Eric Laing: Celtic Music, Tech, and the Art of Balancing Passions

On this episode of the We Share podcast, Alex and Julie sit down with Celtic musician and self-proclaimed techno nerd, Eric Laing. They dive into Eric’s diverse journey—from discovering his love for music in high school to balancing a career in IT while leading his band, Teton Sky. He shares how technology has shaped modern medicine, his passion for Celtic heritage, and how music remains a powerful, storytelling art form. With insights on AI’s role in radiology, the magic of Scottish melodies, and the joy of creating music in Idaho’s tight-knit scene, this episode is filled with fascinating stories and life lessons. 

Transcript

Music is just. I work so I can feed my family, you know? And I knew I realized years ago that I wasn't going to be able to support my family, you know, on the road or and I've met on the road musicians. I realize I want that lifestyle. But, you know, the great thing about being a medium sized fish in a little pond, you know, out here in Idaho, you know, you can be part of it.

Upper, upper, you know, you can be can build your make your own band. Like today on the We Share podcast, Celtic band member and techno nerd Eric Lange.

Welcome to the We Share podcast I'm Julie, I'm Alex, we share ourselves and we provide a platform for others to share. We believe everyone has a purpose and a story to tell. And we're back on the We Share podcast. I'm Julie and I'm Alex, and in the studio today we have a friend by certain degrees. I know he's a friend of mine because we share common friends.

And when you came in the studio today, Alex, you said you share common friends with him as well. So we're excited to make him our connected friend. Yes. Now you are one of our friends. Yeah. Go ahead. And an internet connection. Our guest today is Eric Lang. He is a singer, musician, amateur astronomer, techno nerd, sci fi geek, grateful father and husband.

And these are his words taken from the famous Facebook. So. Hi, Eric. Howdy. Yes, welcome to. We Share. I was excited because when he came in today, I knew who was coming. And then I went, I don't know what direction we're taking this, because Eric has so many avenues that he's really good at. So it's going to be quite the interesting podcast to figure out all the different things he does.

I kind of didn't know where we were taking it either, but I knew that. I mean, that intro alone, he's got so many layers that we can dive into. When I was talking to the mutual Friend before we reached out to ask you to be on the show, he he felt the same way, like there was just a lot of things that you could offer and your story of how you are on the plane.

Yeah, yeah. And the point of this podcast and why Julian, I do it is to share stories. And so we are pretty sure you have some good stories and life lessons, that would be awesome to share. Okay, Erica, start from the beginning. Where are you from? Well, I, kind of grew up in the area. My dad was in the military.

And, then he was, a teacher, and so we moved around a lot, but landed, in Idaho, in, Rexburg back in 1974. And then we moved out from Arco. I mean, from from from Rexburg. We moved out to Arco. The night before the Teton Dam broke. And I don't know what that night was.

So that was that was July 6th, 1976. Yeah. I was a little kid. I remember my mom and dad freaking out. I was three years old, so I yeah, I woke up to watch a Saturday morning cartoons. And there was I saw the emergency broadcast signal and I thought, you know, all my friends are dead. Oh, no. There was a big fear of that.

It it terrified this valley because there was no idea of how it was going to turn out. Yeah. Just, just it's just the doom is coming, you know? And of course, that snake River is not going to get you out in Arco, Idaho, but, yeah, we we're worried about our friends. And so anyway and so there for a while moved into Pocatello.

Went through, junior high and high school there. That's where I met my wife. Shout her out. What's her name? Her name is Nancy Lang. Did you meet her in junior high or high school? I'm Michael, so I met her just. Just as I was finishing up high school. Oh, okay. I had, been in, interested in mainly in computers, kind of a kind of intellectual crowd there.

And then I got into my senior year, I got into choir, and, there's a girl that she said, oh, she heard me sing, and she says, you really should come out for the show choir. I like. Well, I, you know. Sure. And so I came out for that and, and just loved it just, just, you know, I found found my people, you know, and I'd been playing guitar.

So you found your voice. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, got to be part of the show choir and got to go to her dance. California, to Disneyland. And, you know, I was featured as a as a as a one of the singers, main singers and, and so we got back and, and they were having a two school musical at the time of, Highland Pokey two school Musical that they used to have.

And so I, I auditioned for that, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and, and I, was in that I didn't get the lead. But I was, I was one of the older brothers. And so, anyway, Nancy had seen me in that play, and then we moved out into her area and she was putting on a small local church production, a play, and she called me up.

So I've always said, you know, for the last we've been married for 38 years now. And I said, well, she called me first. She made the first move. Yeah, she knew what she had. And I walked in and where they were practicing and she was sitting up. She, she had already graduated. She was a year ahead of me.

And she's sitting on the, on the, on the little table talking to everybody with her legs swinging and, and just full of herself and cocky. And she just had the whole thing under control. And I was, I was smitten. Oh, yeah. And, unfortunately, she already had a boyfriend at the time, so we had to wait a few years till that.

Oh, you had to work through that one. Yeah. So we, Yeah, we've eventually, got married and, have two great kids, and, it's been quite a ride, you know, but, yeah, I have the, the pleasure of having married the most beautiful girl I ever saw. Oh, that's so sweet. So you've got two avenues there that are still represented it well, three with Nancy, but two avenues that you talked about that are still represented in your life.

Let's go down the computer geek avenue. First known nerd. The techno nerd. So, you chose to do that for a living. So explain what you do. So I, I had I really tried not to do this, get into computers. I, I ever since I first saw my first computer back in junior high school. This is when they first, first came out, like the Mac box.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the first Macs that came out, and I just had to know everything about that. And the, the guys I was around, we would spend all weekend in the ICU library just because that's where the second you get a computer to work on it. And we were writing software and games and just, you know, and, and I when I went to college, I thought, well, I'm going to be a physician assistant.

That's what I wanted to go for, you know, and I'm going to medicine. I don't want to ruin my life. I don't want to ruin my hobby by going into computers, you know? But I've always been, very good at it. I learned how to draw on them, so I. I spent several years as a graphic artist, for supporting our family that way.

I worked for the Idaho State Journal, as a graphic artist, and then eventually as a, as a copy desk editor and supervisor there. And then I went on to live to move, to work at the national laboratory. And they needed somebody who could write and do graphics. And then I got into that, and, they needed somebody who could do computers as what they needed.

So they're like a really good at, at databases and data manipulation. And I don't think I'll say this one. They are they call me the BDB, which is the big red data. B boy. No, we're leaving that in because anyway, so I, and and I saw, I ran into somebody that, still working as a consultant now for the site.

We actually sat on a plane together. I was flying back from, for my current job, and we just happened just right next to each other the whole way. Just. Just talk the whole way. It was just. It was great because, you know that, you know, that analysis spreadsheet, the that you put together back 20 years ago.

I am still using that thing, so. Oh, awesome. You really did go down the right avenue though. So basically after I left the, well, when I was working at the site and I was in charge of one of their computer systems, their the budgeting system, and one of the people who hired me onto the site called me up, says, hey, I'm not working for this local medical group, and I need somebody that can write, can do the can do the advertising, can do the books, and can take care of our IT stuff.

And so I left there and came over and, and, it turned out that I left all of those other pieces, the, on the side. And I at the time back, back in 2006 that were the electronic part of radiology was just starting to emerge. It was it was still faxes and paper and film and couriers, and very much a manual process.

And so we built the first Ax system here in Idaho and started selling it to all of the hospitals in the area. So all of the hospitals up and down, Idaho and, and the western Montana, western Wyoming. And so I guess I kind of fell into this because it's pretty amazing, because it saves so much time to not have to, like, send oh, yeah, films through a courier and wait for my mind out of the doctor.

I remember looking through lots of films and different things of him. He used to take. He had to take a week, week and a half to get a report back. And now, you know, people are upset if it doesn't, it was longer 20 minutes. You know. And so it really it really I think had a big impact on patient care because you could really you could get an answer, a doctor could have an answer, you know, from a medical scan instead of waiting.

Well going to be so convenient for the doctor to be able to collate all of that information together. You saw this doctor in this state or this doctor here, and we've both done these tests and let's compare and everything. I have a brother. This is a complete side note, but I have a brother who suffered from an Arnold Chiari, and it's been 20 plus years since he had that surgery.

And I remember helping my mom lug around those films in those packets to all the different doctors, so that he could have those, you know, he eventually had surgery on his head to take care of it. But it became it was like weightlifting. There was so much stuff. Those patient jackets could weigh 40 pounds. 50 pounds. Yeah. So you were the first in the area to help with a group of people develop all of that.

The the making that a little bit easier. I bet you have seen that industry change so much. It's completely and it's just so funny. I noticed you bundled that up as just techno nerd. Yeah, I know, like there's a lot of well, talk to you, dad, but it it's, I enjoy everything to do with technology. So I, you know, like, we will probably get into.

I have a band, Teton Sky. And so I learned how to to use a computer to, to record, to build a recording studio. And so, I had a brother that helped me out financially several years ago, and, and I, of course, played music all my life. And he and I asked, what do you, you know, what can I do?

And he's he basically forgave the debt. And he says, all I want is some of your music. And so I learned how to put all that together and record my first album. On Brother Eyes. Yeah. What a good brother. Yeah. Does he need a sister? No, no, no, you guys, he's amazing. I mean, he actually became captain of a nuclear submarine.

Just. Wow. Yeah. Totally amazing guy. So he's a techno nerd, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah, in a bigger way. Yeah. With with with, with nuclear missiles. Was it, was it the time you spent living in Arco at the atomic. And it was just so close that it came. Yeah, yeah. That's right. So I've enjoyed using compute, using computers as tools to, to do to do things and so and, and you know, there's so much you can do with an astronomy which, you know, I used, I'm an amateur astronomer.

I used to be the president of the local, Idaho Falls Astronomical Society. I'm the treasurer now and webmaster. But, but you can, you know, the computers allow you to do so much with imaging. Now, you know, there's stuff that, one of one of the doctors that I used to work with, Jim Edlund, he's, you know, he's now living in Arizona, but he with his computer, and they just took multiple images.

Just just run a video. Video basically of the image that takes the best images, compiles them all together and then, you know, and then he produces these, these pictures that, that are better than what the Hubble could produce images with these long series of exposures. And it just, just the amazing sights you can see in the night sky.

But I'll, I'll through, you know, so computers have been just kind of a passion of mine and I thought, well, maybe it would just be my hobby and turned out to be my job. So, yeah, you fuzed it and incorporated it with all the things you love. No, no, no, no, I work for a big national radiology company, and I'm the senior director for the for western half of the United States.

So you've seen the genesis of all of that growth and technology. Tell us the fears and the hopes that you have seeing that, because there's good in the bad with having so much growth in technology. Just give us some of your wisdom on that. Well, it's, they're other, about, I would say probably ten years ago when or when the first hints of artificial intelligence started coming over the horizon.

The, radiologists were were quite legitimately afraid that this technology would come in and just replace them, you know, and they would no longer if they'd be out of a job, you know, and that's a that's a common, you know, fear that, you know, the change in technology will. Yeah, will replace you, but, yeah. The combine replace the horse.

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. But and the and the car replaced the buggy. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. But but you think of, of the, of the great grains of inefficiency that both of those things brought and so here we are now, and the company I'm with, is, highly invested in AI, but it's in a way that I would have never thought, because they're not trying to figure out how to replace a radiologist, because it turns out that you still need a guy in a chair looking at a, at the images, you know, and using his professional judgment to, to really.

But in the age of technology, one of the things that went wrong with computers is that we we got rid of the transcription tests, the ladies who would type up the words, you know, they they would the doctors were just talking to a dictation and somebody else would do the report and they'd come back and just sign it.

Well, all of the technology now, it just it, it typed it up on the screen as they were doing it. But now they had to look at it, they had to correct it. They had to do the tech editing and then sign it. And so now we turned these highly paid, highly intelligent physicians. You know, these guys are doctors, doctors, the they're the ones that the doctors that your local physician goes to for to understand what the images mean.

And we turn them into transcriptionist. And so and that's not their goal that they're like, okay, this is going to take me forever. And it's not efficient. It's not efficient. So now I can, can, can do the dictation for them and format it and take care of all of that for them. You can write their summary for them.

It can also, it there's a system we have that will analyze the images coming in and will highlight things that it finds. So that alerts the radiologist to make, you know, some make sure that, you know, because they're there. Let me back up a little bit because they're women. We have we have 1500, over 10,500 job postings for radiologists in this country, and there are 700 that are going to graduate this year.

The the the man is the man is far outstripping the supply. And so it's not that we're going to replace radiologists. We need to make them two and three times more efficient. So that what they're looking at is really the important stuff and where their medical knowledge is needed, you know. So we'll have we'll have systems that can look at an x ray chest x ray.

Those are simple to understand. And the and the system say yeah I don't see anything and that'll pop up. And yep I agree. And so boom they're done in in a couple seconds rather than the, the, the fear was that I was going to replace these guys. And, and it turned out that we, we need to make a radiologist, you know, three or 4 or 5 times as efficient as one.

Yeah. You're you're doubling their human power. He. Yeah. And now the concentrated just on the medicine and all of the administrative garbages. I just don't think you can ignore the fact that we're human and we need interaction and conversation and like, hear, hear a voice look into each other's eyes, because that's what I want for my doctor. And a critical moment.

I don't want some computer giving me a dire diagnosis and then a treatment. Right. Like even even doing, it is mode of health is the company we use through our work. But if you get sick, we can just log on and have a little appointment with the doctor. It is weird, but it's convenient. But again, if I wasn't looking at someone I would.

And having that conversation I don't know that I would trust the process. Well Eric and I were talking about a physician that we both love and adore and I mean just appreciate or his intelligence and the work that he's done and the charity that he's given in the community. We were talking about that before the podcast started.

Okay. And, you can't I will never be able to replace his intuition. No, just just as just his, humanity, you know, noticing your friend rubbing her arm, saying, let's take a look at that. Yeah. Or, my mom died of cancer. He made sure that she was taken care of. You know, she had the care that she needed.

Yes. You can't replace that. No, I can't take that. The kind of doctor who my dad was, he was a pathologist. And so he was literally redeemed. And lots of, acknowledgment plaque on the wall down at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo because it was like, we can't figure this out. We got to give it to Dimitri. He's got to look at it like his eye is under the microscope.

Old school ways. And he just had a gift for for finding things. Yeah. Solving problems. Yeah. Not turning spiritual, but those really are God like gifts. And I will never replace God. No, no. Yeah. But hopefully it can reduce the paperwork. So yeah, hopefully. Okay. So you mentioned Teton Sky and I got to hear you sing with your band members the other day.

So yes, Nancy was right. You have a beautiful voice. So she she pegged it way early on. Tell us how Teton Sky came about, because it's had different iterations along the way. Yeah. It has, it's, it's version of Teton. It's gotten kind of grown. I, I said I, I, I've been playing music since I was, eight years old, and my, my sister got piano lessons, so I was like, I want piano lessons on them.

So I did that for a while, and then I got into junior high and got to the trombone, and that was great. And then, then my dad bought my mom a guitar for Christmas, and I was I was gone at that point. Just sucked in there like when she was busy cooking, you know, how to play that instrument.

And so my, ever since then that that's been my, my, my, my passion. And so, I, did a lot of solo work. And then, a few years after, we got married, I actually it was a nice. Yeah, it's back in 2000. I had a had a friend just had an amazing harmony. You could do harmonies, harmonize really well.

And so we we came up with a little two man band and eventually brought somebody else in. And then that dissolved after four years. And then I met a bunch of guys at the site, and we were playing around on Fridays, you know, just, we'd bring our guitars in and jam. And so we really did turn this into something.

And so that became, Hot Rod Lincoln, and we were just a, you know, a dad band, you know, the cover band with the, you know, hits of the 70s and 80s and that kind of thing. But but the envy of all 40 year old men in town. Yes. And then, just a couple of them retired. And, so I went in and I sang with Out of Falls Opera for, for three years, loved, loved singing with those folks.

That's just super talented. The the music was, not really speaking to me, you know, and we had smaller, audiences attending, and I was like, well, I just need to have another band, because the one thing about musicals, I've done a lot of musicals, and that kind of thing, is that they're done in about two months.

You know, you practice and practice and they're done. It's over. You. You love these people. You get that high and then it's. Oh, yeah, and your best friends, you know, and lots of hugs. And then you never see them again or you know, you know, it's it's I mean, I have some really good friends that, that I have, but, I started looking through the ads, and I found this ad, this is online ads for for bands.

It's, you could look looking for a band or have a band looking for somebody. And I found this ad for the Teton District and Performing Arts, but they're looking to do put together a Celtic group. Folk group, to to go with their pipe band. And so I called them up and they're like, where did you hear this?

I mean, I know I put together like two years ago and it's been floating out there. Well, it turns out that, there was, David and Liz Clark and they had they had a local, pipe band, pipe and drum corps that was quite famous in the area, and really, really well put together. Kilts and bagpipes and drummers and just.

And so has David's wife, Liz, had started doing a little bit of singing. She has the most amazing voice. Just so pure. It's so pure. I know now why we were doing this heading into Saint Patrick's Day. This makes sense, doesn't it? It's so pure. Her voice is truly. It's just pipes. It is so beautiful, so good.

And and she was, had had not sung for a long time. She was deathly afraid of singing on stage. But when we started putting this together, having a band around her gave her that confidence again. And yeah, she, she has a voice that just made for Celtic music. It's just. And so that one of the comic compliments I get, always get is, man, your your female singer.

She is, she's amazing. You're okay too. But, you know, she's she's amazing and I'm, I'm totally on board with that. I, I know my limitations, and I love to sing, but, Yeah, she's she's the gold in the pot there. Anyway, so we we got together, we started playing around a little bit and realized, well, okay, we got something.

So buddy of mine that I worked with, was, used to play stand up bass. I said, well, we need some foundation here. So we got a bass. She her son was, in the pipe and the pipe, core as a as a as a piper. But he was wanting to learn how to play guitar. He started learn.

And so I taught him how to play. And, I was playing guitar and mandolin at the time, and we started putting this. So this is back in 2008. No, I'm sorry, I got that wrong. It's 2018. So we are we are celebrating our seventh year. Seventh year. Yep. We will say that our eighth year. He seems so young.

That's when you said 2008. That blew me away. I'm like, man, that kid has aged well. So and so and so and that was, call in and he, and, you know, he as he grew up and he got married, you know, he went on to do some other things too. So we brought in another, a friend of mine that played guitar for a while, and then he, he moved away.

So we've had guitar. So now we have Josh and he is was a friend of, our drummer at the time. And so, so myself and and Liz and D who are bass player have been the core. And then we've changed drummers and guitar players. Got it. But. Yeah. Right. But you've always been called Tetons all the always got Tetons guy.

We. Well, for the first year or two, we were just part of Teton and District Performing Arts, okay. And then we decided we started going. We were just playing with them. When they do the drum thing, we we've kind of alternate back and forth where they do the pipes. But we started getting a lot of attention. Just just for the band.

The Celtic group. Well deserved, by the way. Yeah. And, and the pipe and drum corps, folded. They decided to close that down so we then can broke out on our own and kept going, and, so we started targeting, local Celtic festivals, Irish festivals, Scottish festivals and, and, and found a group of, of people that are just it's a small group, but it's passionate group.

They just I mean, they love the, the culture, the music, the food, you know. And so you go to these Celtic festivals and everybody's well, you know, wearing a kilt and you know, and are you Irish or Scottish? So yeah. So, Lang is a Scottish name. Okay. And that's the Scottish spelling. So we actually, it this, this really sparked and reminds me another piece of the story when I tell so but this really sparked an interest in my own heritage, you know.

And I started looking into it and, and found that we actually had a, tartan and, and a coat of arms and a motto and a whole and a whole thing. So that was a lot of fun. And then, a friend of ours, a backyard neighbor, Carla Kelly, she is, she's a actually, a national bestseller, author.

She, you can look her up online, but she's she's got, you know, maybe we'll have to have her on. Yeah. She's she's she's. Yeah. Quite an intellect. And and, she's fun to talk to. But anyway, she, she just she out of the blue, she invited Nancy and I to, Robert Burns dinner, and, and we're like, are you,

Okay. We'll go. I was very hesitant. I didn't know what this was. And Robert Burns, is the, the the national bard, poet of Scotland. He's the one that wrote old Lang's line. My love is like a red, red rose. There's so much of his poetry and and the, early thoughts that he wrote down that are part of our American culture that I didn't really realize is he's baked into our DNA.

And so. And I just I fell in love with the whole thing. The the the the music, the the food, the the the celebration of the poetry. And, I was just I was sold and we were a party part of the, the band we had, we started doing that and and this, this was being produced by another group in town and another pipe and drum band, and they they folded and stopped doing that.

And so about four years ago, I thought, well, we really need to pick this back up again because there are so many people that live this. We we would go perform at the Wyoming Highlanders, Robert Burns supper. And so we knew how to, you know, how to do it. And of course, Liz, she's she's the cultural, she not only she got a great voice, but she she knows all of the history.

She's a storyteller, naturally. Yeah. She she she's she's got, you know, she's she she knows if, want to call it, bone to, you know, to the through the skin, you know, she she, she's amazing. But, so we, we could say, like, everything in the shepherd's pie. She knows. Yeah, yeah. There you go.

I like that. That's great. But. So we rented this one little place, put on the dinner, and people showed up, and so we've actually done that the last, last three years. We're doing it again. This. It's coming up. It's coming up in April 24th. Yeah. And it's just really grown into a neat celebration. It's it's unlike any any other thing I've ever been a part of.

I have a deep love for it, but it's it's it's a little bit of poetry. It's a little bit of culture. So there's a lot of humor in it. But the music, the Scottish music and, and and a lot of the songs we sing are actually written by Robert Burns, and, and people, we usually sell it out and people have a, have a great time.

Tell people how to get a reservation because you have to have a reservation. You have to be ahead. Yeah. We have. Yeah, we, so it's at, Teton Sky dot net, and that's s k y e a sky with an e on the end. Like the Isle of Skye. And so or you just search for Teton Sky, on the, on the web, and then you'll, you'll find our web page where we're there, and we're also on Facebook.

I actually found you that way. I, we had a coworker that has a strong connection to you. I didn't even know that that existed until you came in. And then I've. I found you just perusing the music scene on Facebook, in the internet, locally. And so, yes, they are very easy to find. That's great. That's good to know.

And there the name is amazing. Yeah. It's a great love. Tones. Yeah. And the sky. Yeah. And the way Liz put it you know we bring the, you know we're, we're we live in the American highlands, you know, and we're bringing the, the, the the Scottish culture into it. So it's a, it's a merging of the two cultures of America and Scotland.

And so we, we kind of have a little modern twist, but a lot of the songs we sing are, we put her on, we put our own spin on it, but, they're 3 or 400 years old, you know, there. And, and it's amazing, the, the depth of the stories that are in these songs and they're, they're just as applicable today.

And, and like I said, people are just in the, in the Celtic communities. They're really passionate about it. They really enjoy it. And then the people who have never really known Scottish music or Celtic music, they like it when they hear it. And I think the reason for that is because it's baked into them, into the DNA of our of our, yeah, of our music.

You know, what do you what do you get when you take a bunch of Scots and you kick them out of Scotland and you shove them across the ocean, and you stick them in the Appalachian Mountains and let it marinate for 200 years. You get bluegrass music? Yeah. You know, it's a they're telling a story. I love it.

And it's all kind of part of our cellular DNA in the melting pot of America. It really is. And so when they hear us, when they hear something like from old Celtic women or, or a, a tune like that, it, it resonates in a way that they don't, they don't know they're getting something familiar, you know, because the it's.

Yeah part of songs. So are you performing anywhere this weekend? Actually next week and we're, we're performing down in Evanston, Wyoming. At the, ceilidh at the Roundhouse Festival. They bring in, some, some, some bigger access or they have three big, internationally famous acts, and then six regional bands. And so we're one of the regional bands.

So, yeah. So that's the 20th 21st. Yeah. So yeah, yeah, we'll be performing on the 21st on Friday at 615. And then we're also doing some workshops. So there's a first will be, murder ballads, which is sounds like something Jewish. That's something I should know about. But she loves you. Probably doesn't know I do it.

I do a true crime podcast. Yeah. So some of the great, Celtic or Scottish music, you know, involves, death and love and death in some way and some way. You know, you love somebody, but she's she's she's dead or or your spouse, you know, has, been, you know, appropriately put in the grave and, yeah, you know, it's a lot of humor in that kind of stuff, but, so that, that one and then the other one is, how to how to arrange and create your own, arrangements for Celtic music, you know, how to put your own spin on it so and they can find all

that information at Teton Sky dot net. Yes. That link is there. And also if you, search Evanston Celtic Festival, you'll should be able to find that and get tickets. They have, they have a beautiful, venue called it's called the roundhouse. It used to be an old train switching station and they've, they've renovated. It's all these beautiful old brick buildings and and now.

Well, I just love to that. You, you still, like, have your career, your job, but you do this side passion thing and get to share your love with everyone and change lives. I mean, truly, well, impact people. Music is just, I work so I can feed my family, you know? And I knew I realized years ago that I wasn't going to be able to support my family, you know, on the road or.

And I've met on the road musicians. I realized I didn't really want that lifestyle. But, you know, the great thing about being a medium sized fish in a little pond, you know, out here in Idaho is, you know, you can be part of the, offers up road, theater. You can be part of the local, you know, you do get to have an idea.

We do have a good community for that. Yeah. And you can build your make your own band and go, you know, and we play, Montana, Wyoming, Utah. You know, we play all these, these, these Celtic festivals and we've, we've crossed over to a point now where they reach out to us to, to ask us to come instead of us, you know, begging for a, for a spot.

And, and that's really probably been one of the satisfying things. And still to, to see that level of success and people really enjoying the music. Yeah. All right. Well, we're getting short on time. Would you leave us with just your one piece of advice for people? We ask our guests when they come on to share a nugget from their life, and it it can be life advice.

It can be a funny story, whatever you would like. But something about Eric that you can share with our audience. My philosophy is that I see myself, as a coach, and because it's easy to, to Lord knowledge over people, you know, if I know something and I and you don't, and that makes me better than you, I feel it's important to share what you know with those around you and help teach.

And but one piece of advice that really sticks in my head is people won't remember what you said. But they will always remember. I mean, it's a perfect, perfect way to live your life. Thank you. Eric. It's great. An enjoyable time. Yes. Loved learning with us.

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