Tim Eriksen, “one of the best singers in music” according to T-Bone Burnette, is a performer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and author living in Western Massachusetts. He is best known for a hardcore Americana sound that unites a mastery of traditional American folk styles with innovative arrangement, original and experimental music.
Early trained in South Indian classical music, Eriksen has established himself through punk, world and indie rock in bands including the influential Cordelia’s Dad (post-punk and folk) and Žabe I Babe (Bosnian folk and rock). His original songs have been recorded by artists including Alison Krauss and Joan Baez and appeared in films including the recent feature length documentary Behold the Earth and Billy Bob Thornton’s Chrystal. With his longtime involvement in Sacred Harp or “shape-note” singing he has helped spearhead an international revival of the music, teaching workshops across North America, Europe and as far abroad as Singapore.
Eriksen holds a P.h.D. ethnomusicology. As a professor he has taught at Amherst, Smith, Hampshire and Dartmouth Colleges, Wesleyan University and the University of Minnesota. As an applied ethnomusicologist he worked with a team led by Target CEO Bob Ulrich to conceptualize the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, opened in 2010. Eriksen’s media appearances have included Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage and the Academy Awards, and among other unusual biographical details, he is the only performer to have shared a stage with both Kurt Cobain and Doc Watson.
At CLICK he will be joined by singing fiddler extraordinaire Zoë Darrow and longtime Cordelia’s Dad bandmate Peter Irvine on percussion and voice.
Tickets are $12 in advance through Eventbrite (service fees apply). Online sales end January 18th at 5pm, after which any remaining tickets will be available at the door for $15.
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This program is supported in part by a grant from the Northampton Arts Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.