Tim Eriksen Releases New CD, Launches Northeast US Tour Today, 10/23

Tim Eriksen will release "Josh Billings Voyage" today, October 23, 2012. Eriksen, a Northampton, MA native, transforms global fragments into a tale of an imaginary town, told with a keen emotional edge. The melody from the subcontinent now sung at the back of the school bus ("Hindoo Air"), the hit penned by 18th-century Native American college buddies ("When Shall We All Meet Again"), and the peculiar scratchings in the margins of old books all serve to tell a story that has fascinated Eriksen since childhood: how the past and what seems "elsewhere" resonate here, right now, in this small place.

To tell the story of the New England village of Pumpkintown, Eriksen draws subtly on decades of intensive study of the South Indian veena and its repertoire, on years of wrangling with the difficult but rewarding bajo sexto, and on a lifetime of singing deeply rooted, highly emotional traditional ballads. In Pumpkintown, young men set out on journeys over the sea, people live and love and die and dance, and the graveyard and hills mark time.

Eriksen will be promoting the new album on his tour, from October 20 through October 28. Dates and information are below.

10/20/2012, Sat
Putney, VT
Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill
Tickets: $16-$14
Show: 7:30 pm

10/21/2012, Sun
Cambridge, MA
Club Passim, 47 Palmer St.
Tickets: $20/$18,
Doors Open: 6:30 pm, Show: 8:00 pm
Phone: 617.492.7679

10/23/2012, Tue
Brooklyn, NY
Barbes, 376 9th St., Park Slope
Show: 7:00 pm
Phone: 347.422.0248

10/24/2012, Wed
Newtown, CT
Edmond Town Hall-Alexandria Room, 45 Main Street
Tickets: $15 door
Show: 7:30 pm

10/27/2012, Sat
Chestertown, MD
Prince Theater, 210 High St.
Show: 8:00 pm
Phone: 410.778.5954

10/28/2012, Sun
Philadelphia, PA
Calvary United Methodist Church, 812 South 48th Street
Tickets: $10-$30
Show: 7:30 pm
Phone: 215.729.1028

Photo Credit: Matous Vins