Nederland-based singer-songwriter Eric Richard Stone released his seventh album this spring just as pandemic restrictions relaxed and audiences could once again enjoy live music performances.

His thirteen-track CD, titled Kitchen Table, was recorded locally throughout the winter and spring on a portable recording studio after business hours at Brightwood Music in Nederland with other local musicians Doug Armitage (bass), Michael Sivcovich (dobro) and Tom Hall (mandolin). The band, collectively known as The Witness Protection Program, has been playing local shows this summer. Stone and Hall toured regionally throughout the summer, with Stone recently showcasing two songs from the CD on the main stage at The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in nearby Lyons, Colorado.

The title track Kitchen Table, cowritten with Indiana songwriter Tay Bronson, is an homage to the importance and significance of family events that play out around kitchen tables. But it is also a recognition in these times, whether due to the pandemic or other tragedies, that for many families there are empty chairs at those same tables.

“Kitchen Table, with one empty chair

We cherish the memory of the one who’s not there

Kitchen Table, washed with our tears

Help us find comfort throughout the years”

Another track, Step Into The Light is a bluesy and whimsical melody foretelling the end of Covid and a return to normalcy. While Stone’s Roll The Windows Down is a sparse, desperate tune about feeling shut in, bored and alone during the pandemic’s darkest time.

“I’ll pick you up at four.

Be sure you don’t miss me.

I’ll be your glass of wine.

You can be my whiskey.

I’m tired of feeling down.

Get me out of this town.

Drive up into the hills and roll the windows down.”

Together, these three songs deliver a heart-felt anthem to our collective pandemic experience. But there is much more to be enjoyed among the other ten tracks. Ranging in musical style from bluegrass (Eliza Jane, Voice On The Wind, Walls Of Time), to Folk (Home To You, Time, Falling Back Down), to Country (Agnostic Prayer, Baby On Her Back), Stone and The Witness Protection Program weave through melodies with precision and lyrical storytelling that feel both comforting and surprisingly reminiscent of another local band, Hot Rise. They even cover a Hot Rise favorite, Butch Waller’s Voice On The Wind. There is even a bluegrass version recorded live in-studio of The Beatles classic, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away.

Stone’s warm and soulful vocals are wonderfully complemented by the band’s harmonies and instrumentation. And the band’s bluegrass essence becomes clearer in an original fiddle tune, Appalachian Gap, composed by mandolinist, Tom Hall.

If you are already familiar with his music, Eric Richard Stone seems to have hit his songwriting stride on this effort. Performance highlight this summer was when Stone was invited to open the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons during the “Songwriter Showcase” segment.

What’s next? Stone says he’s already writing new tunes and even hopes to put out a Holiday CD before December when he plans on giving up his day job and devoting his full attention to music beginning in 2022. With three CDs in the last two years to his credit, it’s hard to imagine what kind of productivity will result. But his latest, Kitchen Table (available to download at all major digital outlets) is a must for those who are already fans, and highly recommended for the enthusiastic folk/songwriter/bluegrass listener.

For more information about Eric Richard Stone, check out http://ericrichardstone.com/