The urban/rural divide is a common theme in Americana, but on From the Land of Rusted Dreams, Erin Heist twists the trope and sings through the lens of a woman who grew up in the landlocked fishing communities of Southeast Alaska. Heist has spent the last decade playing the bars and backrooms of Alaska's folk music scene and her debut album gives a taste of all the twists and turns you might find at a late-night hotel jam during her hometown's famed Alaska Folk Festival.

“It’s a hackneyed trope to refer to a location as “another character” or uncredited contributor when describing a piece of art — but it’s also tough to overstate just how much Southeast Alaska and an idiosyncratic institution helped shape “From the Land of Rusted Dreams.” ”
— Ben Hohenstatt, Juneau Empire

Heist’s first recording project, stripped-down EP Another Rainy Day was released in the summer of 2021 and quickly established Heist as a new Alaskan voice to watch. On From the Land of Rusted Dreams Heist cements her place as a versatile songwriter with the ability to take traditional American music to new places.

Erin Heist’s first full-length album From the Land of Rusted Dreams is now available on CD and vinyl

From the deeply personal singer-songwriter first track "Downstream", to the ragtime blues of "Somebody Somewhere" to the country burner "Call Me a Fool", to the bluegrass bite of "Stranger to You", all the way to the Cajun "Sun Will Come the Dawn", Heist's album has something for everyone. Rather than feeling disparate, the variety in styles feel like facets of a single gem and the album sparkles with the heart and charm of the all-star team Heist brought together for the project.

Joined by a who's who of Northwest folk musicians, From the Land of Rusted Dreams was recorded live in Astoria, Oregon at the Rope Room Studio, recorded and produced by Kati Claborn (Blind Pilot, The Hackles). With Heist's primary musical partner, Andrew Heist (The Great Alaska Bluegrass Band) on mandolin; Luke Ydstie (Blind Pilot, The Hackles) grooving on the upright bass and percussion; and Barry Southern and Gabrielle Macrae (The Horsenecks and founders of the Quarantine Happy Hour) on guitar, banjos, and fiddle. Rounding out the sound, the album features takes from AJ Srubas (Steam Machine) on pedal steel, Beth Chrisman (The Carper Family) on fiddle, and Chris Stafford (Feufollet) on Cajun accordion. Mixed by Adam Selzer and mastered by Jon Neufeld.

At the start of the pandemic, Heist proposed a song-writing group to a variety of women that she had met in the bluegrass and old-time world. The bulk of the original songs featured on From the Land of Rusted Dreams were born out of that project and when she realized that her next step should be an album, Heist called up one of the other songwriters in the group, Gabrielle Macrae. Macrae and Heist and their husbands had become close friends after rooming together at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA. Macrae proposed the exact plan that was put into place and the same team that helped produce and fill out the sound of Michael Hurley's The Time of the Foxgloves and The Horsenecks' Started Out in Town came together for a joyful week-long recording session for Heist's album.

Heist got her start as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitar player for Cajun honky-tonk band The North Country Cajun Club and more recently has been performing bluegrass and country duets with her husband Andrew Heist.

From the Land of Rusted Dreams was funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign and Heist was the recipient of the Juneau Community Foundation's 2021 Individual Artist Award and the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council's 2021 Individual Artist Award.

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Erin Heist hails from the lush temperate rainforest of Southeast Alaska. As a core member of Alaska’s roots music scene, Erin has spent the last decade moving from packed bar stages to all-night jams - steeped in the heartbeat-drive of old-time string-band rhythm, the high-harmonies of traditional bluegrass vocals, the lonesome sway of classic country waltzes, and the insatiable shuffle of Cajun fiddle. Her ringing vocals, haunting harmonies, and rhythmic guitar playing are often accompanied by her husband Andrew Heist, and her original songs reflect on the joys and trials of growing up in land-locked coastal Alaskan communities. Erin is inspired by the songwriting and singing of traditionally rooted musicians like Gillian Welch, John Hartford, Ola Belle Reed, and the father of Alaskan bluegrass, Carl Hoffman.

Inspired by the vast world of American roots music, and with an MFA in creative writing, Erin’s songwriting strikes the balance of an impactful less-is-more aesthetic, with honest and simple lyrics that hit hard. Erin and Andrew’s harmonies are inspired by the intimate duet sound of the Louvin Brothers, the Stanley Brothers, and George Jones and Melba Montgomery. Erin’s acoustic guitar flatpicking walks the line of rhythmic and melodic and is often accompanied by Andrew’s famed bluegrass mandolin tremolo and searing old-time fiddle.

Erin Heist has performed throughout Alaska as the lead singer and rhythm guitar player for The Sprucetops, the North Country Cajun Club, Sugarshack, and the Slacktide Backsliders.

Andrew Heist is best known as a founding member of marquee bluegrass band The Great Alaska Bluegrass Band, currently plays with Taking Care of Bluegrass, and has also toured with the North Country Cajun Club, Slacktide Backsliders, Raisin’ Holy Hell, Ray Troll and the Ratfish Wranglers, Burnt Down House, and The Sweetpotatoes.

As a duo Erin & Andrew Heist are renowned for bringing a tear to even the hardest heart. Both have shared stages with luminaries of the old-time and bluegrass music scene, including: The Foghorn Stringband, The Horsenecks, The Bow Ties, RayJen Cajun, and members of the Revelers and Bearfoot Bluegrass.

Erin is the recipient of multiple awards, including: the Juneau Community Foundation Arts Vibrancy Individual Artist Award, the Alaska State Council on the Arts Adaptation and Innovation Grant, and the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council Individual Artist Grant.

In addition to playing music, Erin writes recipes using foods foraged, hunted, and fished in Southeast Alaska and posts her recipes and foraging notes to her blog Food-a-be.