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“I’ve learned so much about my mine, is another really hum- He’s still surprised at the turn

songs and music through fans bling experience,” he says.
in his life. “I’ve been to Europe,
and their connections. It’s added If you talk to Baker, you’ll see Asia, the Middle East, Cuba. I’ve

so much depth to what I thought his eyes deepen when he shares been able to share the stage with
I knew.”
these other people’s stories with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. It’s

His music brings people into
you. He’s as genuine as his music.
humbling and dreamlike,” he ad-
a space where they can create “What I like about my music
mits. “Talk about thankfulness.”

meaning together. His take on is that so much goes back to
Baker was away from his
his experiences is the raw mate- that shared experience with the Knoxville home for more than
rial—and fans can interpret as listener,” he says. “The conversa- 200 days last year. His wife, who

they will. For instance, he wrote tion has been the greatest thing is a nurse, and their four-year-
“Comfort You” to deal with the about my music—that gained old daughter, Annabelle, travel

loss of someone close, in a situa- perspective. In any art, that with him every chance they get.
tion where comfort eluded him. sharing experience—making it “That’s a big part of who I am

Yet he’s talked to many people ‘ours’—is what makes it unique.”
and my music,” he says. “Being
who see the song as romantic Making art based around away from them is the hardest

and a “huge source of light.” The shared meaning, and that can part of my music—which makes
song “Plastic Flowers” follows support not only himself but
playing the Tennessee Theatre

the perspective of someone who a wife and young daughter, is show that much better.”
has lost a lover of more than 50 related, for Baker, to where he What will he be doing while
years. But once in New York City, was in life when he started out. he’s home for the show? He

a girl shared with Baker that her “What I did at 28,” he says, “I may take his family on a date to
brother had lost an infant son couldn’t have handled at 18. I’ve Nama, where Annabelle enjoys

and found peace after listening been able to make the most of the edamame. He’ll probably
to that song.
opportunities.” After college, he dance around the living room

Six wedding proposals have was in a place where he could with her—she loves to dance and
occurred at his live shows, too. dig into himself to igure out his sing. He hasn’t had much time to

“Where people reached out, musical values. Providing for a read since she was born, but this
where I’m now part of these family has provided him with former English graduate student

people’s lives, and them part of
drive and inspiration.
inds reading to be a “big base
of lyrical writing style.” When
people ask him tips on song writ-

ing, he tells them, “Go read a
book.” He apologizes for favoring

as he played for more and Stephen King, but adds that he
more people around the loves Steinbeck’s Travels with Char-
country, Baker found his
music resonated with his ley and McCarthy’s On the Road.
listeners in ways he couldn’t Erick Baker once fought
imagine or predict.
against small town life. But the
older you are, he has found,

the harder you try to reach back
there to a way of life that’s
slower and “more rooted in

real things that matter in life.”
Developing into a musician after

college, he found a way to help
himself and his fans connect

with things that matter by con-
necting with his music and con-

necting with each other. That’s
what makes his music uniquely

his—and not his at all.

an alabama native, Meghan Mcdonald
has lived, hiked, and gardened in knoxville
for the past three years. she is a regular
contributor to Cityview.

90 cityviewmag.com novEMBER dEcEMBER 2013