Like many students, Erin McKeown entered college with a passion for playing music. Unlike most of us, however, McKeown translated her love of music into a career. McKeown attended Brown University, originally intending to study ornithology. "When I was growing up I always thought I'd be a scientist, and the science I was interested in was biology and ecology," she said in an interview with JustArts last weekend. "I'd had internships [in the field], and I thought that was what I would do, but I also played music, and gradually in the back of my mind was forming this idea that I could be an artist. The thing about college is it gives you, finally, for the first time, the resources and the safety to do that. And it became clear to me that as much as I liked science, music was what I wanted to do."

The singer did graduate from Brown, with a degree in ethnomusicology, after four years of not only studying and going to classes, but also playing Northeastern area clubs weekend after weekend.

"It required me to do a lot of (God, I hate this word) time management, but basically Brown was really flexible. I basically went to school Monday through Wednesday, and then Wednesday through Sunday I would go off and play. It was great-it gave me a break from school, and school gave me a break from music. It helped me balance out my life," she said. "I think when you do only one thing, you kind of go insane."

In the past 10 years, the 30-year-old singer has released four original records as well as her latest release, Sing You Sinners, that came out in January of this year and a collection of jazz standards. "I've made four original records and have had a really good time doing it and I thought it would be nice to take a break from doing original music all the time, and I thought I had something new to add to these songs," she said.

McKeown's latest release makes her an appropriate choice for the Brandeis Music Department's Marquee Series, a concert series begun this semester that brings performers of American music to campus. McKeown's own folk-, rock- and swing-influenced style of music fused with her performances of American standards combine much of what is American about American music.

McKeown looks forward to playing some new songs at her Brandeis show Friday, Nov. 30. The show will be one of the only dates on her tour in support of her live album, Lafayette ("It's almost like a 'greatest hits' "), at which she will perform by herself-that is, without a full band.

The new songs are a product of McKeown's work on a new original album. When asked if this album would be a return to the music of her pre-Sing You Sinners career, she said, "In some ways, I haven't done a whole batch of original songs in several years, so in that sense it's similar to what I've done for my earlier career. But I think it's pretty open right now."

"There's a lot of energy in my music," McKeown said. "I think probably people think, 'If I'm going to see a woman playing guitar it might be mellow and quiet,' but my music is neither of those things. There's a lot of energy and a lot of volume, and it incorporates elements of jazz and rock and newer, hipper sounds. It's not what you think, and I think you'll like it.