Photo by Ryan Lowry
Hello. Thanks for stopping by. I’m a music journalist, critic, author and researcher whose work centers around an abiding interest in American musical traditions and working-class ingenuity. I’m known for researching and writing about songwriters and the Midwest, which are my primary focus. But my range of interest extends to other movements such as DIY punk, West Coast new age, country music, American folk music and regional underground music of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.
My career in journalism began in 2007 at the Chicago Tribune where I co-founded the paper’s first social media strategy team. One of the first newsrooms to incorporate social platforms in daily editorial cycles, my strategic programs garnered national and international recognition and prompted news organizations worldwide to adopt similar practices. I contributed online coverage during President Obama’s election in 2008, and created social media programs and reported for the paper’s entertainment verticals Metromix and Redeye. I was the founding digital editor of Time Out Chicago Kids, where I helped build the magazine’s website from the ground up, before becoming a music editor at Time Out Chicago. I also served as music critic of Chicago magazine.
Today, my byline has appeared in Pitchfork, Spin, Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Reader, Chicago Sun-Times, The A.V. Club, Jezebel, No Depression, Aquarium Drunkard, Uncut and numerous other print and web-based publications. I’ve interviewed Liz Phair, Jack White, Connie Smith, John Mellencamp, Juliana Hatfield, Glen Hansard, Norma Tanega, Angel Olsen, Loudon Wainwright III, Margo Price, Bill Fay, Dan Auerbach, Debbie Harry, John Waters, Yo La Tengo, Michael Kiwanuka, Tanya Tucker, Hüsker Dü, the Pixies, Anaïs Mitchell, Greg Dulli, Mavis Staples, Sierra Ferrell, Bobby Weir, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Phoebe Bridgers, Bill Kreutzmann, Graham Nash, Joan Baez, Keith Urban, Billy Joel, Ringo Starr and countless others.
My debut book, Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost, has received national and international press coverage and was named a Best Music Book of 2017 by Pitchfork. My book about John Prine’s debut album for Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series was published in November 2021 and received national and international press coverage. I’m the first person authorized to write long form liner notes for the iconic New York band Blondie. They were released in the archival box set Against the Odds in August 2022, and won the ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor Award for Liner Notes in 2023. I’ve also won Southern California Journalism awards from the LA Press Club for my profile and feature writing.
In addition to being a music journalist and author, I’m also part-time faculty at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. There, I lecture on music journalism and teach journalism fundamentals including writing, reporting, interviewing and digital content strategy. I hold a bachelor’s degree in English from Indiana University and a master’s degree in journalism from DePaul University, and am a member of the Authors Guild, the Society for Professional Journalists, the LA Press Club and the Recording Academy.
Please get in touch if you'd like to discuss a project. I'm also available to speak about my work as Jason Molina's biographer, or work on John Prine. If you're a filmmaker interested in discussing a Molina or Prine documentary, or other appearance or use of my work, please contact my literary agent Alice Speilburg: alice [at] speilburgliterary [dot] com.
Follow me on:
Instagram: @erinoz
Twitter: @erinoz80
Contact me at:
Email: erino [dot] writes [at] gmail [dot] com