Sometimes a story can take a long time to tell. Eric D. Johnson, who has recorded and performed as the Fruit Bats for a decade now, had a story like that, a chance encounter that had rattled around his head for years. Hes tried to write it as a short story, a play, a movieyet until now couldnt get it down just right. Finally he decided to make a song out of it, and the result is Tony the Tripper. Its the song at the heart of his fifth album, Tripper, setting the tone for a bittersweet meditation on hitting the road, leaving the familiar behind and reinventing yourself.