I realized, “This is a language that every-
one can speak and it’s a way to heal tense
energy. It kind of smooths things out.” So it
became like a superpower. I learned about
compassion at a young age. How to use
kindness and how to use fun things—like
singing and dancing—to bring a little bit of
light into the world. Sherman: And let’s turn the mic to
Dwight. Let’s start with some of the same
basic questions. Where were you born?
Sherman: Are you an only child? Ritcher: Yeah. My grandfather had a big
band in the 40s and played the Tri-State
Area mostly. Played The Cotton Club and
a lot of the bigger clubs. And he was a
strat-style piano player and a banjo player,
so I grew up backing him up [drumming]
on the Jersey Yellow Pages with drumsticks
and pots and pans, while he played at the
family parties. He’d play, “Won’t you come
home, Bill Bailey?” and “Stardust” and so
a lot of these songs were just common to
me. I grew up on a lot of the American
Songbook and a lot of jazz and big band
music. [Count] Basie was from Red Bank,
New Jersey, which is the town right over
from me. My dad also really loved mu-
sic. I mean, we were listening to a lot of
Frank Sinatra. I’m partial to his records
with Basie. [But I was also listening to]
Cyndi Lauper, Run DMC, Sheena Easton,
it was all very eclectic. And my mom
played piano by ear—as well as guitar and
ukulele. And she liked a lot of country
music. Willie Nelson and Loretta Lynn and
Johnny Cash. She’d figured the songs out,
you know, around the house, sometimes in
between doing her chores and things. And
then she went through a phase where she
liked horn music a lot. Towards the end of
her life, she really liked Adele’s new record.
Nelson: No. I had a brother who passed
away when he was 15. I was just about
to turn 13, and he was, for sure, my best
friend and everything. And we would go
to the park and hang out and I would show
him the songs I wrote. He was so support-
ive and sweet. And we just would play and
hang out and have a good time. So, when
he passed away [from complications of
asthma] that time was the darkest time,
for sure. My parents got way less close to
each other and way more into their own
dysfunction and personal sadness. And as
you can imagine, it was a really hard time.
But for me, music (and art in general) and
just getting lost in my own little world was,
you know, what kept me sane and kept me
connected to aspects of myself that I think
I would have cut myself off from because
of the pain.
Sherman: What was the music you were
listening to at that time?
Nelson: I’d say the voice was Whitney
Houston. I mean, all I ever did was try to
sound like her. Also, I got really into Tori
Amos.
Sherman: That’s a name I haven’t heard in
a while!
Nelson: I know! I loved her so much, and
she was the only one I couldn’t parrot. I
could parrot anybody’s voice when I was
a kid. I did it for my friends. But she was
so unique. Her vibrato and the way she
spaced the tremolo in her voice was just
outrageous to me. Fiona Apple. Cyndi
Lauper. Ella Fitzgerald. Billie Holiday.
Sarah Vaughan. Tori was singing about gut
wrenching stuff and I felt I related to that. I
dug it. From a writing standpoint, though,
I got into Leonard Cohen. I mean, I was
into deep lyrics and people that weren’t
afraid to be dark with their lyrics. You
know, I got into that.
Ritcher: I was born in Long Branch, New
Jersey.
Sherman: Was your family was musical?
Sherman: Earlier you were telling me
that your first instrument was actually the
drums.
Ritcher: My grandfather got me a kit. I
was probably 16 and started kind of like
a little band. Maybe I was 15. And I took
some lessons with this guy in Red Bank.
And things were going well and he said, “I
have a gig.” This was maybe—MAYBE—
eight months or a year into lessons. “I have
a gig that I can’t do and I want you to fill
in for me.” And I don’t think I was very
confident about being able to do that, but
he thought I could do it. And it turns out
it was a gig for community center produc-
tion of Pirates of Penzance. He gave me the
tape of the show. And then I sat in the
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