LAURA SCHAFFER Erin McKeown, with her band in the background, plays guitar and sings during a concert last Friday at the WestCo Cafe. McKeown, a student at Brown University, is making a name for herself in the American folk music scene.

Erin McKeown Belts Out Funky, Folky Rhythms By Marisa Suescun Arts Editor The anticipation built palpably in the crisp air and billowed through the concert crowd outside WestCo Cafe Friday night, as it waited for over half an hour for the doors to open. By the time they finally did, around 9:30 p.m., expectations ran high for a dynamic college-aged singer/song-writer/sometimes student who stands just under five feet tall. But Erin McKeown, taking a semester’s break from Brown University, has been growing in stature within the folk community, having recently completed a summer tour that took her as far west from the Brown campus as Milwaukee.

McKeown and her band rocked for over an hour in a 14-song set that included mostly original material. The intensity of the band’s sound filled the space in WestCo, with Alex Auritt’s surging drums, Greta Cohen’s supple cello, and the fullness of Brett Shields’s upright bass.

And McKeown herself, wearing a knee-length, psychedelic green and yellow flowered polyester dress, was at center stage wielding an acoustic guitar that looked a little too large for her slight frame. Her skilled, electrifying guitar playing punctuated a string of songs that ran from poignant to pointed.

"By the end of the night, you guys will be on your feet dancing," McKeown told the crowd. "I’ve structured the show nicely for that."

A posse of about a dozen of her housemates —"It’s a fucking clique, man," McKeown informed the audience — danced right through the hour and 20 minute show, and two even came on stage to relate a story about McKeown.

They served as a reminder that McKeown is a college student, a reality that was easy to forget, particularly when she told those gently rambling anecdotes about college life that folk singers often tell with a mixture wisdom and eloquence. The narrative-style number "My Hips" emerged out of the rapid body changes McKeown experienced during her first year at Brown.

"I moved to Providence, and I suddenly grew tits and an ass," she said.
"You know what’s funny?" Cohen, the tall, slim cellist, announced. "When I moved to Providence, the same thing happened to me."

Personal experiences aside, McKeown acknowledges a number of artists who inspired her, including singer/song-writer Ani DiFranco. But though she may be influenced by various musicians, McKeown said she very definitely avoids emulation.

"I hope when people say, ‘She’s so Ani,’ they mean it in a positive way …not , like, ‘She breathes the way Ani breathes.’" McKeown once received an email expressing that very sentiment. "Now it’s a joke, and my housemates go around saying, ‘Breathe. Breathe.’"

McKeown shares a cooperative house with 14 "of my mates" on the Brown campus, though she is taking this semester off to work and tour a bit. Last year, while a full-time student at Brown, she released her 11-track cassette, "Monday Morning Cold," which includes electronic music, live recordings and snippets of narrative from "me in my bathroom."

McKeown also toured during the academic year, while taking five classes last fall, a situation she labeled "insane." Next semester, McKeown, an ethnomusicology major, plans to reenroll for the start of her third year. In the meantime, McKeown plans to keep playing live in venues she books herself; but will hold off on putting together a CD until after she graduates.

McKeown gained some exposure when she opened for folk singer Dar Williams ’89 at Alumnae Hall in front of her own fellow students last winter. Students from this campus also attended the Wesleyan alumna’s concert, and many came away impressed with the Brown student’s opening act. McKeown was happy to play at Wesleyan, and she gave a concert last spring in the Cafe, a success that she felt she built upon Friday night.

"Last time, in March, there were about 100 people …Now, tonight, people were lining up early," McKeown said.

She is coming off her largest-scale tour this summer, performing shows that she booked herself in mostly small venues around the country. She also played in some larger concerts, including the Falcon Crest Folk Festival, where she met Chris Pureka ’01, who opened for McKeown Friday night with a well-received four-song set of original music.

The two traded impressions after the show.

"It was incredible," McKeown said as she sat on a WestCo staircase. "The crowd was so responsive and people were really patient …It was a lot of fun."

Pureka, who has been playing the guitar for three years and began writing songs when she came to college, felt more nervous before the show.

"I’m ready to eat a big meal now …having not eaten for four days," Pureka said with a quiet grin.

"Oh, no!" McKeown exclaimed in sympathy.

"This was the longest I’ve ever played live," Pureka explained.

McKeown seems to be getting used to the intensity of playing in a packed, intimate setting. In fact, it is one she prefers.

"Playing in one show at Wesleyan like this does as much for me as dozens of bullshit bar shows that pay more …but ruin your voice," McKeown said. "And the main thing is, by the end of the night, everyone is rocking, having fun."