Josh Billings Voyage or, Cosmopolite on the Cotton Road

by Tim Eriksen

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Adam Scott I found Tim's music through the movie Cold Mountain, from then on out I became a dedicated fan of his performances, and of the history behind his work in the music he sings and plays. Favorite track: A Thousand Times Adieu.

Derek Piotrowicz One of my favorite musicians these days. Take a listen and you will see why. Favorite track: Gabriel's Trumpet.

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Full Digital Discography

8

releases

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Josh Billings Voyage or, Cosmopolite on the Cotton Road, Banjo, Fiddle and Voice, Star In The East, Soul of the January Hills, Northern Roots Live in Náměšť, Every Sound Below, Tim Eriksen, and Northampton Harmony - The Hookes' Regular Sing. , and , .

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1.	Every Day Is Three 04:14	buy track
2.	Bonny Bay of Biscay 02:18	buy track
3.	How Come That Blood 03:44	buy track
4.	Mountains of Pomeroy 03:20	buy track
5.	Roslin Castle 06:08	buy track
6.	Hindoo Air 01:26	buy track
7.	Philadelphia 03:24	buy track
8.	A Thousand Times Adieu 03:48	buy track
9.	The Lover's Mistake 02:48	buy track
10.	The Mice 03:42	buy track
11.	Gabriel's Trumpet 06:36	buy track
12.	Song of the Old Folks (Auld Lang Syne) 03:19	buy track
13.	When Shall We All Meet Again 02:48	buy track

about

Like the quiet disturbance of mice in an old house, far-flung connections are everywhere, even in the remotest village—and have subtly changed the nature of music. For singer, composer, and thoughtful listener to tradition, Tim Eriksen, these bits and pieces are not curiosities, but part of a net of lived experience that defies time and geographic distance, that unites the hills of Western Massachusetts with the shores of Madras and Zanzibar.

On Josh Billings Voyage (release: October 23, 2012), Eriksen 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”), 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.

“I’ve been fascinated by the presence of the world in every place, and the presence of every place in the world. The influence of travel and contact on music in small places,” Eriksen explains. “When people talk about traditional music or folk songs, they often imply isolation. But even in the smallest places, travel has more to do with how music develops than isolation does. By making this sideways, half-told story, I can get at a number of things by implication, that take me hours to say in complete sentences.”

To tell this story, 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.

“It struck me early on that ‘Yankee’ culture has always been deeply multicultural, in ways that may not be as obvious as the kinds of hyphenated multiculturalism that is most often talked about,” Eriksen reflects. “It's the kind of multiculturalism that's invisible if you don’t recognize the distinctions or sources of influence.”

Tristra Newyear Yaeger, Rock Paper Scissors, Inc.

credits

released October 23, 2012

Tim Eriksen - voice, bajo sexto, fiddle (4, 9), banjo (11), bowed banjo (1), electric guitar (10. 12)
with
Peter Irvine - frame drum, tambourine, drums
Laura Risk - fiddle (4,7)
Eliza Cavanaugh - voice (10, 12)
Garrett Sawyer - bass (12)
Silas Billings III - bowed glockenspiel (1), non-bowed glockenspiel (8, 9, 10), great fife (3), electric guitar (12)
Reliance (Pat) Billings-Knedlik - trumpet (12)
Citizens of Pumpkintown - chorus(12)

All original elements (c) Tim Eriksen BMI

Recorded by Garrett Sawyer at Northfire Recording Studio, Amherst, MA
Produced by Tim Eriksen and Magdalena Eriksen
Mastered by Jeff Lipton, Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA
Assistant Mastering Engineer: Maria Rice

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about

Tim Eriksen Amherst, Massachusetts

“One of the best singers in music”
-T Bone Burnett

"otherworldly"
-Barbara Kingsolver

“Among the world’s finest folk practitioners”
-Toronto Star

“The best ballad singer of his generation”
-BBC Radio ... more

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