From the Land of Rusted Dreams

Released April 8, 2022

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From the Land of Rusted Dreams

Album released April 8, 2022

The urban/rural divide is a common theme in Americana, but on From the Land of Rusted Dreams, Erin Heist twists the trope and sings through the lens of a woman who grew up in the landlocked fishing communities of Southeast Alaska. Heist has spent the last decade playing the bars and backrooms of Alaska's folk music scene and her debut album gives a taste of all the twists and turns you might find at a late-night hotel jam during her hometown's famed Alaska Folk Festival.

Heist’s first recording project, stripped-down EP Another Rainy Day was released in the summer of 2021 and quickly established Heist as a new Alaskan voice to watch. On From the Land of Rusted Dreams Heist cements her place as a versatile songwriter with the ability to take traditional American music to new places.

From the deeply personal singer-songwriter first track "Downstream", to the ragtime blues of "Somebody Somewhere" to the country burner "Call Me a Fool", to the bluegrass bite of "Stranger to You", all the way to the Cajun "Sun Will Come the Dawn", Heist's album has something for everyone. Rather than feeling disparate, the variety in styles feel like facets of a single gem and the album sparkles with the heart and charm of the all-star team Heist brought together for the project.

Joined by a who's who of Northwest folk musicians, From the Land of Rusted Dreams was recorded live in Astoria, Oregon at the Rope Room Studio, recorded and produced by Kati Claborn (Blind Pilot, The Hackles). With Heist's primary musical partner, Andrew Heist (The Great Alaska Bluegrass Band) on mandolin; Luke Ydstie (Blind Pilot, The Hackles) grooving on the upright bass and percussion; and Barry Southern and Gabrielle Macrae (The Horsenecks and founders of the Quarantine Happy Hour) on guitar, banjos, and fiddle. Rounding out the sound, the album features takes from AJ Srubas (Steam Machine) on pedal steel, Beth Chrisman (The Carper Family) on fiddle, and Chris Stafford (Feufollet) on Cajun accordion. Mixed by Adam Selzer and mastered by Jon Neufeld.

credits

Releases April 8, 2022

All songs written by Erin Heist except Undone in Sorrow (Ola Belle Reed), Flame in My Heart (Bernard Spurlock & George Jones), and Black Dog Blues (Traditional).

• Recorded & Produced by Kati Claborn at the Rope Room Studio in Astoria, Oregon

• Mixed by Adam Selzer

• Mastered by Jon Neufeld

• Cover photo by Annie Bartholomew

• Erin Heist - vocals & rhythm guitar

• Andrew Heist - vocals, mandolin, fiddle (tracks 11 & 12)

• Luke Ydstie - bass, percussion

• Gabrielle Macrae - fiddle, clawhammer banjo, party vocals

• Barry Southern - guitar, three-finger banjo, Cajun triangle

• Kati Claborn - harmony vocals

• AJ Srubas - pedal steel

• Beth Chrisman - bluegrass fiddle

• Chris Stafford - Cajun accordion

Recipient of, and made possible by, the Juneau Community Foundation 2021 Individual Artist Award and the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council 2021 Individual Artist Award.

Press

• Track Premier: Milk Run from Erin Heist - Bluegrass Today - 3/14/22

• ‘Train to Cheyenne’ by Erin Heist: A great-granddaughter’s tribute - Two Story Melody - 8/3/21

• Erin Heist releases breakout EP 'Another Rainy Day'- Anchorage Press - 7/22/21

• Juneau-based singer and songwriter’s single ‘Another Rainy Day’ weathered the storm - KTOO - 7/16/21

• AVP 017: Erin Heist, Singer-Songwriter on her debut EP, “Another Rainy Day”- Active Voice Podcast - 49 Writers - 7/16/21

• Live performer Erin Heist to debut new EP - Ketchikan Daily News - 6/19/21

• Erin Heist on Capital Chat - 800 KINY- KINY radio - 6/17/21

• Forecast calls for ‘Another Rainy Day’ - Juneau Empire - 6/16/21

tracks

1. “Downstream” - The album kicks off on the most personal of Heist’s original songs. Heist spent her childhood in Ketchikan, Alaska. A small community in the heart of the Tongass National Forest with a long history of logging and fishing, Ketchikan is now known as a bustling cruise ship port, but venture by boat just outside of the town limits and you’ll find the remains of these old camps slowly being taken over by the temperate rainforest.

2. “Somebody Somewhere” - Inspired by ragtime blues songs, this original let’s the band run loose.

3. “Undone in Sorrow” (Ola Belle Reed) - One of Heist’s favorite ballads by Ola Belle Reed. Many of these old Appalachian ballads feel just as relevant today to a Southeast Alaskan. Out of the 12 songs on the album, Heist chose to include songs by the artists who most inspired her singing and playing. The influence of Ola Belle’s songwriting and singing style can be felt on several of the album’s tracks.

4. “Stranger to You” - Heist describes this bluegrass number as “a little mean” and anyone who has lived in a small town can recognize the feeling of wishing your past mistakes could just be strangers.

5. “Call Me a Fool” - This utterly lovely country burner features the vocal harmony of the album’s producer Kati Claborn and ethereal notes of AJ Srubas’ pedal steel.

6. “Out of Town” - Growing up in the landlocked communities of Southeast Alaska, it becomes a point of conversation when somebody needs to “get out of town”. In Juneau the main road extends about forty miles and then ends, so the only way out of the community is by boat or plane, and even then it’s a long, expensive, trip.

7. “Red Heron” - Heist describes this song as a cowboy song about a commercial seine fishing boat. A “highliner” is a successful big money fisherman and seine boats are typically the largest and most lucrative kind of commercial fishing vessel in Southeast Alaska, but they’re also some of the most competitive. This song tells the story of when things get out of hand for one captain.

8. “Flame in My Heart” (Bernard Spurlock & George Jones) - The only duet on the album, this classic song from George Jones & Melba Montgomery has been a part of Erin and Andrew Heist’s repertoire since they first started playing together and they often return to the singing of George and Melba as a touchstone.

9. “Black Dog Blues” (Traditional) - Heist learned this traditional song from a fisherman in the small community of Pelican, Alaska and it’s been a favorite ever since.

10. “Milk Run” - Heist used Twitter to crowd-source stories of different kinds of delays that Alaskans had experienced on the famed “Milk Run”, commercial flight journeys in which passengers have to stop in multiple small towns throughout Southeast Alaska on a single flight. Anyone who’s ever gotten stuck on a “Milk Run” knows that if you’re lucky, you’ll get a turn though Sitka to grab a slice of airport pie.

11. “Train to Cheyenne” - During 2020 Heist wrote a minimum of one song a month and this was January’s song. Written from the perspective of Heist’s great-grandma Betty, a depression-era mail-order bride, “Train to Cheyenne” features the haunting old time fiddle and harmonies of Andrew Heist. Betty had a son out of wedlock and worked as a housemaid in Chicago in the 1920s. Her pastor arranged for her to marry a Wyoming cowboy and so Betty loaded up her young son and moved out West to marry a man she’d never met.

12. “Sun Will Come the Dawn” - Depressed about the pandemic and the endless rain in 2020, this Cajun groover is the song Heist wrote to sing to herself to lift her spirits, dreaming about all the “good times” she’d had in the prior couple of years and believing that we’ll get there again.

Another Rainy Day

Another Rainy Day, the first recording project of Alaska-based singer-songwriter Erin Heist, is a modern folk EP featuring moody acoustic guitar, haunting melodies, and songs of grit, loss, and redemption. Recorded, mixed and produced as a project with her cousin Patrick Troll (DJ ALTER-NATIVE, Whiskey Class, Revilla) and featuring the mandolin, fiddle, and harmonies of her husband Andrew Heist (The Great Alaska Bluegrass Band).

credits

releases July 16, 2021

All songs written by Erin Heist except Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie (traditional) and Rock Bottom Riser (Bill Callahan)

With guests:
Andrew Heist - vocals, mandolin, fiddle, electric space fiddle
Patrick Troll - electric space guitar

Recorded by Patrick Troll at Studio A in Juneau, Alaska
Produced and Mixed by Patrick Troll
Mastered by Jaime Simmonds