Sacred Harp, Yankee John Galusha, SSDecontrol, K.S. Subramanian, Halid Beslic, Lee Monroe Presnell, Mohamed Kooshin, Dwight Diller, Oromo Gospel, Alvin Lucier, Neely Bruce, David Reck, Martin Carthy, Jeff Warner, Jeff Davis, T. Viswanathan, The Ramones
Sounds Like
Northern Roots Music is:
-wicked old "old-time" music.
-New England songs about life and death, not bed and breakfast.
-Northern Appalachian music.
-Massachusetts ballads, shape note music, originals, Southern tunes, Irish songs or whatever I feel like singing.
I'VE BEEN ACCUSED OF SOUNDING LIKE:
Roscoe Holcomb, Martin Carthy, Ralph Stanley, Bob Mould, Nina Nastasia, Freddy Mercury, Greg Ginn, Jane's Addiction, Nick Drake, Ranganayaki Rajagopalan, Ali Birra, Tose Proeski, Halid Beslic, Alvin Lucier, Omar Dhule, Richard DeLong, Mission of Burma, Doc Boggs and The Incredible String Band. My first mediocre review (long forgotten punk zine ca. 1984) said my music sounded too much like Sonic Youth- the first ecstatic review (Maximum Rock and Roll, 1985) erroneously raved that it included "everything from thrash to straight jazz."
Tim Eriksen's music is some of the most hair-raising in American old-time and alternative folk, with a decidedly Northern Roots twist. He also has many years and remarkable depth of experience in a kaleidoscope of musical styles including South Indian Classical, Bosnian/Balkan, Hardcore Punk, Sacred Harp, Experimental Electro-acoustic and Oromo Gospel. A few details:
...main instruments include banjo, fiddle, guitar, bajo sexto and Saraswati veena.
...has sung/performed/consulted and written songs for films including Cold Mountain, Chrystal, and The Ladykillers.
...has been a professor of music at Dartmouth, Amherst and Hampshire College and the University of Minnesota
...was an early adviser in the creation of "MIM: the World's First Global Musical Instrument Museum"
...sings Sacred Harp whenever possible (mostly tenor and treble)
...started bands including Cordelia's Dad, Zabe i Babe, Northampton Harmony and Stands for Nothing
...has worked, on stage and screen, in class or in the studio with folks including Sting, Jack White, Ralph Stanley, Elvis Costello, Alison Krauss, Nicole Kidman, Steve Reich, Yo Yo Ma, Steve Albini, Joe Boyd and T Bone Burnett
...is a 19th century New England music scholar
...is the American guy in the Rehoboth Oromo Choir
...is currently working on recording projects including a Cordelia's Dad live double CD, a Stands for Nothing re-release of old school hardcore, a symphonic piece, the Macedonian song "Zajdi, Zajdi" with Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band, electroacoustic noise/folk with composer Michael Theodore, New England ballads for voice and bajo sexto, and will also be teaching songwriting at Hampshire College and World Music at Dartmouth this Spring
...is the only person to have appeared with both Doc Watson and Kurt Cobain and to have unintentionally cut himself on stage at both CBGB and the Academy Awards
Amazing Grace, Western Mass. Style:
Check out the amazing natural lighting effects toward the end of this stunning video capture of "Every Sound Below," the title track to Tim's second solo cd:
Here's Tim performing "Gabriel's Trumpet" with 70 friends on the main stage at the Newport Folk Festival in 2006:
"John Colby's Hymn" in a Western Mass. swamp (note harmonic singing!):
Tim playing "A Tiny Crown" with the moon over his shoulder:
"I Wish The Wars Were All Over":
Here's some excellent footage of Tim's band, Cordelia's Dad, live in England in 1996:
Have a request for Tim? Something you've heard him sing? Something you'd like to hear him sing? Leave a comment or a message with your request for a new video.
Hi Tim, many thanks for the add. Really enjoy your music, both solo and with Cordelia's Dad, and very much appreciate your attention to detail as regards sources, traditions, etc. Hope to see you perform sometime.
Would love you to hear the sound recording of a documentary on our singing in Brunswick, Melbourne. It is the only regular Sacred Harp singing we know of in Australia.
Meeting in Portland, playing music, talking about histories, and hearing you in person was a tremendous experience for me. Your voice goes straight to the soul. It was an honor for you to play my fiddle.
I wish for you the best in your endeavors. Hope our paths cross again.
Thank you for the add. Awesome, prodigious,any word to call you!!! Your voice bring me. "Every sound below" again one of yours songs that I like! Any show in France???
I swear your voice is like the breath of God. I was at the singing school you taught in Portland, and when you called the first tune I could've cried right there. Thank you for doing what you do.
That thing says songs I'd like to hear you perform,well your rendition of In the pines by Lead Belly later by Kurt Cobain,would be welcoming if you ever decide to do it,alrighty cya.
Hey Tim I appreciate the music you create.I just stumbled upon it,I mostly listen to Death Metal,but I feel your music greatly.I do like old blues and celtic music in someways you fit nicely in between the two.I'm thinking of getting one of your cds just not sure which to start with.So,great job and thanks.
Hi. Thank you for the add. So glad to find you on here. Its been too many years since I've heard you sing. And an unbelievable 10 years since I last saw you perform. Be Well.
The Cordelia's Dad clip on youtube is fantastic. So wonderful to find a musician who embraces disparate elements of music so much like my own tastes, and who blends them with the X factor!
Enjoyed ya music It sounded very celtic to me I found tiny Crown intriguing that i had to watch it on you tube Rather interesting to put some technical augmented chord in there or whatever it was I like it Just wonderin if you ever play in DADGAD tuning Best of luck with ya passion Be well
Earlier this year a friend and I shared some of our favourite music with each other , and through her I first heard of Cordelia's Dad and loved the music. Great to hear your solo stuff and learn a little more of you and you music.
hi Tim, thanks for finding me here, I'm really happy to connect with you! Can we make something in Czechia the next summer??? You solo and maybe Cordelia's dad too?
How about that: an add request from one of my heroes. An honor and a privilege, sir, and the best thing that's happened to me on myspace yet. Hope you're doing well; your music sounds terrific as always.
Hey, Thanks for adding some girl-on-girl harmony singing to YourSpace. I hope we run into you down the road sometime soon.
Keep it country...
xoxo the sweetback sisters
Delighted to oblige Tim! I haven't heard your songs before but I'm a firm fan of your kind of music like Doc Watson or Fields Ward and his Buck Mountain Boys.I really like your singing and playing style too. It's good to know that another generation are maintaining and developing this great resource. All the best to you from Scotland and more power to your elbow!Mick.
thank your for finding us - your music has been an inspiration for me through the years since I heard "Her Bright Smile" back in 91. Your records are an essential part of my collection.
I feel deeply honoured that you make contact to a small German folk band.
