Tim Eriksen
Encyclopedia
Tim Eriksen is an American
musician
, musicologist, and professor
. He is the leader of the band Cordelia's Dad
, a solo artist, and was a performer and consultant for the award-winning soundtrack
of the film Cold Mountain
.
and punk rock
influences to create a unique sound. The Village Voice
describes the band as "semi-reformed punks turned shape-note singers...recently gone entirely acoustic, but buzzing with metaphorical electricity". The band has released nine full length albums, played festivals such as The Newport Folk Festival
, and toured with notable bands Nirvana
, Uncle Tupelo
, and Weezer
.
at Wesleyan University
, having received an M.A. in the same discipline from Wesleyan in 1993, and has served as a visiting music professor at Dartmouth College
, Amherst College
, Hampshire College
and the University of Minnesota
. He has also taught in Poland
and The Czech Republic
. Additionally, Eriksen is a collector of variations of folk songs, and has conducted extensive research on traditional Yugoslavian music
. Eriksen shared his extensive knowledge of folk music while a consultant for the soundtrack of the film Cold Mountain. Eriksen is currently teaching a class on the history of The Sacred Harp
at Smith College
.
on traditional songs such as "I Wish My Baby Was Born" and "The Cuckoo
". He was part of The Great High Mountain Tour, which celebrated the traditional music of Cold Mountain and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
T-Bone Burnett
, the producer of the Cold Mountain soundtrack, had Eriksen teach performers the complex style of Sacred Harp
singing.
Eriksen has also released four solo albums, Tim Eriksen, Every Sound Below, Northern Roots Live In Namest, and Soul Of The January Hills. Pop Matters review of Every Sound Below describes it as a "stunning mixture of traditional hymns, songs from the American Civil War
, and Eriksen’s own compositions".
The Sacred Harp documentary Awake, My Souls accompanying soundtrack Help Me to Sing: Songs of the Sacred Harp features a song by Eriksen and one by Cordelia's Dad. Paste Magazine describes Eriksen's performance of sacred harp songs at an Atlanta concert as "stand-out" and said Eriksen "was best at adapting the raw power of sacred harp to his own arrangements.
Eriksen has also been a guest on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion
, where he performed the traditional folk song "O, Death". He also played Bosnian Pop music with the band Zabe I Babe.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, musicologist, and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
. He is the leader of the band Cordelia's Dad
Cordelia's Dad
Cordelia's Dad is a band from Northampton, Massachusetts that combines folk and punk rock influences and was instrumental in the creation of the genre later to be dubbed "No Depression". The band formed in 1987 and was active until 1998, when the members relocated to different parts of the country...
, a solo artist, and was a performer and consultant for the award-winning soundtrack
Cold Mountain (soundtrack)
Cold Mountain is the original soundtrack of the 2003 film Cold Mountain starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger.The album won the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music and the World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack of the Year in 2003...
of the film Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain (film)
Cold Mountain is a 2003 war drama film written and directed by Anthony Minghella. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Charles Frazier...
.
Cordelia's Dad
Cordelia's Dad combines old-time musicOld-time music
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...
and punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
influences to create a unique sound. The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
describes the band as "semi-reformed punks turned shape-note singers...recently gone entirely acoustic, but buzzing with metaphorical electricity". The band has released nine full length albums, played festivals such as The Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
, and toured with notable bands Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville...
, and Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
.
Musicologist
Eriksen is a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicologyEthnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...
at Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
, having received an M.A. in the same discipline from Wesleyan in 1993, and has served as a visiting music professor at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
, Hampshire College
Hampshire College
Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1965 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts...
and the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. He has also taught in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and The Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. Additionally, Eriksen is a collector of variations of folk songs, and has conducted extensive research on traditional Yugoslavian music
Music of Yugoslavia
-Meaning:Music of Yugoslavia can mean:#Music of Kingdom of Yugoslavia .#Music of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which includes the music of its constituent republics: Socialist Republic of Slovenia, Socialist Republic of Croatia, Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,...
. Eriksen shared his extensive knowledge of folk music while a consultant for the soundtrack of the film Cold Mountain. Eriksen is currently teaching a class on the history of The Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note music.- The music and its notation :...
at Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
.
Solo artist
Eriksen performed on the Cold Mountain soundtrack, singing with Riley BaugusRiley Baugus
Riley Baugus is an American old-time guitarist, banjo player, fiddler, singer and instrument builder from North Carolina.-Background and Career:...
on traditional songs such as "I Wish My Baby Was Born" and "The Cuckoo
The Cuckoo (song)
"The Cuckoo" is a traditional English folk song. It has been covered by many musicians in several different styles. An early notable recorded version was performed by Appalachian folk musician Clarence Ashley with a unique banjo tuning....
". He was part of The Great High Mountain Tour, which celebrated the traditional music of Cold Mountain and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is the soundtrack of music from the 2000 American film of the same name, written, directed and produced by the Coen Brothers and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Goodman....
T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...
, the producer of the Cold Mountain soundtrack, had Eriksen teach performers the complex style of Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note music.- The music and its notation :...
singing.
Eriksen has also released four solo albums, Tim Eriksen, Every Sound Below, Northern Roots Live In Namest, and Soul Of The January Hills. Pop Matters review of Every Sound Below describes it as a "stunning mixture of traditional hymns, songs from the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and Eriksen’s own compositions".
The Sacred Harp documentary Awake, My Souls accompanying soundtrack Help Me to Sing: Songs of the Sacred Harp features a song by Eriksen and one by Cordelia's Dad. Paste Magazine describes Eriksen's performance of sacred harp songs at an Atlanta concert as "stand-out" and said Eriksen "was best at adapting the raw power of sacred harp to his own arrangements.
Eriksen has also been a guest on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
, where he performed the traditional folk song "O, Death". He also played Bosnian Pop music with the band Zabe I Babe.