Carrie Elkin was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 11, 1973. She began playing the saxophone and singing at her church at a young age. She later competed as a National Championacro-gymnast. She studied physiology at Ohio University before working as an organic chemist. When deciding to concentrate on a music career, she embarked on a nomadic lifestyle which lasted for more than a decade. She performed in a variety of clubs and recorded several self-funded albums – starting with her 1996 debut, Simplicity.
Career
She self-released her first album, Simplicity, in 1996. Her second album, Live at the Front Room, was released in 2001. The Waltz arrived in 2004 and The Jeopardy of Circumstance in 2007. Her fifth record, Call It My Garden was released in early 2011 by Red House Records; her first with that label. It was produced by Colin Brooks and Danny Schmidt and features Sam Baker, Raina Rose, Robby Hecht, A. J. Roach, Anthony Da Costa, and Storyhill's John Hermanson. The first track, "Jesse Likes Birds" was No. 1 Song on the FOLKDJ-L radio playlists for the month of January 2011 – based on 15,346 overall airplays from 157 different radio disc jockeys. It was the No. 2 Song in February 2011. The album ranked fifth for January 2011 for plays of "Jesse Likes Birds", "Iowa", and "Edge Of The World". It ranked No. 5 Album again for February 2011 for plays of "Jesse Likes Birds", "Landeth By Sea", and "Guilty Hands" — based on 12596 overall airplays from 149 different DJs. The song, "Jesse Likes Birds" from Call It My Garden was called one of the best songs of 2011 by The Austin Chronicle. She was named one of Texas Music Magazine's 2011 "Artists of the Year" in their Winter 2012 issue. She appeared at the 2007 South Padre International Music Festival on South Padre Island, Texas. Elkin's first album in six years, The Penny Collector is a follow-up to "twangy, pure country" Call It My Garden. Titled in honor of her father, a lifelong collector of coins, whose "passing informed the narrative woven throughout his daughter's sixth LP."
Style and sound
Maverick magazine describes Elkin as an acoustic guitarist who performs mainly in the folk and country musical genres and is "in love with the act of singing." in UK November 30, 2009
Personal
Elkin is married to singer-songwriter Danny Schmidt and gave birth to their first child in 2016. They live together in Austin.
