Country star Eric Ethridge ready for 'busy summer' after 2.5-year break during pandemic

It was a combination of nerves and excitement for Sarnia, Ont. country-pop singer Eric Ethridge before he took the stage Saturday night.

“This will be our very first show in two half years of the full band, and I’m so excited,” said Ethridge, prior to taking the stage at the Woodstock Truck Show in Woodstock, Ont.

He didn’t miss a beat as he had the crowd rocking with a mix of his original songs, and some covers of classic rock, country and R&B songs.

After a long hiatus due to pandemic restrictions, he’s ready for a busy summer performing.

“We keep getting calls now,” said Ethridge.

“Summer is going to be here right away, so we're playing kind of all over Ontario this summer, which is really exciting. We have to get the rust off right, like it's been a couple years but we've spent the last couple years working on everything else like songwriting and recording and what we're going to do next.”

Country-pop singer Eric Ethridge of Sarnia, Ont. performed with a full band for the first time in 2.5 years Saturday, May 28, 2022, in Woodstock, Ont. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

In 2020 Ethridge and his wife Kalsey Kulyk bought a van and planned on travelling North America under the banner ‘Love on the Road’. That love turned into their first child Wilder James Ethridge, and in turn they have since sold the van.

He’s been working behind the scenes in preparation for the stage performance in which he didn’t miss a beat.

“It’s been tough because my performing is my favorite part of being a musician,” said Ethridge.

“To not be able to do that for a couple years, obviously tough was a tough thing to handle at times, but you have to focus on other things.  I focused more on songwriting and just teaching myself things that like even production and stuff like that, which, which kept me busy.”

He put out a full record during the pandemic, and admits it has been tough to promote that with no live shows.

He’s been dedicating his time to ensure he was ready for Saturday’s show, and then it’s on to a number of performances across Canada and the US.

“It seems like we're back now,” Ethridge said.

“So I'm just playing every show like it's my last right now.”