rachel Harvey is a speech pathologist for infants and toddlers, and Tiemann teaches drums.

But they manage to rehearse every week or so, and they play local gigs and find ways to tour, whether it’s a mini-tour over an extended weekend (say, spring break or Thanksgiving) or consolidating their vacation time.

“I’d like to be on tour for the next three months, but I’d like to have a clean apartment to come home to, too,” Conner says.

Between their shows and nights spent writing songs, Conner stands in front of a classroom and teaches art, answering the occasional question students ask about her band.

“There were some fourth-grade girls this year who looked me up,” she says. “These are sweet, smart little girls.”

They liked the music. One of them was even inspired to start playing guitar.

“We’re not offensive at all,” Conner notes, adding she doesn’t curse in her songs, most of which are about love.

“It was a very heartwarming thing,” she says of her students’ interest. “I’d be mortified if they didn’t like it.”

To learn more about Thrushes, visit thrushesrule.com.