Join us for live music with singer / songwriter Erin Ash Sullivan!
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Seating is limited. We recommend arriving early.
Please help us support our local musicians with your tips.
$5 per person tip for musicians encouraged via cash or Venmo @elementsbiddeford.
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Erin’s first 12 years were marked by thousands of miles logged in a 1972 Volkswagen camper van as her family trekked from Maryland to Massachusetts to California to Scotland and back again to California, before putting on the brakes in a tiny town in central Massachusetts. Those many moves gave Erin a first-hand understanding of the close relationship between geography and perspective, an appreciation for being able to put down roots and call a place home, and an encyclopedic knowledge of the ABBA discography.
Music was always a central part of Erin’s life, with piano and voice lessons from her grandmother, herself an accomplished musician and performer. Erin didn’t start playing guitar or writing music until she graduated from Amherst College and was living in New York City, where a miniscule elementary school teacher’s salary and an even more miniscule 9×12’ apartment suddenly made guitar playing an appealing pastime. In New York, Erin reconnected with college friend Amy Speace, and together they founded the band Edith O. They performed regularly at New York City venues including the Bitter End and CBGB’s Gallery and released an album, Tattooed Queen, which garnered critical raves. It is possible that the band broke up when Erin—who was at the time a sleep-deprived mother of a six-week-old—forgot to show up at the Bitter End for the band’s record release show.
In subsequent years, marriage, children, and a career as a teacher, school administrator, and published author took center stage, but in 2018, Erin returned to writing and performing.
In 2021, Erin released her debut solo album, We Can Hear Each Other, which reached #10 on the FAI Folk DJ Chart, and in 2023, she was a “Most Wanted” selection at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. She has won numerous songwriting awards, including the Rose Garden Coffeehouse Performing Songwriter Competition, the Mark Erelli Judge's Choice Award in the New England Songwriting Competition, the Great American Song Contest (finalist) and the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest (finalist). Her second album, Signposts and Marks, came out in July 2024, and it reached #4 on the FAI Folk DJ Chart for that month. In 2025, she was the winner of the Al Johnson Songwriter Contest at the Wildflower Arts & Music Festival (TX), and she received an Honorable Mention at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Songwriter Showcase.
Erin’s music focuses on the power of stories to build connection and calls back to the style and spirit of her music idols, which include Joni Mitchell, Patty Griffin, John Prine, and Ellis Paul. Her shows are warm, intimate, heartfelt, and funny, with tales that are authentic and drawn from her lived experience, shining a light on the ties that bind us together.
You may also like the following events from Elements: Books Coffee Beer:
- Next Thursday, 4th September, 05:30 pm, Storms, Sea Level Rise, and the Future of Maine's Beaches: UNE Science Night in Biddeford
- Next Friday, 5th September, 06:00 pm, Live Music with Zavier Walker in Biddeford
- Next month, 11th September, 05:30 pm, Open Craft Night in Biddeford
Also check out other
Music events in Biddeford,
Entertainment events in Biddeford,
Contests in Biddeford.
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