Cordelia's Dad is a

folk punk Folk punk (known in its early days as rogue folk) is a fusion of folk music and punk rock. It was popularized in the early 1980s by the Pogues in England, and by Violent Femmes in the United States. Folk punk achieved some mainstream success in t ...

band from

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence, Massachusetts, Florence and ...

, that combines

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

influences and was instrumental in the creation of the genre later to be dubbed " No Depression". The band formed in 1987 and was active until 1998, when the members relocated to different parts of the country. After releasing an album of older material in 2002 the band reunited in 2007 for their twentieth anniversary.

Career

Cordelia's Dad was founded in 1987 by

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

students

Tim Eriksen Tim Eriksen (b. 1966) is an American musician, musicologist, and professor. He is the leader of the band Cordelia's Dad, a solo artist, and was a performer and consultant for the award-winning soundtrack of the film '' Cold Mountain''. Cordel ...

(bass, vocals), Peter Irvine (drums), Tom King (guitar). Although all three had previous experiences with

traditional A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

American music their initial sound was closer to that of

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

bands like

Dinosaur Jr. Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur, the band was forced to change their name because of legal issues. The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter) ...

and accordingly they recorded their first,

eponymous An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

album at

Fort Apache Studios Fort Apache Studios is a New England recording studio focusing on alternative rock sessions produced there since 1986. It is currently located in New Hampshire. History The studio was initially built by a collective begun in 1985 by musician/p ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. The main distinguishing characteristic from their Fort Apache peers was that with few exceptions, their early recorded output consisted entirely of Anglo-American traditional folk tunes recorded as rock songs. Their second album ''How Can I Sleep'', recorded by Dave Schramm continued the prominent use of traditional material, but increased the share of songs played as acoustic folk songs, starting a trend to call the sound of the band "

schizophrenic Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

". The transition to folk outfit was completed in 1993 with the recording of the limited release mini-album ''The Joy Fun Garden'' for German mail order label Return to Sender (a sublabel of Normal Records, which released all Cordelia's Dad albums in Germany). King left after the recording to be replaced by bassist Cath Oss. Eriksen switched to guitar and their third regular album, ''Comet'' (1995) continued the conversion toward an acoustic sound, with only a single song, the closer "Jersey City", being played with rock instruments. In 1996, the band released the punk-infused live album ''Road Kill'' (1996) as a farewell to their rock side, which for the next years would continue only as a side project named "io". The members of the main, now fully acoustic band had previously taken up

shape note Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and Sing-along, social singing. The notation became a popular teaching device in American singing schools during the 19th century. Shapes were added to the noteheads in ...

singing, and the new interest made an appearance on the

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

produced album ''Spine'' (1998), for which folk fiddler

Laura Risk Laura Risk is a California-born violinist. She specializes in performing and teaching the diverse fiddle repertoire of Scotland and Quebec. Risk performs both solo and in collaboration with such artists as Sandy Silva, Ken Kolodner, and Paddy Le ...

joined the band. ''Spine'' would become their most critically acclaimed album, but also the last for four years, as band members moved away from their Western Massachusetts home base. Irvine moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

to become a music lawyer, Oss moved to

Newcastle Upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, later joining Spraydog, while Eriksen moved to

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

and later participated in creating the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for the movie '' Cold Mountain''. The album ''What It Is'', while released in 2002, contained music recorded during two sessions in 1997–98, and the band remained in hiatus until Eriksen and Irvine moved back to Massachusetts, and to celebrate their 20th anniversary, decided to reunite for local shows, playing both acoustic and electric sets.

Discography

* 1990 ''Cordelia's Dad'' (

OKra Okra (, ), ''Abelmoschus esculentus'', known in some English-speaking countries as lady's fingers, is a flowering plant in the Malvaceae, mallow family native to East Africa. Cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions aro ...

)

Allmusic review AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the data ...

/small> * 1992 ''How Can I Sleep?'' (OKra)

/small> * 1993 ''The Joy Fun Garden'' (Return to Sender, limited release)

/small> * 1995 ''Comet'' (Omnium)

/small> * 1996 ''Road Kill'' (Scenescof, live album)

/small> * 1998 ''Spine'' (Appleseed)

/small> * 1998 "

How Can I Keep from Singing? "How Can I Keep from Singing?" is an American folksong originating as a Christian hymn. The author of the lyrics was known only as 'Pauline T', and the original tune was composed by American Baptist minister Robert Lowry. The song is frequentl ...

", song on ''Where Have All the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger'' (Appleseed)

/small> * 2002 ''What It Is'' (Kimchee)

Various reviews
/small> * 2003 "Jane"/"Promise"/"Closing Year" three-song EP (Dark Beloved Cloud) * 2011 "Double Live" one disc acoustic, one disk electric

External links

Band website

Tim Eriksen's website

References

* Colin Larkin: "Cordelia's Dad" (profile), ''The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', p. 938, Guinness World Records Limited; 2nd Rev Ed (1995). * Irwin Stambler, Lyndon Stambler: "Cordelia's Dad" (profile), ''Folk and Blues: The Premier Encyclopedia of American Roots Music'',

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

(2001). * Stewart Mason: ''Cordelia's Dad Biography'', ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' [] Retrieved 26 January 2008. * Michael Ruff: "''Cordelia's Dad''" (album review), ''Spex (magazine), Spex'' December 1990, pp. 55f. * Jörg Heiser: "''How Can I Sleep''" (album review), ''Spex'' January 1993, p. 80. * Paul A. Harris: "Quick Change Act: Cordelia's Dad Moves From Pure to Punk", ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democra ...

'', 10 March 1995. (via Factiva) * Wolfgang Doebeling: "''Comet'' (Vinyl)" (album review) ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' (German edition), April 199

Retrieved 27 January 2008. * Bill Eichenberger: "Playlist: ''Comet'' Leaves Dark Trail From Our Past", ''

The Columbus Dispatch ''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in ...

'', 6 July 1995. (via Factiva) * ''

Edinburgh Evening News The ''Edinburgh Evening News'' is a daily newspaper and website based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded by John Wilson (1844–1909) and first published in 1873. It is printed daily, except on Sundays. It is owned by National World, whic ...

'': "Reviews - Tim Eriksen - Folk ready to be punk-rocked to its foundations", 3 April 2002. (via Factiva) * Larry Katz: "The shape note of things to come", ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American conservative daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarde ...

'', 26 December 2003. (via Factiva) * Randy Harward: "''What It Is''" (album review) ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

'' Issue 765, 3 June 2002. * Chuck Eddy: "Cordelia's Dad; A Thousand Times Yes; Sullen", ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...

'' 8–14 October 200

Retrieved 27 January 2008. {{Authority control Musical groups from Massachusetts