Erin McKeown (pronounced ) is an American

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

and folk-rock singer-songwriter. McKeown's music encompasses pop, swing,

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, folk, and

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

, as well as several other genres.

Music career

They grew up in

Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg wi ...

, and now live in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. McKeown began their career in the

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

scene. They released their first album, ''Monday Morning Cold'' in 1999 on their own label (TVP Records), travelling throughout New England while a student at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in order to promote the record. Although they had begun studying

ornithology Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

, they graduated from Brown with a degree in

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

. Early in their career, they collaborated with

Beth Amsel Beth Amsel is an American folk singer-songwriter. She grew up on Long Island and moved to Colorado at the age of thirteen. In 1997, she moved to the East Coast and joined the New England folk scene. In 1998, a reviewer described her as having a ...

Jess Klein Jess Klein (born 1974) is an American singer-songwriter. A native of Rochester, New York, Klein learned to play acoustic guitar and started writing songs as a college student in Kingston, Jamaica, while working on a thesis "documenting dub p ...

, and

Rose Polenzani Rose Polenzani (born March 7, 1975 in Waukesha, Wisconsin) is an American folk musician. She was raised in the Chicago area and attended Knox College before leaving to pursue a singing career. She is currently living in Boston, Massachusetts. S ...

; the four of them performed as

Voices on the Verge Voices on the Verge was an American folk, country, and rock band formed as a collaboration between four young, formerly-independent, female musicians: Jess Klein, Erin McKeown, Rose Polenzani, and Beth Amsel.Voices On The Verge Ready To Tour', B ...

. McKeown's 2005 album, ''

We Will Become Like Birds ''We Will Become Like Birds'' is the fourth album by Erin McKeown. It was released via Nettwerk Records in 2005 and features contributions from Juana Molina and Peter Mulvey Peter Mulvey (born September 6, 1969) is an American folk singer-so ...

'' (produced by

Tucker Martine Tucker Martine (born January 14, 1972) is an American record producer, musician and composer. In 2010, ''Paste'' Magazine included Martine in their list of the 10 Best Producers of the Decade. Early life Tucker Martine, the son of singer and son ...

), served as a departure from their earlier work, with a more rock-oriented sound. At a September 1, 2008, concert at The Gravity Lounge in

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

, Virginia, McKeown told the audience that they wrote this album "in an attempt to write myself out of the worst heartache I'd experienced up to that point." Their next studio release, '' Sing You Sinners'', was released in Europe on the 23 October 2006 and in the United States on January 9, 2007 by

Nettwerk Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk Management, and Nettwerk One Publishing. Established in 1984, the Vancouver-based company was created by Nettwerk principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record ...

. It consists mostly of covers of

jazz standards Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list ...

from the 1920s through 1950s. McKeown's record, ''Hundreds of Lions'', was released under

Righteous Babe Records Righteous Babe Records is an American independent record label that was created by folk singer Ani DiFranco in 1990 to release her own songs in lieu of being beholden to a mainstream record company. History Righteous Babe Records was originally ...

on October 13, 2009. McKeown is currently member of an unsigned band known as "emma", which they created with their friend Allison Miller. McKeown has plans to write a book of poetry.interview in Lesbilicious magazine
/ref> McKeown released "Manifestra" on January 15, 2013. Physical copies also came with a bonus album, "Civics", where they performed the entirety of "Manifestra" solo acoustic in an historic library. McKeown performs regularly, spending much of their time touring throughout the world with artists such as Ani DiFranco,

Josh Ritter Josh Ritter (born October 21, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author who performs and records with the Royal City Band. Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006, he was named one of ...

, the

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part o ...

Martin Sexton Martin Sexton Born March 2, 1966 is an American singer-songwriter and music producer. Early life Born in 1966, Sexton grew up in Syracuse, New York, the tenth of twelve children in a working class Irish-American family. He acquired his first ...

Andrew Bird Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing musi ...

Thea Gilmore Thea Eve Gilmore (born 25 November 1979), also known as Afterlight, is an English singer-songwriter. She has released more than twenty albums since her 1998 debut '' Burning Dorothy''. She has had three Top 40 entries on the UK Albums Chart and ...

Melissa Ferrick Melissa Ferrick (born September 21, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter. Her song "Drive" (2000) is considered a lesbian anthem. She is a music professor at Northeastern University and at Berklee College of Music. Early life Ferrick was ra ...

, Allison Miller,

Welcome to Night Vale ''Welcome to Night Vale'' is a podcast presented as a radio show for the fictional town of Night Vale, reporting on the strange events that occur within it. The series was created in 2012 by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. Published by Night Val ...

, and others. McKeown also took part in Queerstock, a music festival dedicated to promoting

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

musicians. McKeown is noted for their energetic stage presence and their habit of wearing tailored suits, often with ties and Fluevog shoes, to performances. They occasionally perform

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

music with the Beantown Swing Orchestra. McKeown was selected to be a 2011–2012 fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Berkman Center for Internet & Society The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society is a research center at Harvard University that focuses on the study of cyberspace. Founded at Harvard Law School, the center traditionally focused on internet-related legal issues. On May 15, 2008, ...

. There, they will "work to connect the worlds of policy, art, and technology while considering questions about how to make a creative life a viable vocation." In October 2016, a new musical McKeown wrote with the playwright

Quiara Alegría Hudes Quiara Alegría Hudes (born 1977) is an American playwright, producer, lyricist and essayist. She is best known for writing the libretto, book for the musical theatre, musical ''In the Heights,'' and screenplay for In the Heights (film), its film ...

titled '' Miss You Like Hell'' opened at the

La Jolla Playhouse La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. History La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under ...

directed by Lear deBessonet and starring

Daphne Rubin-Vega Daphne Rubin-Vega ( Vega; born November 18, 1969) is a Panamanian-American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is best known for originating the roles of Mimi Marquez in the Broadway musical ''Rent'' and Lucy in the Off-Broadway play ''J ...

."Know Before You Go: Miss You Like Hell"
lajollaplayhouse.org, 2016 The show opened Off-Broadway, April 20, 2018 at the

Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American ...

. A cast recording of the project was released October 5, 2018 on

Ghostlight Records Sh-K-Boom Records is an independent record label and producer of recorded and live entertainment, which was founded in 2000 by Kurt Deutsch with the mission of bridging the gap between pop music and theater. In 2004 Sh-K-Boom created their secon ...

.name=erinmckeown.co
date=2018-10-15/
/ref>

Discography

* '' Monday Morning Cold'' (TVP) (1999) * ''

Distillation Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separation process, separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distilla ...

'' (

Signature Sounds Signature Sounds Recordings is an independent record label specializing in Americana and modern folk music. Jim Olsen and Mark Thayer founded the label in 1995 to promote acoustic musicians who were playing in Northampton, Massachusetts. Signatu ...

) (October 10, 2000) * ''

Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and c ...

'' (

) (June 10, 2003) * ''

'' (Nettwerk) (June 28, 2005) * '' Sing You Sinners'' (Nettwerk) (January 9, 2007) * ''

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

'' (Live) (Signature Sounds) (September 25, 2007) * '' Small Deviant Things, vol. 1'' (TVP) (August 1, 2008) * '' Hundreds of Lions'' (

Righteous Babe Righteous Babe Records is an American independent record label that was created by folk singer Ani DiFranco in 1990 to release her own songs in lieu of being beholden to a mainstream record company. History Righteous Babe Records was originally c ...

) (October 13, 2009) * ''3 Songs'' feat. Marc Dalio and Matt Douglas (TVP) (December 7, 2010) * '' F*ck That! Erin McKeown's Anti-Holiday Album'' (TVP) (November 1, 2011) * '' MANIFESTRA'' (TVP) (January 15, 2013) * '' Small Deviant Things, vol. 2 + 3'' (TVP) (November 6, 2013) * '' According to Us'' (TVP) (June 24, 2016) * '' Mirrors Break Back'' (TVP) (March 31, 2017) * '' Miss You Like Hell (Original Cast Recording)'' (

) (October 5, 2018) * '' KISS OFF KISS'' (TVP) (September 24, 2021)

References

External links

Official home page
*http://articles.philly.com/2015-02-03/entertainment/58716262_1_erin-mckeown-tin-angel-balancing-act *http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/from_breathing_to_birdsong_erin_mckeown/

*
Interview with Erin McKeown
'
small WORLD Podcast
2006
Erin McKeown's April 2006 Daytrotter Recording Session
* https://web.archive.org/web/20080427012213/http://www.daytrotter.com/article/37/free-songs-erin-mckeown *
Interview with Erin McKeown
'
Lesbilicious Magazine
2008
Audio interview with Erin McKeown and Jill Sobule on Well-Rounded Radio
2009
Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour Show #552 - WMV VideoWoodsongs Old Time Radio Hour Show #552 - MP3 Audio
*Erin McKeown talks to th

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKeown, Erin 1977 births Living people American women singer-songwriters American rock songwriters American rock singers American folk guitarists American rock guitarists Brown University alumni American folk musicians American lesbian musicians LGBT songwriters Righteous Babe Records artists People from Fredericksburg, Virginia Berkman Fellows American multi-instrumentalists American LGBT singers Singer-songwriters from Virginia Guitarists from Virginia 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists Nettwerk Music Group artists Signature Sounds artists LGBT people from Virginia 21st-century American singers 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people