Eric Hutchinson with Ryan Montbleau (Friday)
For the past decade, Eric Hutchinson has been mastering the art of his unique, personal songwriting while exploring diverse musical genres like pop, soul, Americana, folk, alt-rock, and jazz. Now, the platinum-selling singer-songwriter is releasing CLIFF NOTES - The Best of 2014-2024 - an essential collection of Hutchinson’s ever-evolving discography. Pulling from fan-favorite albums including “Pure Fiction”, “Easy Street”, and “Sing Along!”, the new double-disc vinyl release showcases all the varied and dynamic music Eric has spent the past ten years exploring.
To celebrate his new Best Of release, Eric is hitting the road in 2024 to perform all his most popular songs from the past ten years - pop anthems like “Tell The World”, “A Little More”, and “Dear Me”, as well as cult-classics like “Forget About Joni” and “a million bucks on a queen motel bed”. In addition to playing his more recent hits, Eric will also be sprinkling in songs from his landmark album Sounds Like This, including his instant-classics “Ok, It’s Alright with Me” and “Rock & Roll”.
The "Best Of Eric Hutchinson" Tour is sure to be a memorable and uplifting night of music in an intimate setting. For each show, concert-goers will get to vote on the setlist, ensuring a unique and special show in every city. All of the evenings will be packed with music, soul, energy, and Eric’s signature dry sense of humor and storytelling. Plus, Eric will always be staying after his performances to meet fans, sign items, and take pictures. “Saying hello to people after the show has gotten to be my favorite part of the night,” Eric says. “I love getting to hear people’s stories and their personal connections to my songs.”
“A lot has changed for me since 2014”, Eric reflects. “I became a dad, I lost my father, I started taking anti-depressants, I lived thru COVID. Throughout it all, I’ve processed my feelings the only way I know how - through my songwriting. I know people are busy living their lives and don’t always have time to keep up with what I’ve been making. CLIFF NOTES is a streamlined way that listeners can explore my work from the last decade and maybe play a little catch up.”
CLIFF NOTES is jam-packed with 22 of Eric’s best-known songs, plus two new originals that find a return to his soulful pop sound. “JOMO” is an infectious acoustic pop tribute to being an introvert, while “Spirit and Soul” is a sentimental, upbeat pop reflection on self-love and embracing aging. The two new songs come from an older, wiser person, but feel directly connected to the beginning of Eric’s independent recordings.
Fresh from parting ways with his major record label, Eric embraced his return to indie music and kicked off 2014 with the release of his “pop masterpiece” Pure Fiction, which included hits like “Tell The World” and “A Little More”, as well as the cult-favorite “Forget About Joni.” Also in 2014, Eric released his live acoustic record “Almost Solo in NYC” which included the definitive recording of one of his most beloved songs, “Breakdown More”.
In 2015, Eric released Easy Street. The album mixed more soul music into big pop beats and produced Eric’s most enduring anthem, “Dear Me”, as well as the infectious, grooving “Good Rhythm”, and the beautiful power ballad “Anyone Who Knows Me”. “There is a definitive line in the sand of my songwriting before and after I wrote “Dear Me””, Eric says. “I wrote that song in a very transitional part of my life and it started a new era of deeply personal songwriting for me that I’m very proud of.”
After constant touring, 2018 saw Eric collaborating with his road band The Believers to make his folk-Americana classic modern happiness, which included the satirical “new religion”, the retro reggae-soul of “can’t stop what’s coming”, and the quirky, epic drug ballad “a million bucks on a queen motel bed”.
In 2020, Eric’s genre exploration lead him towards the nostalgia of 90’s alt-rock with the release of “Class of 98, a musical diary recollection of his confusing days of a high schooler in the suburbs. The album was a new sound for Eric and resulted in songs like the charming “Rock Out Tonight”, the Weezer-esque anthem “Cooler Than You”, and the fan-favorite “Good Things Come”.
Days before his daughter was born, Eric took a brand new band of classically jazz-trained musicians into the studio to record Before & After Life, which Eric released in 2021. The album is a jazz-pop meditation on the circle of life and Eric becoming a new father. The album included the uplifting soul-jazz track “The Best Part”, the sweet love ballad “I Hope She’s Just Like You”, and the thankful “Right Where I’m Supposed to Be”.
In 2022, Eric assembled a group of elite singers and musicians to record the retro folk album Sing Along! with Eric Hutchinson. Inspired by his time in isolation during the pandemic, Sing Along! included the hopeful and collaborative “Everybody’s Gotta Beating Heart”, the joyous “Hey Look I Found It! (My Inner Peace)”, and the inspiring protest song “Right Side of History”.
In 2023, Eric celebrated the 15th anniversary of his first album Sounds Like This by recording a 2008 live-favorite “Sad Songs”, recorded with his old touring bandmates from 2008.
Taken as a whole, CLIFF NOTES is an exciting distillation of a decade of work from Eric Hutchinson, an artist and songwriter who refuses to be pinned down to one musical genre or attitude. It’s a diverse collection of songs that captures Eric Hutchinson growing up and continuing to search to understand his place in the world.
