Artists:Erin McKeown

From elegant pop to balls-out rock, sweet electronics to witty swing, Erin McKeown has packed a ton of music into her young career. With 5 albums, 2 EPs, and numerous soundtracks and compilations to her credit, the 29-year-old songwriter and multi-instrumentalist hasn't stopped for a breather in the last 10 years. Along the way she has averaged 200 shows a year and garnered the praise of fans and critics alike. McKeown's newest release is Lafayette, a rollicking evening with her six-piece Little Big Band.

"Airborne metaphors carry the songwriter Erin McKeown all the way through her fourth album, We Will Become Like Birds (Nettwerk). Her clear mezzo-soprano sounds perpetually optimistic, and so do the syncopated electric guitar parts she picks and plucks through the sparsely arranged but fully realized songs." -- Jon Pareles, New York Times

"Her operative mood is effortless grace." -- LA Weekly

"Her playing is so muscular, her arrangements so well conceived that she succeeds brilliantly. As with all truly great guitarists, the wonder is less in her chops than her choices." -- Boston Globe

"In several distinctive ways - voice, dynamic subtlety, and sheer songwriting ability - Erin McKeown is in a class of her own." -- Sunday Times (UK).