Hey all-
It’s a busy time- details below, but long story short I did two radio interviews this morning with one more to go, my new CD Soul of the January Hills is officially out, I finished sequencing another CD last night for a June release, I spent part of last week filming my first classical music video and I’m about to go on the road with my buddy Riley Baugus (whom you might have seen the other day on Letterman or The View playing with Willie Nelson.)
SOUL OF THE JANUARY HILLS
The CD came out officially on May 4 and after talking with quite a number of journalists and “fans” (aka people who happen to like the same music I do) I’m pleased to report that people seem to “get it.” I made the album mostly because I love unaccompanied singing and think it’s an intense and immediate way of telling a story, but doing a whole CD of it is also partly a way of throwing down the gauntlet. “You want stripped down? Beat this!” Or something like that. It’s also a way of bringing the voice back to the forefront at a time when, even though the singer is usually a band’s most visible member, the singing is more often than not the weakest link.
It’s customary to thank one’s record label, but I think Appleseed Recordings deserves special recognition for having the courage to release this album at a time when most labels are in retreat mode and trying to find the thing that sounds the most like the thing that sold the most copies last month.
TE AND RILEY BAUGUS (scroll down or click here for tour schedule!)
Riley and I figure we have about the strangest possible combined resumes for a couple of clawhammer banjo players. Riley’s played with Willie Nelson, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and I’ve done the symphony orchestra/hardcore punk thing for starters. We met working on the film Cold Mountain in 2003- you can hear us together here on youtube, although you’ll be looking at actors Brendan Gleeson (my voice) and Ethan Supplee (Riley’s). Jack White was hiding behind a log at this point in the film.
Over the years Riley and I have appeared together at the Newport Folk Festival, done stray gigs in Ireland and the US and shared a tour bus on the Great High Mountain Tour headlined by Ralph Stanley and Alison Krauss. I don’t know what all we’ll be doing in these shows, but it will surely include some harmony singing, some banjo and fiddle, some songs from Cold Mountain- maybe a couple of Willie Nelson and Ramones covers for kicks. Hope to see you at one of the shows!
THE OLD BURYING GROUND VIDEO SHOOT
It’s almost out! I’ve been talking about this so enthusiastically for so long you may have figured it was already ancient history. But this time it really is about to come out! I spent two days last week in the Old Burying Ground itself, up in Jaffrey, New Hampshire filming a video for And Pass From Hence Away with composer Evan Chambers and Dorian/Sono Luminus Recordings’ in-house film-makers Nate Rhodes and Strider Jordan.
A number of people who have interviewed me recently have asked how it was that as a kid I got involved at about the same time with experimental and new classical music, hardcore punk and American folk and vernacular traditions. For a long time I was inclined to hide one or another of these interests depending on who I was talking to, so it was very cool that the guys who came to shoot my first classical music video met at a DC punk show and were blasting Doc Watson on the car stereo when I drove up. We walked among the stones as I performed my first ever lip-syncing, and at one point a baby squirrel jumped on me and spent several minutes climbing my shirt and snuffling into my lapel microphone. Should be an interesting video.
The OBG is only about ten miles from where I was born over in Winchendon, MA, ad even though I only remember it as a place we went to visit friends, the area is still rich with association for me. It was nice to make some new associations, and to spend some time among the hills and homes and gravestones of people I’ve been singing about for several years now. I’ll let you know when the CD is really and truly out!
Next time…
-More banjo, this time on the road with Tony Trischka.
-Northampton Harmony CD recorded in 1997 finally seeing the light of day.
-Cordelia’s Dad double live album? I hope so!
TIM ERIKSEN AND RILEY BAUGUS TOUR SCHEDULE, May 2010 (details at http://timeriksenmusic.com/calendar.html)
Mon, May 17 – Glen Echo, MD – FSGW @ Glen Echo Town Hall, 8 pm (shape-note singing school with TE)
Tue, May 18 – Silver Spring, MD – FSGW @ Washington Revels, 8 pm
Wed, May 19 – Roanoke, VA – Kirk Avenue Music Hall, 7:30 pm
Thu, May 20 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle, 8:30 pm
Fri, May 21 – Whitesburg, KY – Summit City Lounge, 9 pm
Sat, May 22 – Winston-Salem, NC – The Garage, 8:30 pm
Sun, May 23 – Cary, NC – Page-Walker Arts & History Center, 1:30 pm (shape-note singing school with TE)
Tue, May 25 – Columbia, SC – The White Mule, 8 pm
Wed, May 26 – Atlanta, GA – St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church – two events: shape-note signing school with TE at 6:30; TE solo acoustic at 8:30
Thu, May 27 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl, 9 pm – supporting Truth & Salvage Co. and Visqueen
Fri, May 28 – Johnson City, TN – Down Home, 9 pm




















