Erin Cole-Baker – I Didn’t Want To Take Your Things

Erin Cole-Baker reaches out to us from Oregon to tell us about her new song, I Didn’t Want To Take Your Things.

Erin was born in the US but raised in New Zealand…Northland to be precise. Its been a few years since we’ve heard from Erin. Here’s what she has to say:

I wanted to share with you a video/song I just released, “I didn’t want to take your things” which came out of me with the sudden and unexpected loss of someone close to me last year. I’m hoping it can give a little channel for others to process their grief….

I’ve been living in Oregon for the past 2 years and working on releasing an EP of songs I’ve written and recorded in 2020, as well as playing live. Then the pandemic has given us a break!

Here is her story as she tells it on her website:

Erin Cole-Baker was born in the USA and raised in the beach filled rural Northland of New Zealand.  Her songwriting and live delivery comes from a place of great honesty and beauty, lead by her gorgeous silvery voice and extraordinary sense of melody. Erins’ songs are deep, gritty reflections on being human, guided by rich velvety vocals on both electric and acoustic guitars.

Erin called Oregon home for six years in which she released Talon and Spur in 2009 and Big Sky in 2011, and where she established herself as “One of the more constant and compelling voices on the Central Oregon music scene” (GO! Magazine), becoming a Breedlove artist and returning to her roots in New Zealand to raise a family.

After a seven year break to focus on raising her two daughters, Cole-Baker released her album “Till the Feeling’s Right” in May 2018.   Erin was funded by Outward Sound (NZ) to attend the International Folk Alliance Conference in Kansas City, and in August and September toured through California, Oregon and Washington.

In May 2019 Erin and her family moved to the USA, bought an RV and toured the Northwest playing music at Festivals, venues and house concerts to connect with a larger community. Erin played as the Breedlove Guitar chosen artist for Sisters Folk Festival in 2018 and has recently opened for Sean Hayes and Joseph at the Tower Theatre and again calls Bend Oregon home.

In 2020 Cole-Baker launched herself into a world of writing and home recording after being asked to record some parts for different friends’ projects.  She gathered gear and spent late nights figuring out how to navigate the recording software and gear.  “Late Summer” (which was released Dec 2021) was one of the first songs Erin started to record, in a collection of six songs which will be released as an EP in 2022.  These songs explore an expanded sonic pallet with the addition of new gear bought early in 2020.  A Fender Jazzmaster, some new pedals, a synth and drum machine all collided, to provide an outlet for the tangle of 2020 in this collection of songs.  Late Summer is written on synth as the main instrument and has been mixed by recent Chicago transplant sound engineer Andrew Arbetter.

Late Summer was written after a family trip to the Oregon coast, after a very isolated stint of “distance learning” from home with Cole-Bakers’ 5 and 8 year old girls and not really seeing people.  This trip let some light in, and a shift of perspective, watching her girls splash in the waves, run down the dunes and laugh and have fun.  “Late Summer” is about being changed by the goodness of nature, that magic shift of getting out of your head and seeing beauty again.

Cole-Bakers’ most recent release is a stunningly heartbreaking self-produced song and video “I Didn’t Want To Take Your Things”, which came out of her after the sudden and unexpected loss of someone special to her last year. She wrote and recorded the main parts all in the same day, and there it sat gathering dust until the end of last year. She was supported, mentored and buoyed again by Andrew Arbetter to get it over the finish line. She hopes this song will allow people to process their own grief in any way small or big….

Besides working on her EP, Erin has been writing and crafting an engaging live solo show, and also a band show with longtime friend Tyson (bass and BVs) and her husband Bruce (drums and synth), carving a band sound that is solid and fun.  Over the summer of ‘21 they opened for Joseph at the very popular outdoor series “Munch n Music”, Bend Fall Festival, and played backyard concerts around Bend.

“I find myself wanting to sing and play with more grit, stomp on a pedal and let my fingers explore the fretboard, something I might not have explored if it weren’t for the last 18months.”

Click here for more Erin Cole-Baker