Western Massachusetts based singer/songwriter Erica Wheeler’s new release ‘Good Summer Rain’ creates a vivid travelogue of the North American landscape, often feeling as expansive as the land itself. Known for her visual, "cinematographic" song-writing style, the 11 songs on her forthcoming ‘Good Summer Rain’ span the intimate streets of Greenwich Village to the sweeping vistas of Jackson Hole.. Charged with emotion ranging from awe to loss, her songs include both the beauty and the grit of our landscapes. They reach out to the edges, where farmland gives way to urban sprawl, wilderness gives way to industrial growth, leaving the listener to contemplate the impacts of change, and the dilemmas that ensue.
Produced in Boston by Crit Harmon (Martin Sexton, Mary Gauthier, Lori McKenna) "Good Summer Rain" draws on some of the Northeast's finest session musicians. It fuses the rootsy Americana sounds of dobro, mandolin, guitar and drums with the elegance of piano and upright bass, offering a rich textural foundation for Erica's expressive lyrics and intimate, conversational vocal style.
Wheeler’s intention with this new collection goes beyond the music and appeals to awaken our awareness of our place in the world. She does so with the kind of poetry that lets the listener draw their own conclusions. Beautiful, thoughtful, deeply spiritual and satisfying, Good Summer Rain will make you smile, laugh and cry but most of all, it will make you think.
Erica Wheeler is an award-winning songwriter with five critically acclaimed releases to her credit. She has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered and WXPN's World Café. Her CD "The Harvest" remained on Billboard's Gavin Americana Chart for five months with a solid month in the top ten. The Fall 2007 issue of Yankee Magazine gave her music the honored distinction of being named the second best thing about fall: Best Soundtrack. "All Music Guide" stated, her songs combine "the literary sensibility of New England with the spiritual vision of the American west." Berkshire Eagle noted "Not everyone can turn their impressions into three minute works of art that resonate with compelling truths. Erica Wheeler is one of the rare few who can."
Erica has appeared as clubs, concert halls, colleges and festivals across the country and has shared the bill with Shawn Colvin, Indigo Girls, Greg Brown and many others. She also facilitates her writing workshop "The Soulful Landscape," which connects people with their stories of place and belonging. Her forthcoming 2008 release "Good Summer Rain" was sponsored in part by the Trust for Public Land.
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