Biography - Eric
Lugosch
Songwriter, singer and guitarist
Eric Lugosch, a National Fingerpicking Champion, had his first European tour
almost twenty years ago. Then his voice changed. Born in Philadelphia, he
was involved in music at an early age. He was hitting the high notes with
Princeton's Columbus Boys Choir and the Philadelphia Boys Choir as first soprano.
With the choral groups he was performing classical repertoire but his first
true love of music was Motown's Supremes. Then came Janis Joplin. "What I
loved about the Supremes wasn't the voices, but the tunes. In Janis' voice
I heard an instrument." Then Eric's oldest brother returned from Vietnam with
a Japanese folk guitar. Eric would clandestinely take the instrument, go upstairs
and teach himself to play.
His development as a guitarist
was influenced by the evolving British blues-rock movement. "They weren't
afraid to mix in classical and rock'n'roll. The Stones introduced orchestration
into really cool melodies." His listening broadened to include the spectrum
from Sun Ra to John Lee Hooker. For guitar-work, he picked up the styles and
was heavily inspired by Leo Kottke and Reverend Gary Davis. His studies in
voice and music continued at Temple University in Philadelphia, including
formal composition and notation.
While he eventually explored
the electric guitar, his focus continued to be the six-string acoustic. "I
was 21 when I had my first show, opening for Leon Redbone. I was still wearing
my Arco overalls from my day job at the oil refinery. I even got paid $100."
His virtuosity on guitar led to slots in front of Doc Watson, John Prine and
David Bromberg.
In 1983, Eric entered the National
Fingerpicking Championship in Winfield, Kansas. A third-place showing inspired
him to try again the following year. This time he emerged with the grand prize.
"I met Duck Baker and Pat Donahue. Meeting all these great players was really
inspiring. I studied with Guy Van Duser for one summer. All of this really
opened my ears up. Listening to others expanded my writing style. I started
playing as much as I could... anywhere, often working with other musicians.
I also began to teach."
On Eric's first self-release
from 1985 was a jazz-oriented suite for guitar, flute and bass called "Strike."
Comedian Aaron Freeman used it as the closing theme for his television talk
show for four years. His 1990 self-release, I Wanna Know, featured
guitar, dobro, bass and vocals. Lately he's been working with percussionist
Lana Wordell (marimba, steel drums, and singing), Old Town School vocalist
Elaine Moore, accordionist John Williams and bassist Al Erich, all of whom
make appearances on Making Models.
One of his compositions, "Stars
Up Above," has been used occasionally as segue music on National Public Radio's
Morning Edition. The recording that NPR uses is by guitarist Joe Miller
from his album Semi-Traditional Guitar Solos, released on Rising Sleeves.
Eric had been playing the instrumental on a West Coast tour with Miller. Miller
asked Eric to write it down for him and subsequently made the first recording
of the song. Eric's own version appears here on Making Models.
Eric settled in Chicago in 1988
and has performed regularly throughout the Midwest since. Among his favorite
media appearances was on Omaha's River City Folk program. "I spun a
Professor Longhair record, performed a rhumba version of the traditional fiddle
tune "Colored Aristocracy" on guitar, and read a poem of my own." On public
radio station WBEZ Eric has often made live appearances on the eclectic Earth
Club show. A highlight of recent concert experiences was organizing and
playing in a finger-style guitar festival at Chicago's venerable Old Town
School of Folk Music with Tim Sparks and German guitarist Peter Finger.
While often noted for his instrumental
repertoire, Eric has always been a songwriter skillful with lyrics and vocal
melodies. This album, Making Models on Whitehouse Records, contains
mostly original songs featuring his singing and songwriting. The first exception
is a thoroughly re-thought version of the solemn gospel instrumental "There's
A Destruction" that Eric learned through a Reverend Gary Davis recording.
A "drunk" version of Pete Seeger's instrumental "Living In The Country" utilizes
steel drums as does the original vocal song "Don't
Start Wanting." The only other cover is a new rhumba version of the aforementioned
"Colored Aristocracy." The subject matter of his own songs range from the
romantic "More
Reasons Than Stars," to a stroke of the comb to men's favorite drug Rogaine
("Change
Of Heart") to the black humor of "Stalwart
Rubbermaid." Eric reprises "I
Wanna Know" from his self-released tape, this time with Green Linnet accordionist
John Williams. "Her
Grace" is "just a very natural love song" as is his very English-sounding
"You
Were In August."
"I compose for other instruments
off the guitar. I'll use both standard notations and tablature. All my music
is written, published and available. A basic concept I've had with projects
is to take musicians (whether they're classical or blues players) and put
them into my music... whether they're comfortable or not." As Ellington did,
he'll write structure and melody and then allow them to improvise. Eric's
prior recordings emphasized his composing but not his guitar playing. "My
current guitars of choice are a John Arnold custom and a "Jenny Craig"-model
Martin. This album is dedicated to my own style of playing. I used to be strongly
influenced by other guitarists but now I have a pallet of colors that I can
use that is mine and not someone else's. It definitely has my signature...and
that's ERIC LUGOSCH."
Eric Lugosch is now a representative
for the Martin Simpson model of Dana Bourgeois Guitars, which are also endorsed
by Ricky Skaggs.