Erick Ballard
Bernard Allison - United States

Overview

Drummer Erick Ballard, a lover of music and a professional drummer, some say that he was born with drumsticks in his hands. Born August 31, 1983 in the land of St. Paul, MN Erick developed the passion for drumming at the age of 4. His parents saw this flame ignite as Erick would sit by the drums faithfully every Sunday studying every move that the other drummers were doing and if they didn’t let him play after church he world have a fit. During the week Erick would play on anything he could play on and would make anything be a drumstick from pencils to the stems from his moms good ol’ home cooked greens. During his time in grade school Erick studied and soaked in everything he heard and saw.

After a few years of being in the background Erick finally had a chance in 1997 to be the main drummer at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. In 2000 Erick recorded his first album with Shiloh MBC titled “Live in St. Paul”. While in high school Erick continued to play at church but decided to branch out and he joined up with a popular pop rock band called Standard Thompson where he toured around the Midwest playing shows. In 2002 Erick recorded his second album with Shiloh MBC titled “Steven Daniels and Shiloh Baptist Choir”. Then in 2003 Erick recorded with Standard Thompson on there album titled “Bitter Silver Morning”. Shortly after Erick joined Minnesota’s busiest band G.B. Leighton and was playing 200+ shows all over the Midwest. The following year Erick recorded with Shiloh MBC once again on the album titled “God Is Real”. Playing show across the Midwest with GBL Erick recorded two New Year eves acoustic albums titled “Live N.Y.E 2004” and “Live N.Y.E 2005”. Staying ever so busy GBL decided to do a live full band CD/DVD that was titled “Live at the Minnesota Music Café” which was released in 2006. Erick still found time to play at church and was asked to record with another local St. Paul church called Mt. Olivet Baptist Church on there album “Lift The Savior Up”.

In 2007 Erick made his first theatrical debut where he was the drummer for Jevetta Steel’s “Two Queen, One Castle” and Penumbra’s “Black Nativity”. The year of 2008 is not even slowing down for Erick. Recently Erick recorded on his pastor Rev. Steve Daniels Jr. first CD titled “God Is Everything” and then he joined up with blues icon and superstar Bernard Allison the son of the late great Luther Allison.

Today you can catch Erick playing with Bernard Allison playing in clubs, theaters, and festivals all across the world.

Links

Erick Ballard on ReverbNation

Erick Ballard on Twitter
Bernard Allison's Official Website