Profile

Known for her bold, precise alto, smooth jazz-rock guitar playing, and intelligent songwriting, Erica Ballinger is both subtle and engaging. From heavy metal ballads to African-American spirituals, her varied influences have led her to evolve a style uniquely her own, earning her several awards from the Northern California Songwriters Association, and many fans.

On her debut album Life (1998),
Ballinger pushes the acoustic-folk parameters of the singer/songwriter genre with soulful jazz and Latin arrangements. Accenting stillness, she creates hypnotic spaces for her audience to flow in and out of. "Ballinger has got jazz timing and an earth mother's warmth," says Portland's Willamette Week, "like a chain smoking Sarah McLachlan at the Village Vanguard at 4AM.

In 1999 and again in 2000 the Northern California Songwriters Association honored Erica with awards for best song and best performance in regional songwriter competitions. In 2001, she released Live at the Cat Hair House, recorded at a Seattle house concert venue. Erica's discography also includes several benefit compilations to which she has contributed—Rose Street Raw, Azadi!, and Songs of the Land: a Celebration of the Hopland Women's Festival. Erica has performed at The Bitter End in New York City, Portland's Mt. Tabor Theater, Cafe Du Nord and Hotel Utah in San Francisco, and the Hopland Women's Festival, sharing the stage with Pamela Means, Allette Brooks, Gwen Avery, and Shelley Doty.

Erica found her musical calling in early childhood. A trained classical pianist, she also added her voice to a number of choral and a Capella groups with repertoires ranging from gospel to traditional music. By far her greatest influence, however, was popular music and her folks' collection of rock, soul, and jazz albums. Growing up shy and introverted, Erica immersed herself in music, spending hours listening, emulating, and adapting lyrics and melodies of vocalists that moved her. From this musical asylum, she ultimately found solace in her own words, her own rhythms, and her own voice.

Exclusive Interview

Special Message

Q&A
Click here to ask Erica a question, then check back here soon for her answer!

Workshops

Photo Gallery

Contact