Erin Powers – An Interview, by Liam Sweeny

Erin Powers.

Have guitar, will travel. That sounds so damn cool, doesn’t it? Well, it does to me, and I’m controlling the ink around here. There’s something about the pure freedom of someone going out with their dreams strapped across their back, living by the night, living by the song… it’s what makes America the land of opportunity.

Erin Powers is a guitar-slinger. You might not know it to meet her, or to see her picture on Facebook or Instagram, but she has hung her shingle on her guitar case and she’s bouncing her voice off the back walls of everywhere that will have her.

I talk with Erin and we discuss the long and dusty road.

RRX: We all start somewhere. I started drunk in a garage. How did you start out? And something I don’t normally ask because I don’t think to, how did you learn? I know that’s a big question. What was your biggest barrier when you were learning to play?

EP: I started out learning from friends in college. Then I took lessons at ACC, then took lessons at Suny Oneonta and played along with Youtube.

The biggest barrier was my finger placement. I had trouble using guitars whose necks were too wide. Once I discovered that, I switched guitars to ones with smaller necks.

RRX: You’ve performed all over east coast, Texas and Tennessee. Is music the same no matter where you go? I mean, it’s not like etiquette which is something you have to navigate. Music is music, right? Do you have any road stories where being somewhere other than here mattered?

EP: Music is the same everywhere. As far as different states go, it varies. Texas and Tennessee are more laid back than New York, but the game is still the same overall,  musicians trying make their niche.

When I performed Smoky Mtn Songwriters Festival a few years back, it was bittersweet because the people who hosted it were real mentors, and people I performed with were not just songwriters but people I built lasting friendships with. Unfortunately, my dear friend and host passed away from COVID-19.

RRX: A student of SUNY Oneonta, I see. Same here. Oneonta is such a creative, magical place. I wish more people would visit it, or it was closer to here. I went to both colleges. How was your SUNY Oneonta experience? But to be more broad, how did going to college influence your music, and vice versa?

EP: My experience at SUNY Oneonta was inspiring and enlightening. I sang in a blues band, learning about business at that time and how the industry has grown so much on such a wide scale, not just musicians, but also internet capacity, streams and live streams.

How it influenced my music; it was experiences I went through, life lessons learned through Oneonta and being in a blues band and the knowledge I learned that put the drive in my career into overdrive, so-to-speak.

RRX: From what I’m seeing online, which is really my window to the world, you are a solo acoustic act. It’s a great thing to be, especially if you want to just get out there and play. A person with an acoustic and some skill could always make mac’ and cheese money.  Have you ever played in a band or thought to?

EP: Yes. I was in a blues band in ‘06 and then I joined a rock band shortly after called Whatz UP from Hudson NY, singing classic rock songs from Judas Priest, Def Leppard, ACDC and more. It lasted five years.

Yeah, the thought did cross my mind get back into a band considering I have experience under my belt.

RRX: I’m hearing some covers and some originals in your work. And I know if you’re trying to go out and make scratch, you have certain considerations over what you’re going to play. But aside from music as a profession or a vocation, do you see covers and originals differently. Playing strictly for yourself, do you have a favorite?

EP: Covers vs originals: I do both. One to make musicians known that they can play covers, and secondly, to have originals that bring something unique to the table, defining you as the artist, so you can connect with the audience.

My specific favorite far as playing covers is Fleetwood Mac.

RRX: As I mentioned in a previous question, you’ve played all over. You may very well have been to every active venue in the Capital District. And I won’t ask specific questions about specific venues, but you have a scope of venues around here in general. What do venues around here have, what do they need?

EP: As far as what venues need, I think they need to have, besides open mic, which is great, is songwriter rounds. I did lot of those in Tennessee. Those are very beneficial to an up-and-coming artist.