โI write songs. Some come out like loose teeth wiggled into dollar bills under the pillow; some have to be pulled like impacted wisdom teeth with no novocaine. Regardless, that's what I do. And while I can play and sing those songs, what I don't do, truly, is make music. That's where Eric comes in. Music comes out of Eric just as easily as light goes in his eyes after bouncing off the objects in the room, allowing him to see everything. Even more importantly, though (if, like me, you're a selfish singer-songwriter whose preoccupation half the time is with your own music while the other half is spent trying to get other people preoccupied with your music), is that Eric hears everything. He hears not only the quality of a recording and the quality of a performance, but he hears what should be added to a song to make it complete. And what could be more important than that? Well, Eric not only hears what should be there but, because he is so generous with the music busting out of him, he plays what should be added to the song. Need a guitar part? He plugs in and goes. Drums? He'll mic the kit and redefine a song with the perfect rhythm. I brought a mandolin with me one day and handed it to him like a wide-eyed kid then watched, my eyes growing wider still, as he tuned it and added just the right part to a song like he had stayed up the whole night before practicing. If you're a singer-songwriter, you want to work at Dirt Floor and you want to work with Eric M Lichter: do not doubt either of those. If you are lucky, like I was, you will get the opportunity to do so. And if you do, you will not only be happy with the results (which is all a selfish singer-songwriter like me could reasonably hope for), but you will enjoy the process so much that your songs will hold new meaning for you that you didn't put there when you wrote them. I can't wait to write more just so I can go back and record them at DFโ - Ian Fitzgerald