Behind The Curtain: The Remarkable Work of Erin McCallum

Editorial by Stevie Connor | The Sound Cafe Journal

There are some people who write about music. And then there are people who go looking for the story behind it.

At The Sound Cafe Journal, we have always believed that music journalism should be about more than simply telling readers that an album has been released, an artist is touring, or a new single is available. Those things matter, of course. But beneath every record, every performance and every career is a story.

Someone made the music.

Someone took the first uncertain step.

Someone kept going when it would have been easier to stop.

And somewhere along the way, there is usually a story worth telling.

That is where Erin McCallum comes in.

For some time now, Erin has been quietly building one of the most remarkable bodies of work within The Sound Cafe Journal through her Behind The Curtain series.

And I use the word building deliberately.

Because Behind The Curtain is not finished.

It isn't even close.

The list of artists Erin has investigated, researched and considered for future features is considerably longer than the list currently sitting in our published archive. What readers see today is only part of the work that has already gone into the series.

There are many more stories waiting.

And that is what makes what Erin has achieved so far particularly remarkable.

Looking beyond the obvious

The name Behind The Curtain is an appropriate one.

The purpose has never simply been to stand in front of an artist and ask the predictable questions.

Erin digs deeper.

She researches the artist's history. She follows their career. She looks at the people, places, recordings and experiences that helped shape them. She takes the time to understand the journey before the conversation even begins.

That preparation matters.

Because when the interview finally happens, it isn't simply an exchange of questions and answers.

It becomes a conversation between someone who knows the story and someone who has lived it.

And that can reveal something different.

Sometimes it is a detail from decades ago.

Sometimes it is a person who changed the direction of a career.

Sometimes it is a record that almost never happened.

Sometimes it is failure.

Sometimes it is resilience.

Sometimes it is simply a memory that has been sitting quietly in an artist's mind for years, waiting for somebody to ask the right question.

That is the space Erin has learned to explore.

The space behind the curtain.

The research is part of the story

One of the things I particularly admire about Erin's work is the amount of research that happens before the reader ever sees the finished article.

Good journalism can sometimes look effortless.

It isn't.

Behind a polished feature can be hours of reading, listening, cross-referencing, searching, remembering and trying to understand the chronology of a life or career.

Erin does that work.

She investigates the artists she writes about because she understands that their story didn't begin with the interview.

It began long before that.

And when the research is done properly, the finished feature becomes something more valuable than a promotional piece.

It becomes a document.

A snapshot of a career.

A record of a life in music.

A piece of the larger story of the music community itself.

That is an important distinction.

An archive that is still growing

When we look at the Behind The Curtain archive today, it is tempting to see the published list as the complete body of work.

It isn't.

It is a work in progress.

There are artists Erin has already researched who have not yet appeared.

There are conversations still to be had.

There are stories still being uncovered.

And there are undoubtedly musicians whose names have not even crossed the radar yet.

That is one of the exciting things about the project.

It has room to grow.

Music never stops producing stories.

Artists continue to evolve. Careers take unexpected turns. New voices emerge while established artists enter new chapters of their own lives.

The curtain keeps moving.

And Erin keeps looking behind it.

Why this matters to The Sound Cafe

The Sound Cafe Journal has evolved considerably over the years.

What began as a passion for music and the desire to create a place where independent artists could be heard has grown into something much broader: an evolving journal and archive of music, people and stories.

Behind The Curtain fits perfectly within that mission.

We aren't interested in producing disposable content.

We want the stories we publish to have a life beyond the day they appear.

We want someone to discover an article years from now and learn something about an artist they may never have encountered otherwise.

We want the work to become part of the historical record.

That is particularly important in independent music, where so much remarkable work can disappear beneath the weight of the mainstream industry.

Artists build careers in small venues.

They release records through independent labels.

They tour relentlessly.

They create communities.

They influence other musicians.

They leave their mark.

And often, nobody documents it.

Until someone does.

Erin's contribution

That is why I am proud of what Erin has created through Behind The Curtain.

Not simply because there are a lot of articles.

Not because there is an impressive list of artists.

But because there is genuine curiosity behind the work.

Erin wants to know.

She wants to understand.

And she wants the reader to understand too.

That curiosity is one of the most valuable qualities a journalist can possess.

It is also one of the hardest to teach.

You can teach someone how to construct an article.

You can teach them how to research.

You can teach them the mechanics of interviewing.

But genuine curiosity, the desire to keep digging until you find the story beneath the story, has to come from somewhere deeper.

Erin has it.

The privilege of publishing these stories

As Editor of The Sound Cafe Journal, I take considerable pride in being able to publish these exclusive features.

Every publication develops its own identity through the people who contribute to it.

Writers become part of its character.

Their voices become part of its history.

And Erin's voice has become an important part of ours.

Behind The Curtain is now an identifiable part of The Sound Cafe Journal, a place where artists can tell their stories in greater depth and where readers can discover the people behind the music.

That is something worth celebrating.

Because while the music may be what first brings us to an artist, it is often the story that makes us stay.

And there is much more to come

Perhaps the most exciting thing about Behind The Curtain is that we aren't looking back at a completed project.

We're watching it develop.

The archive will continue to grow.

The list of artists will continue to expand.

More research will lead to more conversations, and more conversations will inevitably uncover more stories.

Some of those stories may be familiar.

Others may surprise us.

Some may introduce readers to artists they have never heard before.

And that, ultimately, is the point.

There is always another story.

Another career.

Another record.

Another artist standing just beyond the edge of what we already know.

Another curtain waiting to be pulled back.

And Erin McCallum is still pulling it back.

We are proud to have her doing it for The Sound Cafe Journal.

Explore the Behind The Curtain archive and discover the stories behind the music.

The Sound Cafe — Behind The Curtain