northern roots

timgr

timsolo
everysoundbelow
drumovi
cordeliasdad
how can i sleep
comet
spine
what it is
roadkill
northampton harmony
coldmountain
news about store press contact

gr

Tim's Schedule Playing and Teaching in Poland & the Czech Republic, Summer 2008

July 12, 2008
Buy Tickets
Colours of Ostrava
(show & workshop)
Ostrava CZ
I'll be at the festival, on my own, for several days doing concerts and workshops. T.E.
   
July 14, 2008 Poznan, Poland
   
July 16, 2008
Poland Radio 2 Studio
broadcast live at Polish Radio 2, 2 pm EST at http://www.polskieradio.pl/sluchaj/play.aspx?p=r2
Warsaw PL
They apparently have a really nice live performance venue.
   
July 19, 2008
Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
Porta Festival
http://www.porta-festival.cz/
   
July 22-24, 2008
Namest nad Oslavou, Czech Republic
Folk Holidays Festival
http://www.folkholidays.com/
   
July 26, 2008
Krakow, Poland
Crossroads Festival
www.rozstaje.pl
   
August 17, 2008

Jaroslaw Festival
Jaroslaw PL

http://www.festiwal.jaroslaw.pl/
I'll be there all week doing concerts and teaching shape-note singing, with a final concert on Saturday night including the workshop participants. It sounds like a really cool festival. T.E.

   

 

gr

you tube
There are now a number of videos on Youtube that you might want to check out or pass along to friends. Not counting what others have posted, there are videos for:

EPHEMERA

-Northern Roots
I'm busy recording demos for a full-length recording (record?) that aims to bring Yankee music out of the closet. In the process I've been talking to producer Joe Boyd, though mostly about Korean food. Along those lines....

-Cordelia's Dad
is "in the studio" as it were- very slowly mixing live stuff and recording a bit of new stuff, hopefully with trombone, for Matt Hinton's double CD of Sacred Harp songs 1. in their natural habit and 2. otherwise. 

-Hampshire and Dartmouth
This Spring I'll be teaching a course in songwriting at Hampshire College and sitting in for Ted Levin to teach "Global Sounds" at Dartmouth. I'm really looking forward to these, and am very grateful to Becky Miller and Ted Levin for the opportunity.

-Eastern Europe
may be in the cards for next summer. Consider telling your former Soviet bloc festival-running cousin about this Northern Roots business.

---Sacred Harp compilation:
I'm recording for Matt Hinton's upcoming double CD, one disc of real Sacred Harp singing plus another of interesting folks taking a crack at the music pop music style. Woven Hand and John Paul Jones are confirmed, plus other fancy folks lurking in the shadows...

---Flammarion Correspondences:
Ed Jessen's experimental opera featuring TE, Ana Maria Friman, John Potter and a wonderful array of musicians and other collaborators still awaits proper funding in the UK. I'm particularly looking forward to this project and will keep you posted.

---Solo Acoustic CD
I've been threatening to do this for ages, but now it just plain needs to happen. It will most likely feature a lot of old songs from New England, and some new ones, on bajo sexto as well as fiddle, banjo and guitar. Any of you own a record label?

---Cordelia's Dad Live: 20th Anniversary show
We're currently mixing this for a potential 2 CD release, one of the acoustic set and one of the electric from this show at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MN last April. 

---Stands For Nothing
Also in the works is a first ever digital release of some very classic hardcore punk by TE, brother Benny and Crowley aka Max Bovine. I still love this stuff, and think it kicks crap like Avenged Sevenfold where it hurts. Details TBA

As many of you know I've generally been very reticent to promote my work beyond telling my friends about it, if that. This is no longer practical, and I'm also sick of it. With a lot of help from some dear friends I have begun to look for ways to capitalize on what's good about my music. If you would like to help somehow, I would certainly appreciate it: buy my CDs for your friends, link to my website , bother your local or satellite radio station to play my music, help organize a concert/singing school or other event: it's all potentially very useful. - T.E.
 

past events and adventures

 

Blue Note New York

June 10 - 15 , 2008

These special concerts will feature the following excellent musicians:

Omar Sosa Sextet, featuring
Marque Gilmore, drums
Childo Tomas, electric bass
David Gilmore, guitar
Leandro Saint-Hill, flute, saxophone
Tim Eriksen, vocals

Omar Sosa is one of the most versatile jazz artists on the scene today: composer, arranger, producer, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. He fuses a wide range of world music and electronic elements with his native Afro-Cuban roots to create a fresh and original urban sound - all with a Latin jazz heart. On stage, Mr. Sosa is a charismatic figure, inspiring his fellow musicians with his dynamic playing and improvisational approach to the music - an approach full of raw emotional power and humor. Mr. Sosa invariably inspires audiences to their feet and to join him in chorus vocals, heightening the sense of spontaneity and connection.

 

June 18, 2008
Porter Phelps Huntington House

North Hadley, MA
US
  "Tim Eriksen and Cordelia's Dad" or something.
   

Omar Sosa Afreecanos Quartet

Friday, APRIL 4 • 8 pm
Spaulding Auditorium
$28 • Dartmouth students $5

website


April 10, 2008
Tim will be performing in a concert of devotional music, featuring qawali
singers Mer and Sher Ali and a troupe of 10 musicians from Pakistan.

Qawwali (kuh-wah-lee), ecstatic devotional music drawn from Sufi mystic poetry, expresses the elation of divine union and the sorrow of separation. With a fervor resembling the passionate, soul-bearing spirit of gospel music, qawwals often achieve trance states while performing. Brothers Mehr and Sher Ali, qawwali masters from Pakistan, combine powerful vocals with their ensemble's explosive hand-clapping rhythms and traditional percussion—in the exhilarating Punjabi style of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who introduced qawwali to a global audience.

Details
remain to be determined, but it will be in Hanover, NH at Dartmouth College.
Here's a link to the group's main concert in town. More info to come....



April 11, 2008
Songwriters' Coffee House at Hampshire College, 8pm.

Tim will do some singing
with the main show being students in the American Balladry Class.



April 12, 2008
Sacred Harp Singing School: Tim will be teaching at the NECSEM meeting at
Amherst College in Amherst, MA.


website



April 18, 2008
A concert in memory of Dora Magrath

Hampshire College Recital Hall. Here's the facebook page for a tribute to this wonderful singer, student and friend.

 

February 28, 2007
New York, New York
The Old Burying Ground at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall was cool. The bathrooms were somewhat cleaner than the
ones at CBGB, and they even had doors.
-T.E.

February 26, 2007
Ithaca, New York
The Old Burying Ground at Cornell University

February 24, 2007
Oberlin, Ohio
The Old Burying Ground at Oberlin University

December 10, 2007
The Old Burying Ground
Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan 
8:00 PM
Free
This is the first installment of Evan Chambers's symphonic settings of New Hampshire gravestone texts, featuring TE, a classical soprano and tenor. The second half of the show will be Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring."
website

 

December 1, 2007 
Polish Radio 2 Broadcast, 7-9 a.m. EST
website 
Broadcast (in Polish, obviously) about New England culture and history, with music and extended interview w/TE, probably in the second half of the show (ca. 8 a.m. EST). The broadcast will be streamed, but not archived so if you want to hear it you need to catch it live.

November 29, 2007
Sacred Harp singing school at Brown University
29 Providence, RI: Sacred Harp Singing School
5-7 pm 
Brown University, Steinert Practice Center 
Corner of Hope St. & Power St.
Free- everyone is invited, regardless of musical experience etc.

November 16 - 18, 2007
Port Townsend, Washington
Eriksen, Powell, Baugus
3 day workshop w/performance
website

The Pacific Northwest was great. Old friends and new, lots of singing and one of my favorite second sets ever, with Riley Baugus and Dirk Powell, which contained only 5 songs- surely a personal record for stretching things. I played my first square dance- probably hadn’t been to one since I was 12. It was excellent to see the Foghorn guys again, and there were some wonderful moments on stage-"Farther Along" stands out, as does the increasingly over-the-top version of "The Cuckoo" thats been brewing for a while now. It was great to see Mike Heffley, who played trombone on Cordelia's Dads "What It Is"There were nearly 100 people at the singing school in Portland. I saw a rainbow and a salmon. -TE 

November 15, 2007
Portland Oregon
Tim Eriksen, Dirk Powell, Riley Baugus and the Foghorn Stringband
at Mississippi Studios
website
 

October 16 2007
2 pm 
Hampshire College
Music Building
Amherst, MA
Sacred Harp singing school
You're very welcome to come sing with us.

 

It's been several months since you've received anything from me. The reason, if you have not already heard, is that I suffered the greatest loss this summer and have been slowly getting my bearings back. My wife Minja died on July 15- I can only be blunt, as I haven't found an eloquent or helpful way to say it. I tried for years to write her a love song. It's clear now, and perhaps always obvious to our many friends, that they are all love songs. You may wish to look at the following:
www.wmshc.org/minja_memorial.php
Luka, Anja and I are doing well- thank you for your many notes of concern. -T.E.

 SATURDAY OCTOBER 13
Memorial in Minnesota
12:30
A rather remarkable event in Minja's memory will take place at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis this Saturday. It's something we tried to organize for years but never quite got off the ground (except for our tsunami benefit in 2004). Many of our friends from various communities in the Twin Cities will perform: I'll do some solo pieces, participate in Sacred Harp singing and probably play with the Rehobot Oromo Choir, our dear friends with whom Minja and I played for a number of years. Also appearing will be Pooja Goswami and party: Hindustani vocal, Nirmala Rajasekar and parety: Saraswati vina, Joko Sutrisno and the Shubert Club Gamelan, Smart Baitani and his Tanzanian Choir. It's really a stunning line up, and there will also be cake for everyone, something Minja would have insisted on. 
For details see:
http://www.thecedar.org/mirjana_minja_lausevic_memorial



 

The Archives at mvyradio -- www.mvyradio.com -- now feature Tim Eriksen And The Shape Note Singers, captured in Summer 2006 at the Newport Folk Festival. You can hear the performance at http://mvyradio.com/downloads/archives.php

 
 
  • -I'm extremely excited about the upcoming workshop version of Ed Jessen's "Flammarion Correspondences" in York, England in early May. It will be great to have some experience with this piece before the run in Copenhagen next fall. Beyond that, I just plain can't wait to hear the music.
  • -"Balkan Fascination: Creating an Alternative Music Community in America" is finally out! Oxford University Press threw a party for Minja a few weeks ago at the annual SEM conference, so I guess it's official (though we have yet to see a copy). Some ads only mention the CD, but the book contains a DVD as well- a little added incentive to give that special someone the gift of ethnomusicology this Christmas.   website 
  • -I'm looking forward to a comparatively quiet winter working at or near home after a bit of traveling, mostly for The Musical Instrument Museum. Within just a few weeks we were in Paris and Brussels for three days, Hawaii two weeks later and overnight in Minneapolis the week after that. The museum actually has offices and the beginnings of a staff now, which makes it seem much more real.They also apparently have a giant drum squirreled away somewhere- add some monogrammed tote bags and an overpriced cafeterial and we'll be in business!   website      T.E.

January 5 2007
Cordelia's Dad electric ca. 11pm
TT the Bear's
Cambridge, MA

This is the second night of Kimchee Records' big 10th anniversary bash, featuring a short set by a quasi-reunited, feedback-laden Cordelia's Dad as well as a lot of other great music: Tiger Saw, 27, Seekonk, Hilken Mancini/Chris Colbourn, Geoff Farina- doors are at 8 with music soon thereafter.

info: website

visit Cordelia's Dad new myspace page
 
 

December 13, 2006
 Tony Trischka/Glory Shone Around
website
   Tony Trischka mini tour with a quasi-reunited Northampton Harmony: a bluegrass/shape-note Christmas kind of thing
Dec 8 
Bethlehem, PA Godfrey Daniels
Dec 9
Hamilton, NJ Grounds For Sculpture
Dec 13
Amherst, MA Amherst College
Dec 14
 Pawling, NY Towne Crier
Dec 15
 Hartford ,CT University of Hartford


Watermelon Wednesdays with Rani Arbo and Andrew Kinsey. I was an unadvertised part of what turned out to be a wonderful evening of music at the West Whately chapel. Bats flew, watermelon was eaten- at times the music seemed almost on fire, though quietly. T.E.

October 21, 2006
Solo Acoustic/Shape Note concert
Amherst College, Buckley Recital Hall, 7:30 pm- Free
Amherst, MA
     Part of the "Sacred Music in Transition" symposium at Amherst and Yale.
 website

October 7, 2006
Tim Eriksen and Michael Theodore @ NWEAMO 
New York, NY:
     Another electronic music festival appearance
for the band that might be named Royall Tyler.
     website

September 30, 2006
Kingston, RI
New England Sacred Harp Convention 
     Two full days of singing, plus a screening of the new documentary
"Awake My Soul: the Story of the Sacred Harp."
     website



mercurycvr
click for article on tim



 

festival net
 


August 26, 2006
Orton Park Festival 
Madison, WI 
(608) 256-2953
I'll do a Sacred Harp workshop and a solo set that
includes folks from the workshop...T.E.
website


Amherst College Valentine Chair Details: Minja and I are set to teach four courses next year. In the fall we'll teach one on global film music and, believe it or not, Music 11, which is Amherst's "Music 101." We'll be using the Sacred Harp as the primary teaching source, but also incorporating Carnatic Music, Balkan vocal and brass band music, American rock and folk to whatever degree seems to work. Spring semester we'll teach American Music and an ethnomusicology seminar for music majors. We'll also put together a series of concerts/events. We're hoping Esma Redzepova will be in the country sometime next year. In the Spring we're planning an "Old Folks' Concert" a la 1850's New England (but probably with some Ramones and other stuff thrown in). We've got a zillion other ideas, but let us know if you have a special request. We'll also be organizing some sort of American music ensemble. I'm thinking of having it open to anyone, and creating a genre after we see who's interested. Everyone will have to learn to read shapes though. 

August 15, 2006
 Transperformance 16: All in the Family
Northampton, MA
website

"Cordelia's Dad and Sacred Harp singers from Western MA will appeared as 
the Von Trapp Family Singers"- to benefit the Northampton Arts Council. 


Transperformance is the annual end-of-summer bash produced by The Northampton Arts Council and the PTOs of the Northampton public schools to support arts enrichment in Northampton's schools and in the community. Northampton High School, J.F.K. Middle School and the four Northampton elementary schools are all beneficiaries of this fundraiser.

The theme this year is Family. Local bands will cover groups that have family in their name or have members who are related, such as: The Jackson Five, The Neville Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone, The Kinks, and The Carpenters, to name just a few. 

Peter Irvine of Cordelia's Dad -- who will be joining with The Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp Singers to transperform The Van Trapp Family -- listed three reasons for their choice: "One, Tim Eriksen (co-founder of Cordelia's Dad) visited the Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont as a kid and got yelled at by Maria (something about not touching the breakables). Two, the singing styles of Julie Andrews and your average Sacred Harp singer could hardly be more different, which fits the mandate of Transperformance to reach as far outside of one's comfort zone as possible. Three, our friend, and participant, Amy once won a costume contest at a Sound of Music sing-along, and still has the pink parasol and dress. So we really had no choice." -brattleboro reformer

Cordelia's Dad eclectric and Sacred Harp singers appeared as the Von Trapp Family at this annual event. Thanks to singer/costumiere Amy Davis, Peter Irvine and I had matching lederhosen. They could become a permanent addition to our projects. T.E.
 

August 6, 2006
Newport Folk Festival

newport

festivalnet

Newport, RI
(401) 847-3700
website


w/65 Sacred Harp singer friends, Riley Baugus, Peter Irvine and Michael Theodore. It was just amazing to be with everyone! It was surely the most people they've ever had on stage, not that that's the point. The organizers said the set reminded them why they started the festival in the first place. 

     It was great to play with Riley again, too. The day before the show, it occurrred to me that we were supposed to play together and hadn't talked about it (or played together for over a year). I gave Riley a call about maybe trying to find time to practice some, and it turned out he'd just landed in Providence, gotten in a rental car and was a mile from the exit to the place I was staying. Nothing like planning.   The enthusiastic response to the screeching and thundering noises made by Michael Theodore and myself confirmed that we are, in fact, a pop band. We might be called Royall Tyler. How does that sound? I also like "Royall Tyler: Mother of Birds." T.E.


 

June 14, 2006 
Solo Acoustic
 Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum
(hopefully with various musical friends)
    Hadley, MA
website
 

June 8, 2006 
Solo Acoustic w/Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem
 7:30 pm.
Cedar Cultural Center 
Minneapolis, MN

June 1-4, 2006 
Collaboration w/Minnesota Dance Theater 
Southern Theater
Minneapolis, MN
612-340-1725
website
 

daverenk
 Tim,  soon-to-retire Amherst College professor David Reck, his 
son, Daniel Reck, and Umayalpuram Mali

Double Vina Concert w/David Reck
w/mrdangam and ghatam acompaniment-
            Amherst College, Buckley Recital Hall.
8:00 
free
Amherst, MA

 

It was just great to play with David again. I hope we can find time to do more this year. We did a preview concert at Wesleyan University with David Nelson on mrdangam, and it was great to play with him again too! T.E.

May 14, 2006
Sacred Harp Singing
Hadley, MA
 Porter Phelps Huntington House
1-3 pm
  I can't imagine a better way to prepare for a South Indian music concert. 

April 30, 2006
 Double Vina Concert-
w/David Reck, vina and David Nelson, mrdangam
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT
 Russell House - Russell House Millett Room 
Admission: Free 
website
860-685-3355 

April 2, 2006
Solo Acoustic
will most likely feature a piece or two by the
yet-to-be-named duo with Michael Theodore
Tractor Tavern
206-789-3599
Seattle, WA
website

 

Pacific Northwest Gig Report: The shows were great, and the audiences "select." We started off at the SEAMUS conference, which was very cool. The audience consisted almost entirely of electro-acoustic composers, and I enjoyed the opportunity to talk about the sorts of things they care about (me too for the most part). I don't know what composers throw when they don't like something, but whatever it is they didn't throw any. Michael Theodore ended up playing on the next two gigs as well, on laptop as well as saw and percussion. Lots of fun. We'll probably do some music together at the Newport Festival or around that time. The festival's new slogan appears to be "turbo folk," so maybe we'll be just the ticket. (Or maybe we'll have to work up some Ceca and Selma Bajrami covers). 

April  1, 2006
Solo Acoustic
will most likely feature a piece or two by the
yet-to-be-named duo with Michael Theodore
Mississippi Studios 
(503) 288-3895
Portland, OR
website
 

March 30, 2006
Electro acoustic project w/Michael Theodore
SEAMUS Festival
Afternoon Show, 1:30 at Beall Hall
Eugene, OR 
website
 

November 20, 2005
Woods Hole Folk Society
Concert Series
Woods Hole, MA
website for more info
 

November 19, 2005
Passim
Cambridge, MA
website for more info

November 17-19, 2005
Society for Ethnomusicology annual conference
Atlanta, GA

November 13, 2005
 Old Town School of Folk Music
Chicago, IL

November 11, 2005
 Early American Museum
 Mahomet, IL
 

November 10 - 12, 2005
Midwest Open-Air Museums Coordinating Council 
(MOMCC)
Annual Conference
Shape Note/Sacred Harp Day Long Workshop
Lerna, IL.
 

October 29, 2005
Prairie Home Companion
w/Garrison Keillor
. (check your local listings)


The Fall So Far: I had a great time at the Lotus Festival in Indiana and the Open House Festival in Northern Ireland. Both included very satisfying gigs and some profound Sacred Harp workshop moments. It was great to do shows with Riley Baugus again, along with Ira Bernstein, and it was great to play with the Foghorn Stringband. We listened to lots of Entombed and Minor Threat in the van- a rare treat when travelling with banjos and fiddles. We had a great driver, Peter Crann, who sings sean nos and is hilarious. I loved hearing Rosie Stewart- man, what a singer. I got to have dinner with her at a Burger King in Belfast, which was another bonus. Kieran and Allison who put the festival together are also great folks, and Kieran is
a Motorhead fan. Things are looking up in the world. I finally got to see the film Chrystal, and really enjoyed it. The use of music is very effective, and I loved the way my song was used. T.E.

September 28 - October 9, 2005
Open House Festival
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Belfast, Ireland
THE MUSIC THAT CROSSED THE ATLANTIC...
THE ROOTS OF NORTH AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC AND DANCE

This year Open House Festival has taken a musical journey across the Atlantic, following the route that has been taken for the past three hundred years by pilgrims and emigrants from Ireland and Britain, and in particular the Scots-Irish. The Appalachian Mountains have become a melting pot for different cultural and musical influences from England, Ireland and Scotland, as well as from other cultures including Africa. The area has produced a rich new branch of the traditional music tree, giving us the likes of Old-Time Mountain music and Bluegrass, Sacred Harp or Shape Note singing, as well as dance styles like Flatfooting and Clogging. 

 Open House Festival is this year bringing a host of American artists to Belfast, including two
 artists-in-residence, Tim Ericksen and Ira Bernstein. Through concerts, workshops and sessions, these superb artists will be demonstrating and passing on their skills, and the living traditions that they represent. 

website for more info
 

May 6, 2005
Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN 
8:00 pm
May 7, 2005
CSPS, Cedar Rapids, IA 8 pm

Tim Eriksen, Dirk Powell and Riley Baugus
Micro-Tour

Dirk Powell and Riley Baugus are stunning younger voices in older American music, with whom Tim Eriksen collaborated to much critical acclaim in the film Cold Mountain and last year's "Great High Mountain Tour" with Ralph Stanley and Alison Krauss. These concerts are a much anticipated reunion.
 

 Saturday, April 23, 2005

Rehobot Oromo Choir (w/Tim Eriksen)
  as part of the
 The  Festival Dancing In Your Head Marathon
One of the towering creative figures of our time, Ornette Coleman changed how we think about music, what is beautiful and what is possible. This three-day festival celebrates the life and sounds of a true jazz pioneer. The Walker and Headwaters Music, led by Artistic Director Anthony Gatto, copresent this weekend of world premieres, compelling juxtapositions, and intimate views of a legend.

4:00 pm to 12:00 am
 William and Nadine McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center
  1750 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis
  $15 ($12 Walker members)
 

Song Links II is being released this week
Check out the website
 

Sunday March 20, 2005

The Smithsonian Resident Associate Program 
MARCH LECTURES & SEMINARS 
Sacred Harp Singing
With Tim Eriksen
S. Dillon Ripley Center 1100 Jefferson Drive, S.W.
 

Saturday March 19, 2005
Folklore Society of Greater Washington ( FSGW)Workshops

2:00 PM to 3:30 PM:

Mirjana Lausevic and Tim Eriksen
Balkan Singing Workshop--Traditional Bosnian Polyphony
Knox Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall (Falls Church, VA)

from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM:

Tim Eriksen--"Sacred Harp" Shaped Note Singing School
Knox Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall (Falls Church, VA)

from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM:

FSGW Monthly Program
Tim Eriksen
Knox Presbyterian Church (Falls Church, VA)

see FSGW website for details
 

March 12th and 13th, 2005
Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp
2005 Convention
Saturday and Sunday
9:30am - 3:30pm 

see website for directions and details
 


TSUNAMI BENEFIT CONCERT
(this concert raised 11,000+ $!  thank you everyone!)
JAN. 15, 7pm
TED MANN CONCERT HALL
PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD! THANKS...
2128 4th Street South
Minneapolis, MN 

FEATURING MUSICIANS FROM AFFECTED AREAS AND BEYOND:

  • -JOKO SUTRISNO AND INDONESIAN GAMELAN ENSEMBLE
  • -NIRMALA RAJASEKAR: SOUTH INDIAN VEENA (was in Chennai, India when the disaster struck)
  • -TIM ERIKSEN:ORIGINAL ACOUSTIC AND TRADITIONAL AMERICAN FOLKSONG
  • -EAST AFRICAN TRADITIONAL AND POPULAR MUSIC
  • -SWEDISH FIDDLING
  • -AMERICAN SHAPE-NOTE SINGING...and more TBA


Free will donation- all proceeds will go to UNICEF 

---------------------------------------------------------

Greetings everyone. As you may know, I studied South Indian music for many years, and Minja and I are still active in the Indian music scene in the Twin Cities (she's on the board of the Indian Music Society of MN etc). I studied in Chennai/Madras, which made the images of the tsunami additionally unbearable. Minja and I are organizing this concert at the speed of light, adding artists daily and expecting some surprises. Whatever it raises will be a drop in the bucket, but the more drops the better. If you feel this is something you can support, wherever you are, please make a donation if you can, come to the show, sing some Sacred Harp songs with us on stage or just take a moment to honor the victims. T.E.
 
 

 January 22 
TSUNAMI BENEFIT CONCERT
Tim Eriksen
Varsity Theater
Dinkytown, Minneapolis, Minnesota
 
 
 

Friday October 22 
Tim Eriksen
7pm
University of Iowa, Iowa City
Becker 101 (BCSB)
sponsored by the university of iowa's year of the
arts and humanities and the obermann faculty research semester on the
voice.
 
 

Monday November 8
Tim Eriksen
Arizona State University, Tempe
Organ Hall, School of Music
Sacred Harp singing school at 1 pm 
concert  7 pm 

news & stuff

  • A relatively relaxing fall: I'm currently taking some time to work on various projects at home, and not doing a lot in public. It's nice to be here for a while after a long period of travelling. 
  • Among other things I just finished recording for the "Songlinks" project, which will result in a two CD set of ballads, one sung by British singers and one by Americans- out next spring.
  • We're also getting back to the World in Two Cities project, which is very exciting. Look for a concert  by musicians from various refugee communities on Nov. 6 in Minneapolis, sponsored by the American Refugee Committee 
  • Minja finished her book "Mystery of the American Voices" and the accompanying CD is coming together. It'll be out on Oxford University Press, but no word as to when. 
  • Esma Redzepova and the Ansambl Teodosijevski are still touring North America, and if at all possible you should go see them (especially if you can get to New York for their upcoming return- I can't think of any concert I'd rather be at, and we might even fly out for it). The Ansambl are the guys we recorded with for the Zabe i Babe "Drumovi" CD in 1997.  check here for information


May - June, 2004

THE GREAT HIGH MOUNTAIN TOUR
 featuring songs and performances by artists from the O Brother, Where Art Thou, Down From the Mountain , and Cold Mountain soundtracks, will kick off on May 5 th in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the Thompson-Boling Arena.
The show, presented by Grammy-winning producer T Bone Burnett , will feature several artists from the highly-successful 2002 Down From The Mountain Tour —including Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Ralph Stanley, The Cox Family, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, The Whites, and Norman & Nancy Blake; they will be accompanied by Dirk Powell, Riley Baugus, Tim Eriksen, and The Reeltime Travelers (from the Oscar-nominated Cold Mountain soundtrack), as well as Ollabelle (a sextet who draws their inspiration from nineteenth- and early-to-mid-twentieth century rural American music), and Sierra & Cody Hull.

“Something of a ‘sequel’ to the 2002 Down From the Mountain Tour, this latest incarnation retained the flavor of the original but added enough new acts to make the show engaging for concertgoers who keep coming back for more.”   “…a refreshing mixture of roots-music royalty and relative newcomers.” 
 Bobby Reed, Chicago Sun Times

“…the show was a magnificent slice of early Americana—and the most joyful lesson imaginable.”
       Edward Morris, CMT.com

“The Great High Mountain Tour comes close to putting more talent onstage than an acoustic music fan can handle.”
       Wayne Bledsoe, Knoxville News Sentinel

“…during the Chicago stop of the Great High Mountain tour, the capacity crowd experienced the vocal power of American traditional music sung from the depths of the soul.”
Michael Parrish, Chicago Tribune

“[T Bone] Burnett has launched The Great High Mountain Tour, in which a sprawling caravan of roots artists crosses the land making what once was old new again.”
       Dave Tianen, Milwaukee News

tour dates and places


Saturday & Sunday March 13-14 2004

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS SACRED HARP CONVENTION
is in Northampton, MA  at the Northampton Center For
The Arts. see www.wmshc.org



Saturday March 13, 2004

Tim Eriksen solo acoustic
Iron Horse Music Hall
Northampton, MA
7:00 pm
$12 advance/$15 door
opening for Karan Casey
(413) 584-0610


Sunday February 29, 2004

ACADEMY AWARDS

 The oscars were fun, especially seeing so many old friends and singing in the dressing room and on the bus. Our Sacred Harp song, Liberty, was cut at the last minute due to time concerns. In the scale of world events it's a small deal, but it might have done the world some good to hear it. We all got to hear it plenty, however, including the night before when Sting, Elvis Costello and
Allison Krauss sang it along with us at Miramax's annual bash. Elvis seems especially taken with the music, and I'm grateful to him and T Bone for advocating on its behalf in trying to keep it in the big show. We enjoyed singing with him on "The Scarlet Tide," (even though it's not in the
Sacred Harp.)  T.E.



  • EVERY SOUND BELOW: My new solo acoustic CD is scheduled to come out in mid-May on Appleseed Recordings. I'm very excited about this one.
  • GREAT HIGH MOUNTAIN: Early May-early June there's gonna be a big tour with some of us from the Cold Mountain soundtrack plus folks from the "Down from the Mountain" tour.
  • THE LADYKILLERS: The Cohen Brothers decided to use an old 78 instead of the song we recorded for the film. It's too bad, but it makes more sense, especially since they'd already edited the film to that recording. From what I saw and heard in Los Angeles the other day it looks like a really good movie and soundtrack
  • Ain't No Grave: A Tribute To Traditional & Public Domain Songs released by Dren Records  It is the nature of traditional and public domain songs to shift with time.Words, melodies, even titles can change as musicians make these songs their own.This album is a collection of these songs, and each song reflects a distinct artistic personality. But even while the performances carry these songs firmly into the present, the respect each track carries for the past binds this album together. Tim's song is Southern Girl's Reply


banjotim



Check out Fasola.org — for information about
Sacred Harp and Shape Note singing

December 16, 2003
Cold Mountain soundtrack released 
cold mountain cd

Highlights, for me, are the fabulous recordings of the songs "Idumea" and "I'm Going Home" from our June 2002 Sacred Harp recording session at Liberty Church, Henagar AL, and an unaccompanied solo by Cassie Franklin, a Sacred Harp singer friend also from Henagar. Along with the Sacred Harp songs, you can hear me on another 4 songs (although I'm singing in character as "Stobrod," and sometimes to a click track). For those who like to buy from the artist, I don't think that's gonna happen on this one, though I appreciate the thought. I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from getting hold of this, though the real event for me will be the release of a whole CD of songs from the Liberty Church recording, sometime this spring. More to come..." TE



 Royce Theater Cold Mountain Gala
Los Angeles
This was filmed for television and included readings
by Cold Mountain director Anthony Minghella,
actors Nicole Kidman and Jude Law and
music by a bunch of people on the soundtrack (including Tim)
cold mountain111 coldmountain1010 coldmountain 0808 coldmountain5050
cold mountain 0606

 
Minja, Luka, Anja and I just returned from Los Angeles where we attended the premiere of "Cold Mountain." It's a good film, which is a relief. More importantly, the use of Sacred Harp music works well. Miramax came through with tickets for a number of Sacred Harp singers. It was fun to watch it together and sing on the van on the way back to our hotel, and I was happy and relieved that everyone  seemed pleased by how it turned out. Having, as it does, all the elements of something you're supposed to like, there will likely be the predictable hipster backlash. But all in all I think the movie is very strong, and its violence is refreshingly consequential. We also participated in "Cold Mountain: Words and Music" at Royce Hall, UCLA, Monday night. It will be on TV sometime, and later on DVD, along with a documentary about the event. I think
they're also planning a reality TV show based on the making of various documentaries about the making of Cold Mountain. At least that's my impression. I got to sing out a little more than I did on the soundtrack, which was fun. The highlights for me were singing "Idumea" with Cassie Franklin and, of course, singing 282 with 45 Sacred Harp singers who responded to my very last minute plea, as well as various actors. I hear second hand that more than one person found themselves wondering if they'd really just seen Rod Ivey and Nicole Kidman singing "I'm Going Home" on "EXTRA!" Sting opted out, but we were OK without him. The catering was excellent! T.E.


Radio

NPR's Melissa Block, Andrea Hsu, and Bill Deputy of "All Things Considered" visited Henagar, Alabama and the Alabama State Convention in Birmingham on November 21st and 22nd. They recorded the Saturday session of the Alabama State Convention and interviewed lots of singers. visit npr site for more

Joey Brackner interviewed David Ivey and Tim Eriksen  in an Alabama folklife interview about Sacred Harp Singing in the Movie Cold Mountain.  Musical examples are included in the program.  click here to listen

bunny

.