In the summer of 1998,
Bob and Carol
Dysart took their
grandson Eric with them to Branson,
Missouri to see the Haygood’s Family Music Show.After the show, with
the tenacity only a six year old boy could muster,Eric began pestering his grandparents
to buy him a fiddle.They gave in, buying him a quarter-size
fiddle and enrolled
him
in
Jana Jae’s fiddle workshop
in Grove Oklahoma that Labor
Day and the battle began…not to make him
pick it up and practice, but to make him
put it down once in a while to do other
things.
Since that time, Eric has
used that same tenacity to talk his
grandparents into getting him a guitar, mandolin, and
piano…all of which he’s
mastered.In 2000,Eric performed at the
Grand Grove Opryand before
the
Oklahoma House of Representativesin
Oklahoma City.
In 2001, he performed
with the
Magnificent 7 Showand
The Larry King Country Showin Branson, Missouri,
and put out his first CD,Hot Strings. In 2002,
Eric performed in the Country Pickin' Opry
in Richmond, Missouri, the Jana Jae Show
in Coffeyville Kansas, and the opening of the
Raising America Show in Branson Missouri. In
2003, Eric won the 2003 Oklahoma
State Junior fiddle championship and performed at
The Oklahoma Opry in
Oklahoma City, as well as performing in 96
shows with The American Kids at Silver Dollar City in
Branson, Missouri. In 2004, Eric won the
2004 Oklahoma State Junior FiddleChampionship, performed on the
Country Tonight Show at
Silver Dollar City, the opening of The
Barbara Fairchild Benefit
Show in Branson, Missouri,
The Raising America Show in Branson, did
96 shows with the American Kids cast at Silver
Dollar City, and had his own show
at the Branson Mall CenterStage. In 2004. Eric
won the title of Grand Champion
with the American Kids in the General
Variety Division on the Local, Regional and Grand National levels
playing the fiddle in Branson, Missouri. He also won the title of
Grand Champion in the General Variety
Division on the National level playing the piano.
In 2005, Eric became of member of the band and
was featured in The Li'l NashvilleOpry at the Moe Bandy theater
and had his own show at the
Branson Mall Center
Stage. in Branson. He was a
regular performer at the Fort Scott
Jubilee in Fort Scott, Kansas as well as a regular
performer at Grant's Rodeo Opry
in Oklahoma City. He won the 2005
Oklahoma StateJunior
Fiddle Championship and continued his own show at the
Branson Mall Center Stage.
Eric did 40 shows with the American Kids
at Silver Dollar City in 2005 and performed again with the
Raising America Cast. Eric's
favorite performance to date was in 2005 when he performed in opening
the show for Toby Keith, Vince Gill, ByronBerline, Ty England, and Katrina Elamin
a benefit for the survivors of the Murrah Building bombing at the Ford
Center in Oklahoma City. Eric attended the
Walnut Valley festivai in Winfield, Kansas
in 2003, 2004, and in 2005 he won third place in the Old Time Fiddle
Contest. In 2006 & 2007 he performed at Festivals,
The Spotlight Theatre,
Rodeo Opry, Nowata Opry, and
played with The Oklahoma Stomp Youth Western Swing Band and
the Rockin' Acoustic Circus Youth Country/Bluegrass Band
in Oklahoma, the Fort Scott Jubilee, Burlington
Opry, and Wellsville Days
in Kansas, the
Country Pickin Opry and MSSU Symphony
Orchestra in Missouri, and the Little O'
Opery in Arkansas. He is playing the Fiddle / Violin,
Guitar, Singing, Dancing and having a good time making people smile.