Eric Reitz

Equal parts wandering poet and live performance mainstay, Eric Reitz delves into folk, rock, and alternative country to couch his purpose-driven lyrics.

Eric Reitz hails from Reading, Pennsylvania, something of paradoxical place; though a suburb of Philadelphia, it likewise neighbors Lancaster County—Amish country. Culture clash is inevitable. Eric wearily studied piano as a boy, but he secretly longed for the guitar—its shape, its allure, its legacy. Alas, Eric's parents, witnesses to his apathetic piano plunkings, prevented him from pursuing guitar until he had learned "The Entertainer" on keys. Even this he couldn’t manage. Yet somehow Eric convinced his parents to rent him a guitar, an axe pulled from the pages of a heavy metal magazine. Not quite the tool he’d seen in the hands of idols like Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. Eric soon returned that ol’ lightning bolt to the rental shop. The musical muse had been quieted.

A few years older, wiser, and more motivated, Eric picked up his older brother's acoustic guitar and taught himself chords and progressions. Wholly intrigued, Eric then bought his own acoustic. He also discovered an insistent but unpolished urge to sing. He’d imitate popular songs, a tentative first step toward vocal training. Now years removed from that mimicry, Eric has developed his own peerless voice and delivery. Alongside an unquenchable songwriting thirst that’s seeped into his debut album, 12 (South). Available on iTunes, CDBaby, or at Eric’s site, www.ericreitz.com Eric Reitz.