Combine one of Alaska’s premier mandolin players & tenor bluegrass harmony singers with a rising songwriter, whose lyrics speak to the heart of what it means to be raised in Alaska, and you’ve got The Heists.
With a deep love for all American traditional music, The Heists bring bluegrass drive, country emotion, and old time groove to their original Alaskan folk music. Known for their toe-curling country and bluegrass harmonies, The Heists are currently co-writing their first album. Erin and Andrew Heist share songs and stories from decades of experience playing the bars and backrooms of Alaska’s tight-knit communities, from Bethel to McCarthy to Salmonfest to Fairbanks, and all along the Milk Run.
Erin grew up in the wilds of Southeast Alaska and her songs reflect the push and pull of the rural/urban divide of a life spent living in isolated fishing towns, mixed with an insatiable wanderlust and curiosity about the human condition. Andrew grew up outside of Philadelphia and made his way to Alaska via Portland, Oregon. Andrew’s wry sense of humor often comes with a touch of that Philly grit.
Andrew Heist cut his teeth with The Great Alaska Bluegrass band and currently plays with Taking Care of Bluegrass, Juneau’s premier bluegrass outfit, as well as outlaw country band The Getting Strangers. Erin Heist got her start playing guitar and singing for the North Country Cajun Club (with Andrew on fiddle) and has held down the rhythm section in the old time bands Sugar Shack and The Stinging Nettles. Both Andrew (mandolin/fiddle) and Erin (electric bass) perform as part of the backing band for Josh Fortenbery.
In 2022 Erin released her first album of original material “From the Land of Rusted Dreams”, featuring Andrew on every track. Erin and Andrew have gone on to provide instrumental and harmonic support to multiple albums, including Annie Bartholomew’s “Sisters of White Chapel”, Josh Fortenbery’s “No Such Thing as Forever”, and most recently Blackwater Railroad Co’s “A Lovely Place to Die”.
Both Erin and Andrew love their Alaska music community. Each has served as a past board president for their hometown festival The Alaska Folk Festival (Erin from 2013-2018 and Andrew from 2019-2025). And both are founding members of the Muskeg Collective, a songwriter collective and co-op label based in Juneau Alaska which also includes Annie Bartholomew, Josh Fortenbery, and Taylor Vidic.
Erin Heist is the 2025 recipient of the Kathy Kolkhorst Rudy Innovation in the Arts Award from the Juneau Arts & Humanities Council for her work on producing unique music events and community gatherings in Juneau, Alaska. Erin was also selected as a 2025 Connie Boochever Fellow. The Heists are 2025 recipients of a Rasmuson Foundation project award and a Juneau Community Foundation individual award.
The Making of
“Break & Mend”
The Heists’ debut EP “Break & Mend” releases September 26, 2026
First Single “Break & Mend” out July 21, 2026
Second Single “Buck Up Buttercup” out August 18, 2026
The bars and backrooms of a still-wild place like Alaska might elicit a mental picture of rowdy nights and raucous good times–and that’s true on occasion. But, most of what you’ll find scattered around the landscape of the lower 48’s big sister are tight-knit small towns and villages, with a deep reverence for nature, community and what it means to be human in a beautiful, flawed world. Based in Juneau, The Heists’ music is steeped in love for both.
Break & Mend, the duo’s upcoming EP, marks the first time the husband and wife have recorded as equal partners after 21 years together. Produced by Patrick M’Gonigle (Bella White, The Lonely Heartstring Band), the EP was recorded at Frostline Studios in Anchorage, Alaska, in full, live takes, with everyone in a room playing together.
“That’s how we play in real life,” Andrew says. “With Patrick’s help, we were able to translate that to the studio. His creative guidance throughout the process added so much to the feel and flow of the songs, without making anything feel overwrought.”
“Not that I thought we were going to have trouble recording, but you just never know until you’re in the room,” Erin adds. “It was so fun, and moving, to get to bring these songs to life with my best friend and to watch us both rise to the moment and grow through the process. We’re going back in the studio for a full-length album of our more Americana songs this fall, and I can’t wait.”
The six songs on Break & Mend center around the idea that nature doesn’t care what you do; it can both heal and kill you—which feels like a very Alaskan thing. Also stitched in is the fiber of community, which is inherent in every corner of the state.
“From the first day of rehearsal, recording Break & Mend felt like the kind of magic that can only happen in Alaska,” Erin says. “We rehearsed around the dinner table on St. Patrick’s day and were fed endlessly incredible food. Our friends' house is situated in a forest of birch trees, with the cool pinks and blues that only exist in the long March light of an Anchorage winter, reflected off the trees and snow around us.”
“Coffee turned to sparkling water, then Guinness and wine around the dining table turned rehearsal station wrapped by big windows overlooking the birches,” Andrew adds. “Sigrid, our banjo player Jay’s wife, is an exceptional cook whose love language is to feed people, and she made sure everyone involved in this project felt very loved.”
The EP begins with the title track, the first co-written song that The Heists have written and released. The song was inspired by three men, each marked by war, with a close relationship to the natural world. “I’ve often thought about how the land in Alaska can be both terrifying and awe-inspiring in the same breath,” Erin says. “The chorus captures that feeling of expanse and also how being such a small speck on the planet means that our own interior lives and struggles of guilt and right and wrong don’t matter. Andrew has a much longer and stronger sense of musical structure, so with every song I write, the final form doesn’t truly settle until we’ve played it together.”
“Buck Up Buttercup” follows, a fiddle-rich track that takes advantage of producer Patrick M’gonigle’s wealth of experience. “We had a blast playing this one,” Andrew says. “I think you can hear it in the track, which also, amazingly, only took an hour to record.”
Elsewhere, “In the Meantime” takes advantage of the bluegrassers in the recording band, including Danny Booth on bass and Jay Marvin on banjo. “Like a lot of bluegrass songs, it sounds happy, but there are heavy undertones,” Erin cautions.
Both drawn to old-time traditions in folk and bluegrass, Erin grew up in Southeast Alaska. Her songs reflect the push and pull of the rural-urban divide, shaped by a life spent in isolated fishing towns mixed with an insatiable wanderlust and curiosity about the human condition. Andrew grew up outside of Philadelphia and is now an Alaskan via Portland, Oregon.
“Part of what I’ve always loved about bluegrass, old-time, country, blues, and other American roots song styles is how the themes, characters, and stories all remind me of Alaskan life,” Erin says.
She pitched the idea for what would later become “Farewell Old Treadwell” to the Juneau-Douglas City Museum and received a grant to research the collapse of the Treadwell Gold Mine for an original composition. The ruins of the Treadwell Mine are an iconic part of Juneau’s scenery—as every cruise ship passenger sees when they sail into port. But the ruins are largely overgrown by the rainforest, which distorts the scale of the defunct mine. In its heyday, it was the largest and most productive gold mine in the world, a technological marvel with 45 miles of tunnels.
“The full collapse happened when some recent surface collapses were compounded by the confluence of a huge tide along with a very large moon,” Erin says. “The Gastineau Channel punched into the mine and then filled the full mine with salt water within hours. Another instance of nature taking control.”
“Seasons,” as can be inferred by the name, is an old-time-inspired tune about the urge to fantasize or romanticize about any other season of life other than the one you’re currently in.
“The past year or so has been an unbelievable emotional roller coaster for Erin and me,” Andrew says. “I have often reflected on everything that we’ve been through and are still going through, and this song pops up as a reminder that life continues to change and evolve into new seasons. I’m very glad to be navigating all of this with Erin, and singing this song with her right now.”
“This project came about from an unexpected change in plans, and yet I don’t think we could have planned it any better if we tried,” he continues, speaking of the entire EP. “Arrangements were made relatively quickly to make this recording happen, and the fact that we ended up with this group of musicians, engineer and producer, staying in such an unbelievably beautiful spot felt magical and perfect.”