today’s audio comes from a field near my house. carl and i were on our way swimming, and i decided to stop on a high hilltop, in the tall grass, and play you a song.
i chose “queen of quiet”, one of my oldest tunes, written when i was 19 or so, because it is the song of mine the internet says is currently the most popular. according to spotify, youtube, and apple music, that is.
i must admit that i wish my most popular song was of a more recent vintage. when i was trying to think of a song appropriate for this episode, i went through my catalog on spotify, listening to my own personal favorites. i don’t listen to much music (topic for another essay) and when i do, it is never mine. and yet, i listened to some recent songs and thought, “hey that’s some good shit”. it was a very satisfying feeling. if you don’t know songs like “you and your cigarettes”, “your enemies”, “litany for a minor character”, “details of the crime”, or “that sunday sound”, maybe check them out?
i’ve done a lot of cool stuff since i was 19.
anyway! why would i choose the most popular internet song to play on the hill beside my house? because i have been musing, deeply musing, and trying to find an organizing principal for this phase of my career - the phase that includes “Fax of Life”, touring less, and making musicals. let’s call this new phase and principle: “infinitely local”.
i probably need a better name. suggestions welcome, but let me explain what i am thinking first.
it’s very helpful on a human level to have a plan. i am a planner. it feels like safety to me. why? because childhood! another topic for another day.
so, what exactly am i doing as an artist? how should i be thinking about myself? how should i be choosing to spend my internal and external resources? for 25 years, the answer was very simple and always the same: write songs, make a record, promote and tour that record all over the world. repeat repeat repeat, and with each repetition theoretically expanding your reach and growing your audience.
that’s been the formula for a music career since the invention of recorded sound. it’s a good formula. it covers a lot of bases, a little bit - radio, internet, concert, international and national. who doesn’t want to see beyonce at your local stadium? i do, but i missed my chance last month, dangit.
now, think about your favorite tik-tok and youtube stars. you love them, you watch their content and share it with your friends. but will you ever see them in person? probably not - it’s not what super internet-famous people do. they need the tool of video and the infinite pipelines of online access to do what they do, and thats ok!
there’s also your favorite local band. the one without social media to speak-of but that you love to see yearly at the fair or asparagus festival. they are everywhere local and nowhere above that radar. there’s something rare and wonderful, immediate and lovely about that career. not too much pressure to be the next big thing and the reward of being a longtime community staple.
lately i have been curious about an arts career that takes fullest advantage of the infinite possibilities of the internet and the most hyper-local, unmediated version of music-making.
the internet part should be obvious by now - the Fax of Life is available to everyone, all the time, everywhere. and, i hope, it offers much more than a touring concert can offer. you get more of me, more often, on your schedule. more songs per year (if that’s your jam), more conversations (i love it when i get email or comment responses to episodes, more please), more of the person behind the songs (which is the foundation of why people love singer-songwriters in the first place).
now, on the other end of this spectrum is the hyper-local. and here i had an idea a few years ago that has really taken root, is extremely satisfying for everyone, and i think easily portable for you and your community.
hey yall - popping in here all casual to give you the latest announcements.
i’m super excited, this fall there are 3 productions of my musical Miss You Like Hell: Merced, CA; Seattle, WA; Tempe, AZ on the campus of Arizona State University. if you go to one of these drop me a line erin@erinmckeown.com, i’m so curious how they turn out in each of their communities. tickets and info on the shows page.
next, i’m headed out this fall with my pals Welcome To Nightvale all across the american south. i still need merch help in the following cities: charleston, tampa, ft. lauderdale, and atlanta. it’s super easy and fun and you get two free premium tickets. drop me a line erin@erinmckeown.com, first come first served basis.
finally, i’m trying to grow this podcast, so if you haven’t already, please tell a friend and subscribe via apple, spotify or here on substack. if you have a moment, please rate or review as well. as every podcast you listen to tells you, it really does help people find the show. and i really appreciate it.
thanks and back to the essay!
here in massachusetts, we have a wonderful organization called trustees that manages many properties across the state. some are historic buildings, some are modern museums, lots of them are trails with wonderful vistas.
in late 2021, after a gig at a trustees museum called “fruitlands”, i was shooting the shit with catherine and michael from the organization. we were talking about “lessons from the pandemic” - naively thinking that we might be through the worst of it, not knowing that the fall and winter of 2021-2022 would be the most deadly yet.
like the restaurant business, the music business had found ways to adapt that included being and doing outside what we all used to do inside. and nearly everyone was enjoying it more. i was remarking on how the pandemic had changed little for my local life because i was always outside anyway, hiking, walking, playing sports. being outside is one of my happiest places.
obviously as people that work for trustees, catherine and michael felt the same way about being outside. and then we had an idea - instead of playing outside the museum, as i had just done, why not think of all the trustees properties as potential venues.
there was hatched the idea for Scenic Songs, the trustees version of my hyper-local idea.
it basically goes like this: an artist and their audience hike together to a spot for a concert, then hike back together. the concert is completely acoustic, everyone carries just what they need, nothing else. and what if we discouraged phones? and what if along the way, we stopped and looked and listened to the natural world around us?
in the summer of 2022, the trustees had 3 concerts, one of which was mine at a property in central mass. i cant begin to tell you how rad it was. i met 35 truly awesome folks, characterized by a love of music, curiosity, and a sense of adventure. i had many small, but meaningful conversations with folks as we walked. i felt like i got to know my audience better, and they got to know me. it was one of the most satisfying artistic experiences of my career.
this summer, the program expanded to more properties and included more artists. the audience per show stays capped for safety, environmental impact, and for the ability to connect personally.
so last weekend i met up with 35 strangers at a trail head in western massachusetts. this time i brought carl, who instantly puts everyone at ease with his joyful greetings and easy presence. he and i welcomed everyone individually as they arrived. and, learning from last year’s experience, i encouraged people to meet their fellow hikers. talk to someone you don’t know. you can’t do that at a regular concert, where it’s dark and silence is encouraged.
we hiked (gently) for about 45 minutes, and then i played my show at a shelter on the trail. was it the best show i ever gave? no - voices and guitars sound different from recordings when you’re singing in the open air. fingers don’t always cooperate outside of the clean confines of studios, stages, and amplification. but i didn’t care, and i don’t think the audience did either. sure the music was important to listen to, the songs were some of people’s longtime favorites, but also there was the wind, and the grass, and the setting sun, and the insects. a wider audience, a hall with the tallest ceiling imaginable, a concert without walls in the most local of spots.
you had to be there.
so thats it, that’s my idea - computers and hiking. borderless distribution and conversation and song in the open air. the critical mass of a worldwide audience listening and seeing the eyes of everyone who is listening in the moment.
if there’s an organization where you live that helps people get outdoors, that maintains trails and vistas, let’s talk. if you’re serious about it, i’ll come. we can think of a better name than “infinitely local” or maybe not. we can just walk together.
x erin
ps - here is carl making sure everyone stays on the trail and knows where they are going
¡ME GUSTA! : SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS!
i recently visited my local public radio station, NEPM, to play music on a wonderful, new arts program “the fabulous 413”. listen to my interview and performance with rad host kaliis smith here.
“el dorado” is a wonderful doc on netflix about the last moments of weimar germany, queer life in those years, and the legacy of LGBTQ resistance.
do not leave your baby near a crocodile. i repeat, do not leave your baby near a crocodile. [no babies are harmed in this article]
i’ve become a little obsessed with the dallas cowboys cheerleaders, especially the mid-70s-80s version that i remember from my childhood. texas monthly has a superb podcast about them, and there’s also this doc, worth the rental fee too, come for the vibes and memories, stay for the feminism?
UPCOMING SHOWS
Sep 8 - 24 - Merced CA
Miss You Like Hell at Playhouse Merced
TICKETS
Oct 14 - Nov 11 - Seattle WA
Miss You Like Hell at Strawberry Theatre
TICKETS
Nov 9 - Washington DC
performing as The Weather with Welcome to Night Vale
TICKETS
Nov 10 - Charlottesville VA
performing as The Weather with Welcome to Night Vale
TICKETS
Nov 11 - Richmond VA
performing as The Weather with Welcome to Night Vale
TICKETS
Nov 12 - Durham NC
performing as The Weather with Welcome to Night Vale
TICKETS
Nov 16 - Tampa FL
performing as The Weather with Welcome to Night Vale
TICKETS
Nov 17 - 19 - Tempe AZ
Miss You Like Hell at Arizona State University
MORE INFO
Nov 17 - Ft Lauderdale FL
performing as The Weather with Welcome to Night Vale
TICKETS
Nov 18 - Ponte Vedra Beach FL
performing as The Weather with Welcome to Night Vale
TICKETS
Nov 19 - Atlanta GA
performing as The Weather with Welcome to Night Vale
TICKETS
March 8 -24, 2024 - Woodstock GA
Miss You Like Hell at Woodstock Arts
TICKETS
If you have further questions or concerns about COVID protocols, please contact the venues directly.
Reminder, Erin does not appear in productions of Miss You Like Hell
infinitely local