Viewing: Blues News From Erin - View all posts

Upcoming show news! Wake Up The Earth Festival, Johnny D's, Cafe 939 & "Ladies of the Blues" 

The Delta Swingers are playing the Wake Up The Earth Festival this year! It's on Saturday May 7th in Jamaica Plain

Then, we just booked a show at Johnny D's on Wednesday May 18th, so all you Somervillans mark your calendars!

Then I make a few rare solo appearances. On Thursday, May 19th Erin plays an opening set at Cafe 939 with David Mayfield Parade and Jack Grace, this show is $10, all ages and Erin's set is at 8pm. Then on Saturday, May 21st the Boston Blues Society presents "Ladies of the Blues" at The Bull Run in Shirley, an all-women show featuring 10 local blueswomen, from the up-and-coming to local legends Toni Lynn Washington and Shirley Lewis.


UPCOMING DELTA SWINGERS SHOWS:

Saturday May 7th
Wake Up The Earth Festival
Southwest Corridor at Stony Brook T on the Orange Line, Jamaica Plain, MA
12pm-6pm, Free, All Ages!
The Delta Swingers are on the Moon Stage at 12:45pm-1:30pm


Wednesday, May 18th
Johnny D's
17 Holland St., Somerville, MA


SOLO APPEARANCES:

Thursday May 19th
Cafe 939

939 Boylston St., Boston MA,
8pm, $10, all ages
w/David Mayfield Parade and Jack Grace

Saturday, May 21, The Boston Blues Society Presents "Ladies of the Blues" at Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Rd., Shirley, MA, w/Toni Lynn Washington, Shirley Lewis, Cheryl Aruda, Diane Blue, Gracie Curran, Cindy Daley, Carolyn Waters, Lisa Marie, and Lydia Warren. For more info on the performers check out the event page

And a note about our new DOWNLOADS page. You can now download select tracks FREE,  pay-what-you-want for albums and tracks, and stream full songs here!

Bill Copeland interviews Erin about Memphis and the IBC! 

Here's the article, featured right now on Bill Copeland Music News:

Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers recently returned to Boston after competing in the International Blues Competition in Memphis. The band got as far as the semi-finals, and, although they didn’t make it into the finals, they still value their experience and their memories of Memphis.

Winning the Boston Blues challenge months earlier was a huge high. Harpe was surprised, though. The other bands were electric and heavier sounding. “How can we beat them with our little old Delta blues,” she said she had asked herself at the time.

“I think it was really close.” After that victory, Harpe and her Delta Swingers received support from the Boston Blues Society who had hosted the Boston contest. Fundraising efforts featuring Harpe and many other notable local players made it possible for this band from Jamaica Plain to go to Memphis. As time went by, Harpe and her boys became more sure of themselves.

Aside from Harpe who sings and plays acoustic guitar, her band features bass player Jim Countryman, harmonica player Richard “Rosy” Rosenblatt, and drummer/vocalist Bob Nisi. Heading down to Memphis, Harpe and her band mates got themselves psyched up and confident, and Harpe kept saying, ’We’re gonna win! We‘re gonna win.’”

Harp and her band mates befriended down there a blues band from Israel. Harpe had read an article about these Israelis players, and, at the end of the article they too were saying they’re going to win.

“We realized there were a hundred and thirty bands out there going, ‘We’re gonna win!” After their first night, Harpe and her Delta swingers were at a jam at an old theater called The New Daisy when they found out they had won. Competition officials were making the rounds to each venue to announce the winners at that stage of the game.

“When they got to our venue, we thought something was up because the guy who was MCing every night came running out, and they said he’s going to do the announcement for this one.”

The announcer had gotten more excited about Harpe’s band each night when they were playing the first two quarter finals. He came up to make the announcement, and after he had announced they won, Harpe and her band mates got very excited and started screaming with glee. Yet, they didn’t get any further than the semi-final. Harpe said that her band mate, Richard “Rosy” Rosenblatt,” had just recently received their copy of the judges scores.

“From what Rosy said, it sounded like one of the judges wasn’t as into what we were doing,” she said, “but everybody else loved us.” One of the other judges came up to Harpe excitedly and gushed. Harpe wasn’t sure if a judge was even supposed to offer such a glowing personal opinion.

Competition was really tight during the semi-finals. The club was crowded with people wearing their best outfits. Harpe felt she had finally hit the big times when she saw that an official from Alligator Records was one of the judges. Other bands were asking her to stay around to check out their sets.

In these Memphis contests, the talent caliber of any given band usually stands no chance against the personal preferences of the judges. Harpe feels that her band has a unique approach to blues in that they‘re a Delta influenced band and that most players playing that brand of blues usually play it in a solo or duo format.

“I think we were probably something unique and out of the ordinary, definitely. But there were a lot of people doing Delta stuff that were like duo or solo. I think it was a little of both. I think we were something different because there were a lot of Chicago style blues bands.”

Harpe didn’t have time to socialize with judges, but the few she talked to liked her band a lot. After watching bands play for six to seven hours a day, the judges may have thought Harpe and her Delta swingers were a breath of fresh air.

“It’s pretty respectable to have gotten to the semi finals,” she said. “My friends from the Israeli band didn’t even make it to the semi finals. So, that’s hard. You go all the way down there and don’t even go to the semi finals.”

Harpe said the experience was well worth the time and effort she and her band mates put into it. “The blues scene isn’t really that big around the world. They all really came together. A lot of different people came down to see us.”

Harpe got a chance to meet people who book festivals in Europe and internationally. “We couldn’t have done that anywhere else,” she said.

With their competition cut short by the judges, Harpe had time for sight-seeing. She and her band mates checked out the Stax museum, Sun recording studio, an awards show, and drummer Nisi went to Graceland.

Sitting in on Bob Margolin’s blues jam at Rum Boogie on Beale Street on Saturday night was the most memorable experience. After getting through the first song without incident, Harpe broke her acoustic guitar and her to play the second tune, “Virtual Booty Blues” with Margolin’s electric. The scene will appear in a video to be posted on the band’s website and social networking sites. Other footage will also appear as the band brought a videographer with them to Memphis so their entire journey would take place in front of a camera.

The next step for Harpe and the Delta Swingers will take place this Monday when they land in Austin, Texas to play at a venue near the South By Southwest Conference and Festival. The band want to play festivals this summer and they also hope to tour.

The Memphis line-up of Harpe’s blues band is still together and their future goal is to make a full length.

Harpe’s Afro-pop band LoveWhip is still intact and it will play together again in April as a larger band than the three piece it has been in recent years.

See the original article

MEMPHIS! Here we come! 

This week we leave for Memphis! When we check in at the International Blues Challenge on Wednesday, they will tell us when our first performance will be, which we will post right here on our website! Wed. & Thurs. we'll play in the same venue for two nights for the Quarter Finals. Then if we progress to the next round we'll do the Semi-Finals, and if we do well enough we'll move on to the Finals at the historic Orpheum on Saturday afternoon!

We've got a great set ready for the competition! Gonna knock 'em dead with some new originals: the Delta Swing and Love Whip Blues, as well as some classics you all know and love. Hopefully we'll post some video of parts of the set this week, and we'll take you along on some adventures we have in Memphis, Home of the Blues!

We'll keep you up-to-date with venue info, pics and videos from the IBC all week here on the website. You can also keep up with us at our FaceBook page!

Beale Street here we come!

-Erin & the Delta Swingers (Jim, Rosy & Bob)

One day left in our Kickstarter Campaign to go to MEMPHIS! 

Our fundraising for Memphis is about to wrap up, with our online Kickstarter campaign ending tomorrow – Sat. Jan. 15th! If you've been meaning to donate but haven't gotten to it yet, you still have one day to give a little towards our journey to the Home of the Blues for the International Blues Challenge! We would love to send you a personal postcard from Beale Street, check out how you can be part of our trip!


CLICK HERE TO DONATE!


THANKS, xoxoxoxoxox!!!

Only a few days left in our Kickstarter Campaign to go to MEMPHIS! 

Our Memphis Fundraiser Tuesday Dec. 14th at Johnny D's was a big success, and we are now well on our way to Memphis – big thanks to everyone who took part! So far we have raised about half of what we'll need for our trip to the Home of the Blues to compete in the International Blues Challenge this February. For the rest, we've put together an online Kickstarter campaign. There is a really fun little video we made about it, and you can get some pretty neat rewards from us, check it all out here:


It would be great if you could make a pledge, and even more importantly, share this link!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1672458455/send-a-swinger-to-memphis

We need to raise $1500, and we're getting really close to our goal! (If we don't meet our goal, the project doesn't get funded.) But we're so close! The campaign only goes until January 15th at 10:57pm, so please get on board our blues train and HELP SEND A SWINGER TO MEMPHIS!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

THANKS, every little bit helps!!!

Send a Swinger to Memphis! Johnny D's Benefit Tues. 12/14 and online Kickstarter Benefit! 


TUESDAY NIGHT, 12/14, is our BIG EXTRA-SPECTACULAR FANTABULOUS MEMPHIS BENEFIT at JOHNNY D'S in Somerville! The list of blues superstars on the bill has been steadily growing, and we are SO HONORED to have the support of so many in the blues scene! This will be a once-in-a-lifetime show, it's for a great cause, and it's CHEAP! For only $10 you get to see Phil Pemberton and Roomful of Blues, Danny Klein's Full House, James Montgomery, Dennis Brennen, Tim Gearan, The 11th Hour Band, Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers, Alizon Lissance, Geoff Bartley, Satch Romano & Cindy Daley, and MORE! Hosted by Holly Harris and Jim Carty!

Show starts at 7:30pm sharp, and every minute will be JAM-PACKED with goodness!

We'll also have raffles, win money and cool stuff!! All proceeds will go towards our travel expenses to go to the International Blues Challenge in Memphis Tennessee, February 2-5th 2011!!!

And if you can't make it and would still like to contribute something, check out our online Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign.



KICKSTARTER online benefit with FUN REWARDS!!!

Experience Memphis with us – the Blues Capital of the World! – as we journey down to the International Blues Challenge in February! You can be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime blues mission to Memphis by giving as little as $15 in our online Kickstarter campaign, and you’ll get some great personalized rewards from us while we’re down there! Plus you’ll be able to say you were there with us before we made it big! :)

Share in the experience with these really fun special rewards for your donation:
  • An “Exclusive Digital Download”
    An unreleased demo (the same demo that we'll be handing out to industry people in Memphis!)
  • A “Postcard from Memphis”
    A signed postcard from the whole band from Memphis!
  • An “Exclusive USTREAM Online Concert”
    We will perform a live, online (invite only) concert through USTREAM.
  • A “Video Postcard from Memphis!”
    We'll record a unique video especially for you from Beale Street in Memphis, upload it to Youtube, and send you the link so you can share it with all your friends!
  • “Delta Swingers Memorabilia!”
    Get cool signed stuff from each band member: a harmonica of Rosy's, signed drum sticks from Bob, a tin of Jim's Murray's Hair Pomade, and a pair of Erin's FISHNET STOCKINGS with a thank-you note attatched!!
  • “A Private Delta Swingers Concert!”
    We will play a set at your house, anywhere in the Northeast!
Plus all donations come with a Delta Swingers Button and Sticker! Each level comes with ALL THE PREVIOUS LEVELS of rewards!!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

The campaign only goes until Jan 15th, so please get on board our blues train and HELP SEND A SWINGER TO MEMPHIS!

Boston Blues Challenge Update... we're going to Memphis! 

WE DID IT! With your help, support and love we won the 2010 Boston Blues Challenge, and we are GOING TO MEMPHIS in February to represent Boston in the International Blues Challenge! We are so excited!! Beale Street here we come!

Sunday night was the Finals, it was a really great show and all the bands were awesome. Thanks to all those who came out to the show to support, to all those who sent us love and luck, and to all the other bands who took part in this year's Challenge! We'd also like to congratulate the solo/duo winners - Cindy Daley and Satch Romano! We'll be seein' you guys in Memphis!

Check out video of our winning set!

Part I featuring Charles River Delta Blues, Pick Poor Robin Clean, and the M&O Blues:



Part II featuring the Virtual Booty Machine Blues and the Stop & Listen Blues:

Stay tuned... 

...for blogs, photos and video over the next week from Austin! I'll be putting up something everyday, from video blogs to photos and regular blogs, so check back right here to catch up on all my adventures!

Boston shows this week, Halloween in Somerville... and other news! 

Happy Fall and happy October everyone! As the tempurature gets chilly and the things start to get spooky, I have some great local shows coming up! Come out and get cozy with a nice Octoberfest and some downhome blues! It'll cure what ails ya!!!




First off, this Tuesday Oct. 13th I'm doing an early set (I go on at 9pm!) at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. Join us for a night of female blues singers and rock 'n roll! I'll open the show with a set of acoustic delta blues! Followed by Hey Mama featuring Avi & Celia.

"Hey Mama is stoking the rock & roll fire for a new generation." -Brendan Hogan, host of Blues on WGBH

Tuesday, October 13th 
@ the Lizard Lounge

1667 Mass Ave., Cambrigdge, MA > BUY TICKETS ($5 advance/$7 at door)




Then next Sunday I'm back at the one of my favorite places - Highland Kitchen in Somerville! This restaurant/bar has a great atmosphere, great food, and all kinds of beer and other drinks on the menu! I start at 10pm and play two sets. FREE admission! 21+.

Sunday, October 18th
@ Highland Kitchen

150 Highland Ave., Somerville




PRE-SALES have started for the new CD LOVE ELECTRIC from my band, Lovewhip!

 

I'm so excited about the new Lovewhip album coming out November 17th!!! We are now offering special pre-sales of the album, available as a CD, or as a limited edition Poster or T-shirt with album download card. Pre-orders come with a special Love Electric Sticker and Square Album-Cover Button. You get the booty one week before the official release date, and we'll sign your CD and/or Poster!

You have to pre-order to get the extras! Check out our great prices! And thanks for your support!

Click here to see all the details!

 


 

Halloween Show!

I'm playing my first Satuday night blues show in a long while, and it's on Halloween night!!! Stop by after trick-or-treating for some wicked Halloween blues. I play one set at 10pm followed by Pete Weiss and The Weisstronauts! The Rosebud Diner is right in Davis Square, on the Red Line! Costumes?? You bet!! Admission: $5, 21+.
 

Saturday, October 31st
@ the Rosebud Diner

381 Summer St, Somerville, MA

"If there’s such a thing as a forward-thinking surf band, The Weisstronauts are it. The Weisstronauts combine vintage surf and Nashville chicken-pickin’ with cartoon zaniness and spaghetti Western intrigue..." -Jack Silverman, Nashville Scene




UPCOMING THANKSGIVING SHOWS in Maryland:

I'm playing two shows in Annapolis the weekends before and after Thanksgiving!! Here is a preview, more details to come!

Sunday, Nov. 22nd I'll be a part of "Down Home, Back Porch Blues,” sponsored by The Friends of St. John's College. This show will feature many greats of the Maryland/DC blues community. There will be a reception to meet the musicians following the performance. This is an afternoon, all ages show, starting at 2pm.

Sunday, November 22nd
Saint John's College

Francis Scott Key Hall, College Avenue, Annapolis, MD

> BUY TICKETS (Tickets are $15)

 


 

It's becoming an annual Thanksgiving tradition for my dad and I and friends to put on a special holiday blues show at 49 West in Annapolis. There is a great atmosphere, you can have dinner & drinks and watch the show! Be sure to make a reservation if you plan to come, this is a small room and always sells out! 

Friday, November
49 West Coffehouse & Winebar

49 West St., Annapolis, MD
Reservations: 410-626-9796