Erin Alden names her grandmother, who preferred rock 'n roll to "easy listenin'," as her musical mentor. Before young Erin was out of diapers, Granny had taught her to accompany herself on the piano, singing "Molly Malone" to her delighted family. The native Californian, who grew up in Riverside and Carmel, later took formal piano training and sang in the school choir to further hone her musical talents. In the past few years, Erin's crystal-clear voice has gotten her session work on dance/trance CD's for Shiftmusic and has been featured in a series of coffee shop acoustic tribute CD's for Lakeshore Records, all of which are available on Amazon.com. But it was her friendships with musical notables from bands like Zero 7, Remy Zero and Ednaswap that encouraged Erin to break out on her own. She began to write songs that, even to her own surprise, incorporated all the greatest elements of classic pop. Erin quickly found an ally in Cush, a BMI writer whose songs have been featured on soundtracks for "Felicity," "Dawsons Creek" and "Ed". Erin sat down at the piano and played a couple of songs for Cush, who immediately agreed to produce her. "He was someone I respected. He understood my music. He just 'got it'," says Erin, who just keeps knocking out sure-fire hits, with hooks you can't get out of your head. In fact, Erin's songs, with her flaunting, sassy vocals and real-girl lyrical style, coupled with Cush's lush musical arrangements, are already starting to appear in films. Record and publishing companies have started to take note of this new star, who is described in Hits Magazine as "a fresh, hot new songwriter, already getting a lot of attention and accolades."