You may have come across my multitude of posts through various social media sites, but we are raising money to fund our first full-length record in just two weeks!
Here is the official campaign site to share and pre-order the album through. Thanks so much for your support!
Hope you like pictures!
There are pleeenty more where these came from. I mean, hundreds. A bit overkill. Maybe.
I just haven’t been able to get enough of this beautiful country. I landed in Switzerland on the 18th of September, met by my wonderful, generous host Jean-Luc Berkovits. If you’re wondering at all how this trip was made possible, it is because of this guy, and his investment in music. I met Jean-Luc in Nashville almost two years ago now while he was studying with Brett Manning to become a vocal coach. Now, he has been back and in business at JLBStudios here in Tannay, Switzerland guiding folks of all ages to more knowledge about their own voices, as well as organizing a show series called “Nashville Nights”.
Annalisa Nutt (Arkansas, soon to move to Nashville) and I were the lucky ones for the 2nd of what will hopefully be many more “Nashville Nights” and have had a truly wonderful time here, complete with a boat trip over to Ivory, France, a day in The Alps, several pink sunsets, and lots of bread, cheese, and chocolate. I leave tomorrow to return to Nashville, and I cannot believe 12 days have passed so quickly.
Special thanks to Ben at La Parenthese in Nyon, Switzerland, Dawid at Bleu Lezard in Lusanne, and Clare and Sebastian at Cafe Nemo in Geneva. These are wonderful, wonderful people, passionate about investing in music and providing great venues and lovely, lovely hospitality.
Still to come will be the release of some neat covers we filmed in the mountains here for Jean-Luc’s Youtube channel. Annalisa covered “Delicate” by Damien Rice, and we covered “Fake Empire” by The National. Mei Fa Tan was our talented filmmaker, and I cannot wait to see what she did with the beautiful scenery and her camera. Those are to be released before the end of the year.
Also, I’ll be adding a tab strictly for tour dates to the site now, where you can find all the information for my upcoming tour with Courtney Marie Andrews (Seattle), beginning at The Stone Fox in Nashville on October 8th.
Looking forward to developing all these film rolls I’ve filled on this trip.. hopefully some turn out and are worthy of sharing=]
xox
Erin Rae
So, I first had the pleasure of meeting Eratosthenes, or Tos as we call him, in October of last year. I went up to Seattle for the CD release show for my friends Lower Lights Burning at Columbia City Theatre (love that space) and spent the weekend tagging along for all of their festivities. On Sunday of that weekend, Graydon and Amanda took me to Ballard, where theres a cool open mic at Conor Byrne Pub. Tos met us there and we walked down to the water and filmed my first “Ballard Session”.
The first thing you’ll notice about Tos is his wonderful hair. Never have i known a man with such a voluminous mane of hair, and I’m willing to bet you haven’t either. Its amazing. BUT. Thats not why we’re here. What you’ll soon learn after any interaction with him, is that he is such a sweet, open spirit. He creates these beautiful videos that capture artists in their element, and he does them so so well. I recently had the pleasure of hosting Tos here in Nashville during one of the hottest and most humid weeks in Tennessee history, which he was SUCH a trooper about. I filled our days trying to fit in as much Nashville stuff as possible, Historic Franklin, Kimbro’s Pickin’ Parlor, Puckett’s Grocery, The Full Moon Pickin’ Party, as well as all the trespassing we did to film “Ballard Sessions” with as many people as we could fit in. He went along for it all, and I am so grateful for the conversations we had and the adventures we went on.
Tos, your art is a beautiful gift, and I’m so grateful for you, and to get to share what you do with everyone I know. Thank you for the gift of you! Love you!
Here are a couple of examples of The Ballard Sessions. Enjoy=]
I heard of Nathan before I knew who he was. He’s had a shoe-gazey hip-hop project for a number of years called Spoken Nerd based out of Nashville, TN. Nathan has had a great influence and impact in the hip-hop and indie music community here in Nashville and is an all around great guy. I first met him a couple years ago when he became roommates with Ian Lincoln, who I was starting to play music with and befriend at the time. I was intimidated by Nathan for so long, because he’s HILARIOUS, and I wanted him to think I was funny, too, but that made me think too much so I hardly talked the first few times I was around him.
This past winter, I caught wind of Nathan and Ian planning a month-long tour for May of this year, and since I sing with Ian in the project Beards, I asked Nathan if I could tag along. He said I could if I learned his songs and performed with Spoken Nerd as well, so I did just that! Not only is Nathan one of the greatest entertainers/ performers/ comedians I’ve had the pleasure to know, but he is SO generous with the knowledge he’s acquired in his years of making great music. I was able to learn so much about touring as an independent artist, and meet a ton of wonderful people, and see more of the country than i’d ever seen. I was able to ride along with out the stress of planning the whole thing, and just watch and learn from him and other musicians we met, and learn a lot about myself and how I want to proceed with my own music career. It was definitely a shifting point for me in perspective and of course an eye-opening experience. Every time I get to travel somewhere new there’s the opportunity to learn and grow- and for this most recent experience I am SO grateful to Nathan for having me along.
Check out Nathan’s work here.
Here’s a little take-away show Ian shot for us while we were in Pittsburg, PA!
Okay, So with the exception of the one of Ian, I realize that these don’t exactly scream “tour photos”. But! I also figure that just a bunch of pictures of us looking the same behind mics on different stages wouldn’t quite capture the adventures that we had during the month of May. I also failed to announce this tour on this site because I’m new at the internet game and I only shared things via Facebook and Twitter. #sosorry
I went out solo on a Northeastern US tour with Spoken Nerd and Beards, performing my own music, as well as pairing with both of the other acts. We went all over the place, from Louisville, KY to Portland, ME, and back down and over as far west as Chicago, IL. So many adventures, so many great new friends, and so much good experience that I now have under my belt.
I’ll share more photos from the trip with you as I get them developed, but y’all, they upped the prices while I was gone, and i’m budgeting for the final mixing and release of my EP!! As well as a two week mini-tour in Scotland with Miss Amanda Sue Winterhalter!! So, I will now be updating this regularly with the latest details.
Be well!
By now, you’re hopefully aware that this coming Sunday is Mother’s Day, so I thought it would be appropriate to feature my lovely mother, Christie Bates. She is an incredible woman, and has taught me so much, and been so incredibly supportive of all of my creative endeavors- from learning to draw pointy elbows in art class, to a bookmark business in 2nd grade, to fiddle lessons, to allowing me to live with her while I work part-time and record an album. I can’t begin to explain how grateful I am for the gift of such supportive parents.
My mom is an incredibly intuitive, compassionate, brilliant, hilarious, loving human being. She has always known how I’m doing before I’m even aware of it, and has validated my experiences throughout life. I grew up hearing her sing- her low, warm, beautiful voice- and reading her poetry, and her writing, and so much more. I actually am feeling really overwhelmed by trying to write this, because there is so much ground I want to cover. SO. I will wrap up my mushy rambling, and direct you to the link to buy her first published book- Accepting Your Resurection and also to her blog.
I hope to record a project with both her and my sister. I just want everyone I know to have the pleasure of hearing her sing, and reading her poetry, and be in her presence!
I love you, Momma (Christie=) )
Thank God for the gift of you.
I met Graham first at Cafe Coco (see- I told you, I meet everyone there!!) show, shortly after he had moved to town. He offered to play drums for me if I ever needed it, and we traded info but neither one of us followed up, as it usually goes. Fast forward about 8 months, and we re-meet through my friend Cori LeCain, and we all started hanging out all the time. A few months later, Graham started playing with our band The Means, which consisted of Cori LeCain, Ben Ewen, and myself. Graham started to really encourage me about playing my own music, and over time decided to make a record with me! So what I’m getting at here is that Graham is the reason I’m about to have an EP to release.
Graham is not only one of the greatest friends a person could ask for- so giving and encouraging and hilarious- but he is a brilliant musician. One of the best drummers I’ve ever seen, a great songwriter, and a great producer. He has the gift of really being able to see a song in a full, fleshed out way, a gift that i hope to see used more and more with many other people… like Ben Ewen??!! eh? Anyway. He’s toured with a handful of artists- Andrew Belle, and currently Canon Blue to name a couple. I feel so fortunate to have this guy as a friend and on my team musically. I’ve learned so much from him already, and I can’t wait to learn more and continue working with him.
Here is a link to some of his own music- which is AMAZING.
http://www.myspace.com/123latenights
And also, a video of Graham, Cori, and I (The Meanwhiles) covering Feist’s “Gatekeeper” last summer.
If you were to read each and every post here, and continued to follow this blog, you would soon notice that many of my connections have stemmed from the open mic night at Cafe Coco in Nashville. I spent/spend a LOT of time there, especially in the first year or so. It is a watering hole of creative beings and eclectic personalities, which has really fed me in so many ways. Last summer, I happened into the open mic after not having been for a while, and caught Daniel Kirkwood’s set. I had arrived pretty late in the evening, so i signed up last, and I planned to talk to Daniel after the show about playing together sometime. BUT, he started to walk out right before I played, and with out thinking I jumped up and said, “DON’T LEAVE!”, and then proceeded to say very awkwardly that if he liked my voice I would love to sing harmony for him sometime. Honestly, until five minute ago, I had forgotten that’s how we met and now I’m embarrassed to tell you. Anyway, he and his girlfriend did stay, and he did like my voice, and he happened to be in town from ALASKA for a couple of weeks to begin recording his album! So, we talked turkey and other poultry and I came to the studio a few days later. He recently just returned to Nashville for a few weeks to record some more, and add some finishing touches to what we had down last year, and I took these photos this time. Daniel’s music is really cool, and I’m really proud and honored to be part of this project! Jamison Sevits recorded and produced the project, and a handful of other talented musicians as well! We plan on having an official cd release show in Nashville at some point this summer, but until then, check out Dan’s band camp to hear the sounds! And below is a live take of a song a few weeks back.
Thank you, Daniel, for the gift of you!
Oh you guys. So previously I introduced you to Graydon Holden, a great friend/musician from Shelton, WA. This lovely lady, Amanda Sue Winterhalter, is the other member of Lower Lights Burning that I’ve come to know and call my friend. I don’t know what is in the water out there in the Pacific Northwest, but I have met some of the sweetest, giving-est, talented-est people i’ve ever known in the great state of Washington. Por Ejemplo, I had only spent less than 24 hours with Amanda and a group of friends, and she opened up her home to me a few months later, and then again just last week! I could go on and on about the loyalty Amanda has for her friends, but that list would go on forever, and that’s only part of what I want y’all to see. I met her because she was singing harmony and playing keys and accordion and THEN. I had the pleasure of hearing one of her own songs the next day, and she’s so talented. Her lyrics and voice and melodies are so pure and sweet, and speak of the human experience, especially in this song. I just want everyone to hear it. I am so lucky to have this lady as my good friend, and cannot wait to see what develops in her solo career.
Love you, Amanda Sue!
Thank you for the gift of you!
erinraemusic 