| Erin Kinsey Plan A |
The April 2016 issue of Country Music People magazine carried an article I wrote about some artists who graced the pop-up stages of the previous month’s C2C Festival at London’s O2 Arena.
I had watched and interviewed a handful of acts, a process which involved Dexeter telling me they had never thought of themselves as “Country” but got accepted for the debut year of the event and decided they would say they were. Curiously it involved The Rising insisting that, despite unannounced line up changes and two performances where most of the audience walked away, they were still a very successful Country act on the brink of something huge, and The Ray Peters Band, who continue to delight audiences on the British Club circuit, telling me they wouldn’t play the event again unless they got paid.
My most memorable conversation was with a 15 year old girl from Rockwall, Texas and during it Erin Kinsey said something I think will stay with me always. I had asked her if she had a Plan B in case her music ambitions didn’t work out and she replied “If you have a Plan B you might as well skip to it right away because you aren’t concentrating on Plan A”. Two years on I wanted to discover how Plan A was progressing.
Very well indeed would seem to be the obvious answer. Erin has recently signed to CAA (Creative Artists Agency) who have offices in Nashville, New York, London, Los Angeles, Munich and Beijing – to list but a few. An obviously delighted Erin told me “Having Rod Essig (Head of CAA Nashville) tell me he believes in me is one of the biggest compliments”.
Erin will be opening for Hunter Hayes at the Ascend Amphitheatre in Nashville on April 28th which, quite naturally, she describes as “a dream come true” and will, I suspect, be followed by many more similar opportunities with the bigger names on the CAA roster.
Do not imagine for one minute the past two years have been spent waiting around to be “discovered”; Erin has been writing, performing at songwriter rounds, doing showcase gigs with her band and impressing sufficiently as an instrumentalist to win major sponsorships from Taylor Guitars, Warrior Instruments and Deering Banjos. Take a look at Erin’s cover of One Republic’s “I Lived” which you can find on her website www.erinkinsey.com for an appreciation of the range of musical talent this young lady delivers and remember she is still only seventeen.
| Erin Kinsey |
One of the many endearing aspects of talking to Erin is her unrestrained enthusiasm for not only her own music but that of other people too. I get the impression that when certain other artists’ names are mentioned there is a part of Erin’s brain that wants to immediately sing a little of one of their songs she particularly admires.
An album is in the pipeline for Erin Kinsey and although I have no inside information on this I would not be at all surprised to find that album contains at least one cover of a song that makes the listener think “Wow, that’s such a brilliant choice”.
Fond memories of that 2016 trip to London are still fresh for this likable young lady “It was an incredible experience and one I will never forget. Everything about the trip was so much fun and I loved being able to meet so many fans of country music”.
Some of those British fans still message Erin from time to time, asking about new music and when she might be returning to the UK...... you can get a sneak preview of some of the new songs on the website (the downloads are free!!) and as for more shows this side of the ocean Erin told me “I’m ready to come back whenever you will have me”.
If you follow this blog site regularly you may have noticed my personal preference for the more traditional, older, styles of country music but if you think I dislike all the modern stuff you would be wrong. I have no time for the modern artists who write formulaic songs with no originality, who have a limited vocal range and who can barely play their instruments, but Erin Kinsey displays the depth of musical ability, the work ethic and the sheer class artists used to need back in the day when being plucked from obscurity and handed hits on a plate was not an option.
And for that reason I believe she will be very successful indeed.
I wish Erin Kinsey and her Plan A every success.
