Ervin Allen

Ervin Allen is a singer-songwriter currently based in Linden, Wisconsin. Erv is a baby boomer born in 1949 and has lived the evolution of American music.

Since the early fifties he has listened to the songs that have influenced todays music. Raised in Madison, Wisconsin, Erv remembers the local talent, like Bobby Rice and his sister how had a local TV show on Channel 3 in Madison, Wisconsin. I would never miss their show. I realized even back then that they were playing country music. A lot of my favorite artists like Roy Orbison and the Everly Brothers, were country folk singers. During the early sixties Erv started to listen to Roger Miller, Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton and Hank Snow. Today, some of his favorite folk artists are Sara Pace, John Prine, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie and his son Arlo. It tickles me to here DJs referring to the songs I grew up with as oldies! The fifties and sixties were a wild time for music and I feel privileged to have lived that experience." Ervs own music career began in 1974 when he taught himself how to play the guitar and began to write songs. Youre in My Memory, his first song, was completed in 1976. Between 1976 and 1980 Erv enjoyed being the front man for several bands. My job was to play rhythm guitar and sing lead vocals. Everyone else I performed with was too shy and someone had to do it! In 1980, while at Fort Benning Georgia, he met Jody Powers. Erv credits Powers, a staff writer for the House of Cash, for helping him develop his talents. Jody didnt realize how much influence he had on me. He taught me a great deal about songwriting. By 1981 Erv, along with a back-up band known as Stage Dust, had eight songs published and recorded. In August, 1982 Erv was medically retired from the Army. He found himself attending the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh to start a second career in teaching Special Education. It was a decision that was close to his heart as he discovered he was dyslexic during this time of his life. His career as a teacher continued until he retired in June 2004 only to pick up where he left off with songwriting and performing. I owe this move to my loving wife Kim and good friend Sara Pace. Since September 2004 Erv has appeared at over 105 open mics in the Madison area to get a feel for the audiences and to establish himself and his music. Because of favorable audiences responses and enthusiastic encouragement from Adam Gregory Pergament, Erv has recorded Moon and Stars, his first CD. Erv is excited and looking forward to recording his second CD with StoneFloat Records and performing in larger venues in Madison and Southwest Wisconsin.

I have been playing live since 2004 when I retired for the second time from education. A good friend of mine, singer/songwriter and co-worker Sara Pace, convinced me to start performing again after a break of about twenty-five years. She told me "You are never to old to perform music!." I started by playing as many open mic's as I could. Last year 2005 I performed at 105 open mic's in Madison, Wisconsin. I would sometimes perform at two or three a week if my timing was right. I was trying to see if Sara was right. She was and I found that people did enjoy my performances. It was through those performances that I was invited to do larger venues and met the producer of my first CD "Moon and Stars" Mr. Andy LaValley. This year I am enjoying performing at much larger venues such as the Madison Art Fair on the Square, several coffee houses, Rising Star Competition, Auditioning for Nashville Star in Chicago, Jimmy's in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, the Pardtown Pub and many others. Recently I have teamed up with other musicians to form what we call the "House Band" for the Wisconsin Chapter of the Cowboy Church. We have all gone back to our roots in music and play the old time gospel, country and folk songs we grew up with. This also gives us a link to Nashville where the Cowboy Church originated.

Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Rodger Miller, Hank Williams Sr., and Neil Diamond, Roy Orbison. Today some of my favorite folk artists are Sara Pace, John Prine, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, and the Guthrie's.

I have two Ovation acoustic/electric guitars and a Peavey Predator solid body that I use on stage. My sound system consist of a Soundcraft Spirit FX8 sound board, two FBT Max main speakers, one FBT MaxX 2a monitor speaker, a Shure wireless guitar system, Shure SLX wireless monitor system, Shure wireless microphone, AutoCom PRO-XL MDX1600 Composer, a 15 amp Series II power conditioner, TEAC CD player, a DigiTech JamMan Looper/Phrase Sampler and a Peavey guitar amp. All of this is neatly placed into a SKB stage case. This system gives me an versatility of playing with a full band or when I want to do a solo act with backtracks.