John Eichleay, Rhythm Guitar
John Eichleay was born in 1978 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He moved to Chicago in 1997 to attend Depaul University. There he became friends with outstanding guitarist Alfonso Ponticelli. After graduation, John returned to Pittsburgh and had the profound realization that his degree in religious studies had virtually no practical application. Forgoing his destiny to bus tables in Pittsburgh's finest restaurants for the rest of his life, our hero returned to Chicago in June 2002. One month later, he was performing with Alfonso Ponticelli and Swing Gitan. Since then, Swing Gitan has released their debut album and played a wide variety of venues in the Chicago area. The highlight being their opening spot for Bireli Lagrene and Florin Niculescu at the Old Town School of Folk Music's Django weekend. John enjoys juggling and songwriting in his free time. He is looking forward to the coming year as Swing Gitan begins to travel more extensively and share music with the world.