Dressed all in black but sporting a white cowboy hat, Erik Koskinen stepped onto the Lucas Hicks Auditorium stage at Bellingham’s New Prospect Theatre (NPT) last week to a warm, passionate reception from the near capacity crowd. Although Erik had played the room numerous times previously, this was his first headlining gig and judging by the crowd’s enthusiasm won’t be the last.
Born in Ft. Collins, Colorado, but now based in Cleveland, Minnesota (population 747), Koskinen is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer whose music occupies that elusive space between blues, folk, country, jazz, and rock (oh, and we can’t forget polka-more on that later). Though those categorizations may seem overly broad, Koskinen’s distinctive voice and style make all his music unique, regardless of genre.
Discogs lists a back catalog of 9 albums going back to 1998’s One Step Closer, and 2005’s The Mandan Hayseed. His 2010 album and label debut, Keep it to Yourself (Real-Phonic Records) demonstrated Koskinen’s songwriting range, if not a keen sense of observation, and introduced him to a wider audience. His songs mine that Midwestern gestalt, drawing detailed character portraits, wrapped in deceptively basic blues melodies that, after repeated listening, nonetheless reveal startling depth. America Theatre (2014) continued in the same vein, stripped down but fully formed songs reminiscent of early Knopfler.
His next release, 2015’s Erik Koskinen Live at the Real-Phonic Radio Hour 2011/2015 showcased an expansive stage presence, connection to his audiences, and a love for rockabilly; a bond repeated at the New Prospect Theatre show. 2018’s Cruising Paradise followed by Burning the Deal in 2019, and finally 2024’s Down Street / Love Avenue demonstrated his love for, and ability to interpret myriad genres. Speaking of Burning the Deal, “It’s not only Americana music. I learned how to play blues music. I learned how to play country music, and how to play folk, bluegrass, jazz, whatever. I learned how to play American music.”
Stream Down Street/Love Avenue by Erik Koskinen on Spotify.
Along with drummer Richard Medek and bassist Josh Gravelin on Jan. 7, Erik immersed us in American music, leading us through his back catalog, a world populated by Midwestern lives, images, and melodies. Once, when asked if his songs about characters were fictional or autobiographical he replied, “All the time, or never at all. The thing about songwriting is that you can lie, tell the truth, scam, fool, be humble, and exaggerate…We need to leave it up to the listener to decide for themselves what is and what isn’t.”
But it’s not just the songs and stories that charm but leave the listener wondering, Erik has a knack for slyly pulling in his audience with subtle onstage banter, jokes, and asides. Introducing “Red Dress Girl,” he related how as a seventeen-year-old, he was hired to play a festival (his first), when he spied a girl dancing, “so I wrote a song about her…then I wrote a whole album about her.” Did Erik really fall in love with that girl? Who knows, who cares? All of us, boy or girl, fall in love at seventeen.
A collection of loose sheets with handwritten lyrics served as the evening’s set list and allowed Erik to pick and choose songs that lent themselves to the moment. Hence, we’d go from “Red Dress Girl” to the John Lee Hooker inspired blues of “Free Money,” from “Pony to Ride” to “To Both of Me.”
Watch a live performance of “Free Money” with Erik Koskinen and violinist Kora Melia on CINCY Sessions:
The show opened with a straight bluesy feel, Erik’s guitar slicing through the music, Josh’s bass providing a ‘just right’ heavy bottom end, and Richard’s drums placing crescendos in exactly the right places. As the night stretched on, however, the music stretched out, giving us a taste of the diversity contained in Koskinen’s music: the roots rock of “Six Pack of Beer and a Pack of Cigarettes,” “Both of Me’s” folksiness, and a jazz flavored tune about Dale Evans and Roy Rogers, “Cruising Paradise the Long Way Around.”
The first time I saw Erik perform, opening for (and playing with) fellow musician and friend, Jeffrey Foucault, one song in particular stood out for me, “Keep My Baby with Me.” It’s unlike Koskinen’s other tunes, poppy, optimistic, and hopeful despite the lyrical undercurrent of hard times: “My money’s all gone, but my luck is still around, so I’m makin’ a deal, to keep my baby with me now.” From Erik’s latest album, Down Street / Love Avenue, it’s also a distillation of all those things that Koskinen’s compositions encompass: growing old, hardships, determination and self-reliance.
Watch Erik Koskinen perform “Keep My Baby with Me” at Live at the Cock N’ Bull Restaurant on YouTube:
Toward the end of the night, Erik talked about his Finnish roots and love of polka, introducing a song he wrote early in his career titled, “Polkabilly Polka” (from The Mandan Hayseed). As the trio was ripping into the tune, I realized I’d heard a facsimile of the genre many years ago, Bill Kirchen’s (Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen) rockabilly excellence. And before you giggle at polka music’s influence on multiple musical genres, be sure to google Nils Lofgren, Neil Young, and Southern Man.
The night ended with “I Love You Maybe” eliciting a standing ovation for Erik and the band. In this era of “pretend” encores it was nice to see the crowd insist on ‘one more song’ prompting the band’s return for another upbeat Kirchen inspired “chicken picking, popcorn licks” rockabilly tune, “Detroit Detroit.” I presume that the resulting second standing ovation will be enough to lure Erik back soon for another Bellingham show.
Here are some more photos of Erik Koskinen at Bellingham’s New Prospect Theatre on Jan. 7, 2026. All photos courtesy of and copyright Mark Caicedo.
