| Erin Harkes July 28th 2005, The Chronicle
I was listening to the radio the other day and found a new favorite. I was tuned in to WAMC (90.3 FM) the Albany NPR affiliate, and a musician was performing live on the air, playing acoustic guitar and singing some of the best lyrics I’d heard on the radio in some time. I figured she must be some nationally touring folk or rock girl, probably signed to a major label. I certainly hadn’t heard her voice around here before.
Well, I was wrong. She was not some big star cruising through town on a publicity stint. The singer was Albany based artist Erin Harkes, and I’ve got to say that I was pleasantly surprised at that.
Erin is known in the Albany area as lead singer of the band The Rebound. According to her website (http://www.erinharkes.com/) she is an “upstate NY” native and has managed to churn out four CD’s in the past five years, two solo and two with The Rebound.
I heard her on WAMC’s morning show “The Roundtable.” She was the featured on Tuesday’s edition of the “Performance Place” segment of the show. Two songs that stuck out for me were “Half” and “Special I Am”. She has a powerful voice, feminine but not lilting or shaky.
Her lyrics are what really nailed me though. “Half” in particular is three minutes of clever turns of phrase. In a lesser songwriter’s hands the repeated use of one word could get gimmicky, but she pulls it off with lines like, “that was only half my heart. The other half won’t break.” Good Stuff.
So after her performance I was left wishing I had a reason to write about this Albany singer in a Glens Falls newspaper, then came her list of upcoming shows. This Friday Erin Harkes will perform at the Irish Pub on South Street. I am going to try to clear my schedule for this show. I recommend you do the same. Now, I’m going back to that website to see if there is a link to buy one of her CD’s.
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