When Marc Berger traded his law school degree for a guitar in the 1980s, the road of his future had already been paved from New York to the vastness of the American West. The culmination of his lifelong efforts, including a famous folk singer riffing his tune and a record deal, led him to the full-fledged Marc Berger Band, with a stable of talented musicians at his disposal.
Berger’s obsession with Western music surfaced at age 21 during a cross-country summer trip with college friends from Rutgers University. Crazy twists and turns from his adventures have helped shape his lyrics.
“I was not prepared for how big [things] were out there,” he said. “The distances between things. Our minds were blown. One night we got to the Grand Canyon and there were no camp sites and we said ‘screw it let’s go to Yosemite.’ It was that kind of enthusiastic, crazy trip.”
It wasn’t until Berger returned to New York, noticing the difference between the two regions, that he felt a hole in his essence. Berger wanted to head west again. While studying law at Rutgers, Berger’s pulse for songwriting grew. Each of the next five summers, he traveled out west while completing law school before passing the bar exam in New York and New Jersey.
“Getting into remote places, climbing mountains, became my passion,” Berger said.
Berger’s meetings with music publishers after law school had him anxious, fearing they’d give the “it’s a tough business, go be a lawyer” talk to the then fresh-out-of-law school yet budding guitar and harmonica player. But all that gave way to encouraging publishers and promising musical prospects.
Berger couldn’t sing well at first, but his evolving voice, along with deals with Richie Havens, a folk/soul singer, who belted out Berger’s “The Last One,” helped kickstart the former East Meadow resident’s career. “I willed myself into being a singer,” he said.
His group will play at the Mineola Memorial Library on Saturday, Nov. 21.
“The album combined my passions for songwriting and my experiences in the west and that became Ride,” Berger said. “[Ride] is set up in a way when you get to the end of one song and think you know what’s going on, the next song dispels that notion.”
Concert attendees will hear Ride’s playlist, with a preview from his next album, Folk Music, set to be made in December. Rounding out Berger’s band are drummer Dan Rieser, bassist Jeff Eyrich and guitarist Eric Ambel. Rieser played with Nora Jones on her earlier albums and feels Berger is “a great songwriter; good energy.”
“We started doing gigs and did some recording,” Rieser said of his work with Jones. “A lot of that turned out to be her first record.”
Ambel, a 35-year musician, was the guitarist on Joan Jett’s I Love Rock and Roll. His fingerprints are all over Ride.
“Marc’s music is definitely influenced by a lot of the books he read and what he’s seen,” Ambel said.
Eyrich has been playing with Berger for two years and produced work with T Bone Burnett, Air Supply, among others.
“I love this music,” Eyrich said.
