Fruit Bats in Missoula and reflection on the past

William Munoz

(Missoula Current) The band, Fruit Bats, is the medium through which Eric D Johnson expresses his musical identity, an identity that has been shaped by a life that had his family moving from place to place.

As he developed as a musician and began to tour, that movement from childhood took on a meaning that got expressed in song.

A sense of place is at the core of his music.

“It weighs heavily on me—the notion of place. The places I've been and the places I want to go.” Johnson says “The songs exist in a world that you can sort of travel from one to another. There are roads and rivers between these songs.”

In his latest album, 'A River Running to Your Heart', Johnson explores the importance of 'home'. Constant moving from place to place is weary and leads a person wanting permanence.

Johnson makes all who have lived beyond their youth consider what was and how our lives were lived between then and now. He brings us to a place in 'It All Comes Back,' suggesting it's just fine to long for the past while being easy on oneself.