BIOGRAPHY

Erin Harkes is an original singer/guitar/piano player from upstate New York.

Erin began writing songs at the age of 19 and has since released four albums of original material.

The first album, "Bar Napkins and Magic Markers" was recorded at St. Andrew’s college in North Carolina. The CD features nine tracks and was a learning experience for Erin, as she recorded the album entirely by herself.

Her second CD was recorded live at the Elbow Room in NYC on September 21st, 2001 and contains 4 songs; two of which were not on the first CD. The following year, she recorded first studio project with her band, The Rebound entitled "Rough" and an 11 track Live CD in 2005 called “Special I Am”, which featured nine original songs.

Now 30, Erin currently resides in Albany, NY. In addition to her own band, she performed with another local band, Folding Sky, for the 2004 Colossal Contender Blues Competition at the Empire State Plaza in Albany. Out of the three finalists, they received 60% of the votes to earn a position in the international finals in Memphis, Tennessee in 2005. Don Wilcock of the Troy Record had this to say of Erin’s performance. “…standing firmly on two feet, this dirty blonde banshee belted out her music with no vibrato, no soft feminine wiles, just a blast-furnace breath of fire that singed the hair of everyone in the last aisle at the top of the museum steps watching her performance.”

Though blues has been known as her forte, her original material bounces from one genre to the next for an alternative/folk/rock mix. She has opened for such divergent national acts as David Allen Coe (country), Melissa Ferrick (folk), Fred Eaglesmith (Alternative) and the Fleshtones (Rock), each time well received. She even sat in with the Fleshtones for a song, and John Suvannavejh from the Metroland had this to say; “Harkes …was freed to let loose with her raspy, blues-inflected croon. Although it certainly doesn’t hurt to have one of the finest garage bands in the land backing you, Harkes’ deep-hearted rendition was absolutely mesmerizing, and even gave Mr. Van Morrison a run for his money.”

Erin has appeared on several local radio shows such as 104.9 “Acoustic Kaleidoscope”, 91.5 WRPI’s “Curious Travels”, “Wednesday Night Live” and “Stormy Monday Blues”, Ralph Renna’s “Capital Underground” on 103.9,  91.1 FM Saratoga, popular morning show 106.5’s “Wakin’ up with the Wolf”, and 103.1 Big Break with Jason Keller. She also appeared on television Fox News Big Break in 2003 for a song and interview. The entire band appeared on a segment of Channel 13’s Morning news for 2 songs and an extensive interview. In March of 2005, Erin received the coveted front cover of local Arts and Entertainment magazine, the ‘Metroland’. As Erin’s audience and playing area continue to grow, her set is becoming more original material and less cover tunes. She is known to bust out a crowd favorite every once in awhile, giving her bit of an alter ego that can touch a wide and eclectic arrangement of fans, all the while making her original songs just as much the crowd favorite as any cover she might do.