Who are the Erin Harpe & Delta Swingers?
You could say it’s in her blood. Erin Harpe grew up surrounded by delta blues in her childhood home in Maryland as her dad, Neil Harpe, played every morning and had pickin’ parties with his friends in the evenings and on weekends. In her teens Erin picked up a guitar and quickly learned how to finger-pick classic 1930’s delta blues songs by everyone from Tommy Johnson to Memphis Minnie and Mississippi John Hurt. Fast forward to 2010, now living in Boston, Massachusetts: after a successful trip to South by Southwest, Erin decided it was time to start a delta blues band. Along with her husband – bass player Jim Countryman – and their longtime friend – singing drummer Bob Nisi, all they needed was an amazing soloist. Around the same time Richard “Rosy” Rosenblatt, a great harmonica player who’d been hiding behind a desk as a record label exec for years, began stalking Erin, coming out to some of her solo shows. A band was born! Immediately winning the Boston Blues Challenge only 3 months after their first rehearsal, the band was thrust into the spotlight, and started playing gigs around town, performing the classic covers already in Erin’s repertoire. Erin was still playing acoustic guitar, and the band played seated, like the old-time delta players!
By the time they were ready to go to Memphis for the International Blues Challenge they’d played enough gigs to realize that not only did their music make audiences dance, but they couldn’t resist getting up and dancing too! In fact, there were parts of the set where Erin would put down her acoustic guitar and do some booty shakin’. One such occasion during their Memphis trip became a defining moment for the band. They were invited to play a few songs at Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin’s blues jam at the Rum Boogie on Beale Street. Erin put down her acoustic guitar and ended up kicking it over when she was dancing. She picked it up, the neck was snapped! The song was already in progress, and Bob Margolin came running to the rescue, helping her to strap on his Gibson Les Paul, and the band realized that the electric guitar would be part of their sound. Since then they’ve played many shows all around the Eastern US and have written their own original songs, garnering praise from fans and press alike, and winning the 2013 Boston Music Award for “Blues Artist of the Year”!
The debut album!
This campaign will help us fulfill our dream to put out an excellent first album, one that will both capture the raw energy of our live shows, and represent us on the international blues and roots scene. The album will feature ten songs showcasing the “Charles River Delta Blues”, marrying delta blues with soul, pop, country and even reggae. The new album reflects Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers’ fully realized sound, and we’re ready to share it with the world!
We are an independent band, so we started out self-producing the album, writing, recording, and doing all of the pre-production of the songs ourselves. We’re so excited at how the tracks are turning out that we’ve decided to team up with producer Dave Gross from Fat Rabbit Studios – to help us with the finishing touches and the final mixes, because we want to make sure this album is able to stand up sonically to our favorite blues and roots albums!
Why are we telling you all this?
Our fans, friends and family have played a huge part in our success and we want to share this milestone with all of you. Being an independent band is a lot of work, and it means that we do everything on our own. We have done most of the album ourselves, and with your help, together we can make an excellent album that you are going to love and we swear it’s going to make the world a better place!
Where does all the money go?
Mixing and post-production by Dave Gross - $2000
Mastering - $600
Printing the album and beautiful artwork - $2200
Limited Edition Delta Swingers Posters - $245
Postcards - $80
Postage and mailing materials - $575
Indiegogo fees - $300 (if fully funded) - $400 or $500 (if partially funded)
What do YOU get in return?
The way Indiegogo works: you can give money (as much as you feel like) and in return you get what they call “Perks”. Perks are our way of giving back to you for your help as well as sharing the experience with you. You're going to get a copy of the album (before anybody else!) along with getting other cool things on the way! We had a lot of fun putting these together…
Pick your perk! You can go for just the digital album download, or get some of these great options:
- We’ll play a party at your house!
- Bowling (yes BOWLING) with the band!
- A cover song of your choice - interpreted by the band Charles River Delta Blues style of course - and posted for you (and the world) on YouTube!
- A Skype music/cooking lesson with a Delta Swinger!
- A spot at our exclusive pre-release VIP listening party!
- A thank you (right on the album artwork!)
- Thank you postcard from the band!
- Signed CD's and other merchandise!
And more… we’ve got something for everybody. And if there’s something you’d like you don’t see, ask us! We’ll be adding perks as the 40-day campaign progresses!
If we don’t reach our entire goal we might have to cut corners but the album is still going to happen. If on the other hand we exceed our goal, we’re going to press vinyl! Yay!
MONEY is NOT the only way to HELP!!!
To make this funding work we need many people making small contributions. So every person you share this with can help. Please share this with anyone you can, and THANK YOU for helping get the word out! Sharing is easy using the tools that Indiegogo provides right under our video.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
THIS ALBUM COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT YOU!!!
WE LOVE YOU!!!