SXSW 2012

Tim Eriksen is acclaimed for transforming American tradition with his startling interpretations of old ballads, love songs, shape-note gospel and dance tunes from New England and Southern Appalachia. He combines hair-raising vocals with inventive accompaniment on banjo, fiddle, guitar and bajo sexto – a twelve-string Mexican acoustic bass – creating a distinctive hardcore Americana sound that ranges from the bare bones of solo unaccompanied singing on his album "Soul of the January Hills" (Appleseed 2010) through the stripped-down voice and bajo sexto Christmas album "Star in the East" (timeriksenmusic 2012), the old-time "Banjo, Fiddle and Voice" (timeriksenmusic 2012), to the lush, multi-layered arrangements on "Josh Billings’ Voyage," an upcoming album of northern roots American music.