Carrie Elkin

Last updated

Carrie Elkin
Carrie Elkin High Noon Saloon Madison WI August 2010.jpg
Elkin at High Noon Saloon, Madison, Wisconsin
August 8, 2010
Background information
Birth nameCarrie Lynn Elkin
Born (1973-10-11) October 11, 1973 (age 50)
Cleveland, Ohio
Genres Folk, country
Occupation(s)Vocalist, guitarist, musician, singer-songwriter, composer, lap harpist
Years active1995–present
Labels Red House Records
Website CarrieElkin.com

Carrie Elkin (born October 11, 1973 in Cleveland, Ohio), is a folk/country singer and musician based out of Austin, Texas. Active since the mid-1990s, she signed with Red House Records in September 2010. [1]

Contents

Early life

Carrie Elkin was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 11, 1973. [2] She began playing the saxophone and singing at her church at a young age. She later competed as a National Champion acro-gymnast. She studied physiology at Ohio University before working as an organic chemist.

When deciding to concentrate on a music career, she embarked on a nomadic lifestyle which lasted for more than a decade. She performed in a variety of clubs and recorded several self-funded albums – starting with her 1996 debut, Simplicity. [3]

Career

She self-released her first album, Simplicity, in 1996. Her second album, Live at the Front Room, was released in 2001. The Waltz arrived in 2004 and The Jeopardy of Circumstance in 2007. Her fifth record, Call It My Garden was released in early 2011 by Red House Records; her first with that label (she originally released the album in 2010). It was produced by Colin Brooks and Danny Schmidt and features Sam Baker, Raina Rose, Robby Hecht, A. J. Roach, Anthony Da Costa, and Storyhill's John Hermanson. [4] The first track, "Jesse Likes Birds" was No. 1 Song on the FOLKDJ-L radio playlists (a.k.a. "Folk DJ List") for the month of January 2011 – based on 15,346 overall airplays from 157 different radio disc jockeys. It was the No. 2 Song in February 2011. The album ranked fifth for January 2011 for plays of "Jesse Likes Birds", "Iowa", and "Edge Of The World". [5] It ranked No. 5 Album again for February 2011 for plays of "Jesse Likes Birds", "Landeth By Sea", and "Guilty Hands" — based on 12596 overall airplays from 149 different DJs. [6]

The song, "Jesse Likes Birds" from Call It My Garden was called one of the best songs of 2011 (17th of 22) by The Austin Chronicle. [7] She was named one of Texas Music Magazine's 2011 "Artists of the Year" in their Winter 2012 issue. [8] She appeared at the 2007 South Padre International Music Festival on South Padre Island, Texas. [9]

Elkin's first album in six years, The Penny Collector is a follow-up to "twangy, pure country" Call It My Garden (2011). Titled in honor of her father, a lifelong collector of coins, whose "passing informed the narrative woven throughout his daughter's sixth LP." [10]

Style and sound

Maverick magazine describes Elkin as an acoustic guitarist who performs mainly in the folk and country musical genres and is "in love with the act of singing." [11]

With Danny Schmidt at house party in UK
November 30, 2009 Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin.jpg
With Danny Schmidt at house party in UK
November 30, 2009

Personal

Elkin is married to singer-songwriter Danny Schmidt and gave birth to their first child, Maisie, in 2016. They live together in Austin. In 2021, they moved to Nashville, Tennessee.

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanci Griffith</span> American singer-songwriter (1953–2021)

Nanci Caroline Griffith was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She often appeared on the PBS music program Austin City Limits starting in 1985. In 1994 she won a Grammy Award for the album Other Voices, Other Rooms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patty Griffin</span> American singer-songwriter and musician

Patricia Jean Griffin is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She is a vocalist and plays guitar and piano. She is known for her stripped-down songwriting style in the folk music genre. Her songs have been covered by numerous musicians, including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, Kelly Clarkson, Rory Block, Dave Hause, Sugarland, Bette Midler and The Chicks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Armstrong</span> Musical artist

Frankie Armstrong is an English singer and voice teacher. She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work. Her repertoire ranges from traditional ballads to music-hall and contemporary songs, often focusing on the lives of women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrie Newcomer</span> American singer, songwriter and author (born 1958)

Carrie Newcomer is an American singer, songwriter and author. She has produced 19 solo CDs and has received numerous awards for her music and related charitable activities. She has collaborated with numerous authors, academics, philosophers and musicians. In 2009 and 2011 she traveled to India as a cultural ambassador, including musical performances organized by the US State Department. In 2012 she made a similar trip to Kenya on behalf of the Interfaith Hunger Initiative. Her range of causes, activities, collaborations and philosophies significantly influences her music. Newcomer was called "a prairie mystic" by the Boston Globe.

Anne Patricia Briggs is an English folk singer. Although she travelled widely in the 1960s and early 1970s, appearing at folk clubs and venues in Britain and Ireland, she never aspired to commercial success or to achieve widespread public acknowledgment of her music. However, she was an influential figure in the British folk revival, being a source of songs and musical inspiration for others such as A. L. Lloyd, Bert Jansch, Jimmy Page, The Watersons, June Tabor, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, and Maddy Prior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliza Gilkyson</span> American musician (born 1950)

Eliza Gilkyson is a Taos, New Mexico–based folk musician. She is the daughter of songwriter and folk musician Terry Gilkyson and his wife, Jane. Her brother is guitarist Tony Gilkyson, who played with the Los Angeles–based bands Lone Justice and X. She is married to scholar and author Robert Jensen. Gilkyson is a two-time Grammy Award nominee, receiving a nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2004 and Best Folk Album in 2014.

Meg Hutchinson is an American folk singer-songwriter. Originally from rural westernmost Massachusetts, Hutchinson is now based in the Boston area. Influences include poet Mary Oliver, songwriter Shawn Colvin, and mood maker David Gray. She has won numerous songwriting awards in the US, Ireland and UK, including recognition from John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Billboard Song Contest and prestigious competitions at Merlefest, NewSong, Kerrville, Falcon Ridge, Telluride Bluegrass and Rocky Mountain Folks festivals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Hickman</span> American singer (born 1963)

Sara Hickman is an American singer, songwriter, and artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrie Rodriguez</span> American singer-songwriter

Carrie Luz Rodriguez is an American singer-songwriter and the daughter of Texan singer-songwriter David Rodriguez and Texas painter Katy Nail, and is the granddaughter of prolific Texas essayist Frances Nail. She sings and plays the fiddle, mandobird and tenor guitar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terri Hendrix</span> American singer-songwriter

Terri Ann Hendrix is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and independent artist who has been writing and performing an eclectic mix of Americana genre, encompassing folk, pop, country, blues, and jazz, since 1990. Since 1988 Hendrix has been based in and near San Marcos, Texas, living as of 2017 in nearby Martindale, after growing up in San Antonio, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy LaFave</span> American singer-songwriter

Jimmy LaFave was an American singer-songwriter and folk musician. After moving to Stillwater, Oklahoma, LaFave became a supporter of Woody Guthrie. He later became an Advisory Board member and regular performer at the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesca Hoop</span> American singer-songwriter

Jessica "Jesca" Ada Hoop is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who writes and performs in diverse musical styles. She has released six studio albums of her own, as well as live, acoustic and dual albums with others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Herring</span> American singer-songwriter

Caroline Herring is an American folk and country singer, songwriter and musician. She started singing professionally when she was a graduate student at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. While there she co-founded Thacker Mountain Radio, a literary and musical hour broadcast from Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, and still syndicated on Mississippi Public Radio. Herring began her solo career when she moved to Austin, Texas, in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieta Brown</span> American musician and singer-songwriter

Pieta Brown is a critically acclaimed American artist, musician, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who has released eight albums and five EPs. She has performed with artists such as Mark Knopfler, John Prine, Amos Lee, Justin Vernon and Calexico. Although she's considered a folk/indie singer-songwriter, Brown also names country blues and jazz as strong influences on her musical style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Schmidt</span> American musician

Danny Schmidt is an American singer-songwriter based in Austin, Texas, where he now lives with his wife, fellow musician and singer-songwriter Carrie Elkin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Jarosz</span> American musician

Sarah Ellen Jarosz is an American singer-songwriter from Wimberley, Texas. Her debut studio album, Song Up in Her Head, was released in 2009 and the song "Mansinneedof" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Country Instrumental Performance. Her second studio album, Follow Me Down, released in 2011, received a Song of the Year nomination from the Americana Music Association's 2012 Honors and Awards. Her third studio album, Build Me Up from Bones, was released on September 24, 2013 through Sugar Hill Records. Build Me Up from Bones was nominated for Best Folk Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, and its title track was nominated for Best American Roots Song. In 2016, Jarosz released her fourth studio album, Undercurrent. The album won two Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Loebe</span> American singer-songwriter

Rebecca Ann Loebe is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. She has performed and toured with such recording artists as Shawn Colvin, The Civil Wars, Gregory Alan Isakov, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Ellis Paul amongst others. In 2011 she made her international broadcast television debut on The Voice . In addition to being a solo singer she is a founding member of Austin-based band Nobody's Girl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzanna Choffel</span> American singer-songwriter and musician

Suzanna Choffel is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has appeared on national television and in film. Known for her distinct voice and reggae-inspired guitar technique, her music has been described as "a unique sound equal parts Beat poetry, smoky soul grooves and indie-pop eccentricity."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Moreland</span> American musician (born 1985)

John Robert Moreland is an American singer-songwriter from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Carey</span> American singer

Kyle Carey is a Celtic Americana musical artist who creates a synthesis of music called 'Gaelic Americana'.

References

  1. "Welcome Carrie Elkin to the Red House family! Archived November 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine " Red House Records release.
  2. "United States Public Records, 1970–2009," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJG2-D21S  : May 16, 2014), Carrie Lynn Elkin, Residence, Athens, Ohio, United States; a third party aggregator of publicly available information.
  3. "Carrie Elkin | Biography & History | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  4. Red House Records official website Archived March 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Carrie Elkin biography
  5. "Top Folk Albums, Songs, Artists and Labels of January 2011 (with DJ list)". folkradio.org. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  6. "Top Folk Albums, Songs, Artists and Labels of February 2011 (with DJ list)". folkradio.org. Archived from the original on November 23, 2011. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  7. "Best of 2011, So Far" by Jim Caligiuri in earache!, The Austin Chronicle; July 11, 2011.
  8. "Artists of the Year: 2011" by Laura C. Mallonee, Texas Music Magazine – Winter 2012 (p. 59); confirmed by e-mail from Stewart Ramser (stewart@ramsermedia.com) March 13, 2012.
  9. "South Padre International Music Festival Schedule". The Monitor. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  10. Webster, Libby (April 14, 2017). "Carrie Elkin Record Review". The Austin Chronicle . Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  11. Maverick Magazine article/review "Carrie Elkin: HAPPY TO BE A LITTLE BIT OF A TREE HUGGING HIPPY" March 2011