Erik Balkey may have won the 2007 Susquehanna Music & Arts Festival (SMAF) Songwriter Contest last weekend, but the 37-year old, self-described “traveling painter and poet” doesn’t let things like that go to his head. “I’m confident with what I do and believe that there’s value in it,” he said, noting that, while nice, he does not need such awards and honors as an affirmation or validation of his work.
For Balkey, who has been a performing songwriter since buying his first guitar at age 24, while completing his last semester in college, being named as one of the eight finalists in this year’s SMAF contest provided the impetus for him to get down to Darlington, Maryland “to hang out and share music with a bunch of friends and kindred spirits.”
Balkey’s literate and expressive songs run the gamut from those that he writes for people – in which he tries “to get into the mindset of characters and be as authentic and genuine as possible,” to songs on topics of social relevance – in which he endeavors “to do my best to research and think of the characters involved in that.”
With his guitar and gentle tenor voice, Balkey performed two songs during the SMAF Songwriter Contest finals on May 11: “My Daddy is My Spiderman” and “100 Years.” The former is a song he was commissioned to write for a man and his young son who is really into Spiderman. Having learned that the father was in the Air National Guard stationed overseas, Balkey decided to write the song from the perspective of the four year-old. “100 Years” is a touching ballad inspired by a story that fellow singer-songwriter Tom Prasada-Rao related to him about his grandfather who was born in
“I basically live an artist’s lifestyle and immerse myself in the folk scene,” says Balkey. “I’m absolutely affected by the music I listen to, and I’m sure that shows up in the songs I write,” he continues, citing Dave Carter, Jonathan Byrd and Buddy Mondlock among a group of artists who have inspired and influenced him.
Balkey also has a strong sense of a caring, sharing folk community. That belief prompted him to organize song circles and to share his experiences of life on the road through a “Songwriters Tour Guide” and helped inspire him to launch the “LivingFolk” listserv, an online discussion group, in late March. Established through Yahoo Groups, “LivingFolk” offers free memberships for what he describes as “a community of kindred folk who share a commitment to, and are personally and spiritually invested in, the shaping of an evolving folk scene for today.” [For more information, see “Online Discussion Group Focuses on Living on the Folk Scene,” which is posted in the Features section].
Balkey was a Kerrville New Folk Finalist in 2005 and a finalist in the Mountain Stage NewSongs Contest in both 2003 and 2004. His solo albums include Negotiations & Compromise (2001), God’s Poet Now – a seven-song EP recorded as a benefit for the Dave Carter Memorial Fund (2003), While the Paint Dries (2004),
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