Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers

Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers were just named New England’s best blues band, winning “Blues Artist Of The Year” at the 2019 New England Music Awards! Singer/guitarist Erin Harpe leads the roots-rocking electric band on vocals and lead guitar, playing a mix of styles they call “Boogie, Blues & Beyond”.

A rising star in the roots and blues scene with a growing fan base around the world, she’s been called “one of the most dynamic, talented and exciting roots rocking blues women on the scene” by Living Blues Magazine, and has been compared to legendary blues women like Bonnie Raitt and Rory Block. The Midwest Record even called her “Bonnie Raitt on modern performance enhancing drugs!” The “modern blues mama for our times” has had an exciting year, from winning awards, to competing solo at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis (where she made it to the Semi-Finals!), to touring around the US – with stops at the Rhythm & Roots Festival (RI), Tall City Blues Fest (TX), Musikfest (PA) and Paw Paw Fest (OH), as well as in the UK!

This holiday season Erin and the band celebrate with a limited-edition vinyl release of their album “The Christmas Swing” and a string of holiday parties. “The Christmas Swing” is Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers’ self-produced, critically-acclaimed (anti-) Christmas album. This season on VizzTone/Juicy Juju Records, the album will be released on limited edition vinyl! The album, which has been called “sassy” and “un-traditional”, made it to #2 last season (Eric Clapton was #5!) on the Roots Music Report’s Top 50 Holiday Album Charts, AND #17 on the Living Blues Charts last December! Featuring ten songs – including a couple of Erin’s originals and her own arrangements of traditionals and songs by Chuck Berry, Bessie Smith, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Leadbelly, and more – the album is a great alternative seasonal romp, chock full of hooky blues-guitar-fueled gems that you’ll want to listen to each year as the holidays approach – in fact Steve Jones of Blues Blast Magazine says, “I will be giving it many more spins this holiday season and beyond.”

In 2010 Erin and and her husband, bass player Jim Countryman, started Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers, an electric delta blues-inspired quartet. They were off to a great start right away, winning the Boston Blues Challenge that same year and being christened “Charles River Delta Blues” by the local media. They were signed to blues label VizzTone in 2014. In the past 9 years the band has gone electric and branched out to created their own sound, dubbed “boogie, blues and beyond” – an electrifying original sound that takes you from the delta to the dancefloor mixing in funk, soul and reggae swing!

Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers have released three albums, all of which have done very well on radio charts, receiving critical acclaim from media around the world. “Love Whip Blues” (2014) received 4 stars in DownBeat Magazine and was featured on SiriusXM’s Bluesville, and the band’s sophomore album “Big Road” (2017) made the TOP TEN in Roots Music Report’s Contemporary Blues Albums chart, the iTop Top 100 Blues Albums AND Relix Jamband Radio Charts.

What People Are Saying

“Something akin to what the blues sounded like, Muddy and his band plugged in, which sounds better than ever in these hands.” ~ Cheap Thrills Boston

“Erin Harpe has it all. The looks, the chops, the voice, the presence and the band all add to an aura that mesmerized the crowd…” ~ The Alternate Route

“One of the most dynamic, talented, and exciting roots rocking blues women on the scene.” ~Living Blues Magazine

“Avoiding the perils of predictability, these four New Englanders craft a fresh, genre-crossing group sound…” ~ DownBeat Magazine

“Erin Harpe is a hot mama blues singer.” ~ Sing Out!

“This hard-charging white gal with the blues raises the roof with every note.” ~ Midwest Record