Tim Eriksen

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2014}} {{Infobox musical artist  | name = Tim Eriksen | image = Timeriksen.jpg | caption = Tim Eriksen performing at the Iron Horse, Northampton, MA, Feb 29, 2008 | image_size =  | background = solo_singer | origin = Northampton, Massachusetts | instrument = Violin, banjo, guitar, vocalist, bass guitar, saraswati veena, bajo sexto | genre = Traditional folk, folk punk, punk rock, | occupation = Musicologist, professor | years_active = 1987–Present | label = | associated_acts = Cordelia's Dad, Trio de Pumpkintown, The Feral Woods | website = | }} '''Tim Eriksen''' (b. 1966)<ref>https://www.classical-scene.com/2024/10/24/blue-sun/</ref> 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''.<ref name="paste">{{cite web| url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/09/sacred-harp-in-an-strange-setting.html| title=Sacred Harp in a Strange Setting| last=Jackson| first=Josh| date=September 26, 2008| publisher=Paste Magazine| accessdate=2008-12-30}}</ref><ref name="mich">{{cite web| url=http://www.music.umich.edu/performances_events/carnegie_hall/bios.htm#Ericksen| publisher=University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance| accessdate=2008-12-30| title=TIM ERIKSEN| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910190908/http://www.music.umich.edu/performances_events/carnegie_hall/bios.htm#Ericksen| archivedate=September 10, 2010| df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E7DC123FF932A15752C1A9629C8B63| title=MUSIC: PLAYLIST; The Answer, My Friend, Is... Mono?| last=Hogeland| first=William| date=November 21, 2004| work=The New York Times| accessdate=2008-12-30}}</ref>

==Cordelia's Dad== {{main article|Cordelia's Dad}} Cordelia's Dad combines traditional/old-time music and punk rock influences to create a unique folk-punk 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.<ref name="masslive">{{cite news| url=http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2008/06/wednesday_folk_traditions_begi.html| title=Wednesday Folk Traditions begins at Porter Phelps| last=O'Connor| first=Keith J.| date=June 13, 2008| work=The Republican| location=Springfield, Massachusetts| accessdate=2008-12-30}}</ref>

==Musicologist== Eriksen successfully defended his PhD in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University in May 2015, 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.<ref name="amherst_bulletin">{{cite news| last=Wells| first=Bonnie| title=Singing the world acoustic: Tim Eriksen at the Iron Horse| url=http://www.amherstbulletin.com/story/id/138309/| accessdate=August 15, 2010| newspaper=Amherst Bulletin| date=May 1, 2009| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019153208/http://amherstbulletin.com/story/id/138309/| archivedate=October 19, 2010| df=mdy-all}}</ref> He has also taught in Poland and the Czech Republic.<ref name="paste"/> Additionally, Eriksen is a collector of variations of folk songs, and has conducted extensive research on traditional Yugoslavian music.<ref name="mich" /><ref name="amg">{{cite web| url={{AllMusic| class=artist| id=p287696/biography| pure_url=yes}}| title=Tim Eriksen: Biography| last=Mason| first=Stewart| publisher=Allmusic| accessdate=2014-02-27}}</ref> Eriksen shared his extensive knowledge of folk music while a consultant for the soundtrack of the film ''Cold Mountain''.<ref name="paste" /><ref name="mich" /> In 2011, Eriksen taught a class on the history of the Sacred Harp at Smith College.<ref name=sophian_eriksen>{{cite web|last=Leahy |first=Jackie |title=Faculty Member Tim Eriksen Releases New Star in the East Christmas Album |url=http://www.smithsophian.com/arts/faculty-member-tim-eriksen-releases-new-star-in-the-east-christmas-album-1.2728591#.T-te1rWe6So |work=The Sophian |accessdate=June 27, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316032153/http://www.smithsophian.com/arts/faculty-member-tim-eriksen-releases-new-star-in-the-east-christmas-album-1.2728591 |archivedate=March 16, 2012 }}</ref>

==Solo artist== Eriksen performed on the ''Cold Mountain'' soundtrack, singing with Riley Baugus on traditional songs such as "I Wish My Baby Was Born" and "The Cuckoo".<ref name="pop">{{cite web| url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/eriksentim-every/| title=Tim Eriksen: Every Sound Below| last=Metivier| first=Michael| date=September 10, 2004| publisher=PopMatters| accessdate=2008-12-30}}</ref> He was part of ''The Great High Mountain Tour'', which celebrated the traditional music of ''Cold Mountain'' and ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?''<ref name="bb">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/29/arts/music-review-in-praise-of-the-lord-and-fear-of-the-reaper-with-a-twang.html| title=MUSIC REVIEW; In Praise of the Lord and Fear of the Reaper, With a Twang | last=Pareles| first=Jon| date=May 29, 2004| work=The New York Times| accessdate=2014-10-27}}</ref>

T-Bone Burnett, the producer of the ''Cold Mountain'' soundtrack, had Eriksen teach performers the complex style of Sacred Harp singing.<ref name="santa_cruz_weekly">{{cite news| url=http://www.metrosantacruz.com/metro-santa-cruz/04.22.09/arts2music-0916.html| title=Northern Star| last=Hukill| first=Traci| date=April 22, 2009| work=Santa Cruz Weekly| accessdate=2009-10-24}}</ref>

Eriksen has also released seven solo albums: ''Tim Eriksen''; ''Every Sound Below''; ''Northern Roots Live In Namest''; ''Soul Of The January Hills''; ''Star in the East''; ''Banjo, Fiddle And Voice''; and ''Josh Billings Voyage or, Cosmopolite on the Cotton Road''. The 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".<ref name="pop"/>

The Sacred Harp documentary ''Awake, My Soul'''s 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."<ref name="paste" />

Eriksen has also been a guest on the radio show ''A Prairie Home Companion'', where he performed the traditional folk song "O, Death" on October 29, 2005.<ref>{{cite web| title=A Prairie Home Companion: October 29, 2005| url=http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2005/10/29/| publisher=NPR| accessdate=2014-10-27}}</ref> He also played Bosnian pop music with the band Zabe I Babe.<ref name="santa_cruz_weekly"/> In 2018, his arrangement, including an original tune, of the song "I Wish the Wars Were All Over" was recorded by Joan Baez on her 2018 album ''Whistle Down the Wind''.

==Personal life== Eriksen is a Christian,<ref>https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/tim-eriksen-on-gospel-punk-ethnomusicology-and-the-mim-6591631</ref> and describes himself as "religious as hell."<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct6vnp</ref> He was married to the ethnomusicologist Mirjana (Minja) Laušević, a native of Sarajevo and associate professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, until her death from a long illness in July 2007.<ref>https://www.amherst.edu/news/magazine/issue-archive/2007_summer/college_row/memoriam</ref><ref>https://musicgrads.blogs.wesleyan.edu/what-we-do/remembering-the-life-and-work-of-mirjana-lausevic-m-a-1994-ph-d-1998/</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://timeriksenmusic.com Official website] *[http://www.myspace.com/timeriksenmusic MySpace page]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksen, Tim}} Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:American rock songwriters Category:American rock singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American male guitarists Category:American musicologists Category:Old-time musicians Category:Entertainers from Northampton, Massachusetts Category:Wesleyan University alumni Category:Guitarists from Massachusetts Category:Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts Category:1966 births