New old sound

Combining old-timey sounds with a post-modern sensibility

By:Susan Van Dongen

border="1" align="center" width="320" height="350" alt="Erin McKeown makes her droopy stockings and farm-frau ensemble look chic — perhaps it’s the addition of the spit-curled ‘do.">

size="-1" color="black"> Erin McKeown makes her droopy stockings and farm-frau ensemble look chic — perhaps it’s the addition of the spit-curled ‘do.

   Studying the back cover of Erin McKeown’s new album, Distillation, one might ask "What’s with the Gladys Ormphy falling-down bag-lady stockings?"
   Of course, Ms. McKeown is only 23 years old, so it is unlikely she remembers Gladys Ormphy — the Laugh-In character created by Ruth Buzzi, famous for an unflattering hairnet and baggy legwear.
   Yet, Ms. McKeown makes her droopy stockings and farm-frau ensemble look chic — perhaps it’s the addition of the spit-curled ‘do. Or maybe it’s the banjo she wields across her lap, which looks to be about as tall as she is.
   The front cover has her in a thoughtful Edith Piaf-esque pose with a cathedral radio in the background — perhaps an homage to the Tin Pan Alley and old-timey sounds that flavor her music.
   "I brought the cathedral radio along to the shoot as a prop," Ms. McKeown says. "It’s actually a tape deck, but we turned it around so you can’t see the tape player. So, yes, it is an homage to the standards — a twisted one."
   Whatever she and her cohorts — including Nields’ bassist Dave Chalfant — are doing, it is earning considerable praise. The Providence Phoenix says, "McKeown has enough post-modern sensibility and phrase-twisting to make Elvis Costello blush." With Distillation, listeners have heard elements of pop, blues, jazz, funk and even tongue-in-cheek cowboy twang.

border="1" align="center" width="330" height="225" alt="The cover of Ms. McKeown’s new "Distillation" album shows her in a thoughtful Edith Piaf-esque pose with a cathedral radio/tape player in the background.">

size="-1" color="black">The cover of Ms. McKeown’s new "Distillation" album shows her in a thoughtful Edith Piaf-esque pose with a cathedral radio/tape player in the background.

   Be prepared to hear any and all of this when Erin McKeown brings her trunkful of crafty new songs to the Unitarian Universalist Church in Titusville Dec. 2, opening for Grey Eye Glances.
   Describing herself as a mixture of Django Reinhardt and G. Love, Ms. McKeown says she’s always loved all kinds of music, but has a special place in her heart for early American "trunk songs," vaudeville and blackface minstrels. Those were her primary studies as a Brown University ethnomusicology major.
   "I don’t know why I connected with old-time music, but the interest has always been there," she says. "People assume there’s some connection between my ethnomusicology studies and my music, but there isn’t."
   Critics have heard everything from Dan Hicks to Hoagie Carmichael in her songs, especially the retro-flavored "Didn’t They?" This particular song also has listeners buzzing about its subject matter.

border="1" align="center" width="255" height="360" alt="Critics have heard everything from Dan Hicks to Hoagie Carmichael in Ms. McKeown’s songs.">

size="-1" color="black"> Critics have heard everything from Dan Hicks to Hoagie Carmichael in Ms. McKeown’s songs.

   "Some have wondered if it’s a ‘coming out’ narrative, but it’s not," Ms. McKeown says. "It’s just a little ditty I wrote watching another songwriter work. I’m glad it’s getting such a great response though."
   Ms. McKeown says "Didn’t They?" was mixed in mono — like the Rodgers and Hart piece "You Mustn’t Kick It Around," also on Distillation.
   "We weren’t trying to be self-consciously retro," she says. "It honestly worked out best that way. But (the mono mix) contributes to the feeling and the sound."
   Distillation — which Ms. McKeown financed herself — was written and recorded in a farmhouse in western Massachusetts over a series of winter weekends. Much of the material was basically done live, including "Didn’t They?" — recorded in one room with a carefully placed microphone in the center.
   The native of Fredericksburg, Va. — a little Civil War town — played piano and guitar as a child and grew up with "pretty mainstream taste in music," she says. "I listened to whatever was on pop radio, whatever was on MTV. I just recently started collecting CDs."
   Proficient on bass, piano, electric and acoustic guitars, banjo and mandolin, she’s come a long way in the five years she’s been touring to support her original material. Ms. McKeown has played to enthusiastic crowds on both coasts, from The Bottom Line in Greenwich Village to the Tractor Tavern in Seattle. She just came off a sold-out gig at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia — two songs from Distillation are enjoying airplay on WXPN.
   She’s also played the Middle East in Cambridge, a buzz-bin for alterna-folk and other new styles of music. "It’s a great rock club," she says. "A great place to play."

border="1" align="center" width="330" height="238" alt="With music, I see no theoretical difference between work and play. It’s fun. I enjoy it, but I get paid for it," Ms. McKeown says.">

size="-1" color="black"> With music, I see no theoretical difference between work and play. It’s fun. I enjoy it, but I get paid for it," Ms. McKeown says.

   "I enjoy playing live, but I also like being in the studio," says Ms. McKeown, who spent the last few days mixing her upcoming EP. "You work very hard in the studio. In music, every moment involves 15 to 20 choices. It’s like orchestration but without the notation."
   The EP will be available for fans and radio stations after Christmas — like a snack to hold folks over before the next full album. Ms. McKeown plans an extended tour in spring 2001 to support Distillation — starting out on the West Coast and working her way back through the South, then hitting the summer festival circuit.
   In three years of traveling, she’s shared the stage with such leading lights as Jonathan Richman, Dar Williams and Ani DiFranco. Ms. McKeown has also collected her share of awards, including the Providence Phoenix’s 2000 award for Best Folk Artist and a 2000 Boston Music Award nomination for outstanding new singer-songwriter.
   It’s all still a whirlwind for the sprightly chanteuse, who stands just about five feet tall.
   "With music, I see no theoretical difference between work and play," she says. "It’s fun. I enjoy it, but I get paid for it. So I don’t draw the distinction. I guess it’s because I like what I do."
   Erin McKeown shares the stage with Grey Eye Glances at the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington’s Crossing, 268 Washington Crossing-Pennington Rd., Titusville, Dec. 2, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $15. For information, call (215) 862-1917 or visit www.erinmckeown.com.