Tim Eriksen is an American musician, musicologist and professor from Northampton, Massachusetts. Born in 1965, he is active from 1987 and works as a solo artist and as the leader of Cordelia’s Dad. He is also associated with Žabe i Babe and Northampton Harmony.

Background and training

Eriksen grows up in New England, where he is surrounded by his parents’ singing and by natural sounds. He develops an early interest in American history and early music, while also hearing The Beatles, Kiss and Motörhead. After his family moves to Long Island, he encounters the Ramones and becomes involved in hardcore, punk and garage bands, including The Lobster Men.

He studies the seven-string vina for ten years, including during four years at Amherst College. While at Amherst, he and friends begin singing together in the shape-note tradition, especially from the 1844 Sacred Harp songbook. He also studies Indian classical music and listens closely to composers such as Edgard Varèse, George Crumb, Harry Partch and Krzysztof Penderecki, alongside blues musicians including Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Cordelia’s Dad and related projects

The Lobster Men gradually develop into Cordelia’s Dad, described as an acoustic/electric “folk noise” band. The group records several albums, including Spine for Appleseed in 1998, and builds a following in Europe. Eriksen later revives the band and continues to lead it, while also recording and touring as a solo performer.

After returning to the United States, he joins Northampton Harmony with friends and later forms the Bosnian/Balkan group Žabe i Babe with his future wife and fellow ethnomusicology student, Minja Lausevic. During the early 1990s he is in graduate school and tours the United States, England and Europe with Northampton Harmony, Cordelia’s Dad and Žabe i Babe. These groups appear on MTV, the BBC, CBC, Belgian National Television, All India Radio and the syndicated radio programme Mountain Stage.

Research, teaching and recordings

Eriksen studies at Wesleyan University and carries out ethnomusicological research with Lausevic in the United States and abroad. He serves as visiting professor of American Music at Dartmouth College and the University of Minnesota. He also immerses himself in the Sacred Harp singing community.

He helps bring the Frank and Anne Warner archive recordings of traditional American songs to commercial release in 2000 as Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still and Nothing Seems Better to Me on Appleseed Recordings.

Film and collaborations

Eriksen contributes to the soundtrack of Cold Mountain as both performer and consultant. He is the off-screen singing voice for Brendan Gleeson’s character and coaches Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Romanian extras in shape-note singing for the film’s Sacred Harp songs. He also organises and performs in the chorus backing Alison Krauss at the 2004 Academy Awards telecast for “The Crimson Tide”.

His collaborators include T Bone Burnett, Billy Bob Thornton, Joe Boyd, Steve Albini, K. S. Subramanian, Tony Trischka, Yo Yo Ma and Martin Carthy.

Reception

Mojo praises Cordelia’s Dad for its treatment of American folk traditions, while FRoots describes Eriksen’s music as spare and compelling and calls him “a balladeer of the best kind”.