Easy Street

2017 release. If there is an overriding theme to Eric Hutchinson's career, it is his relentless pursuit of the kind of feel-good music that will make his fans dance and sing while still managing to ponder the beauty and humor that comes from fully experiencing life. This journey had come to a crossroads this past year, as the 35 year-old singer/songwriter/performer stripped down his sound and embraced the mantle of producer, and spent months working on his fourth studio album, Easy Street. A collection of penetratingly honest songs, Easy Street is a musical snapshot of perseverance and musical maturity brimming with superb melodies and contagious rhythms. Easy Street is arguably Hutchinson's most insightful and in some ways autobiographical work. In fact, each song on Easy Street is a study in personal, professional and generational divides; from the strikingly confessional "Dear Me" that opens the album to the seemingly airy if not catchy pop of "Lost in Paradise" that speaks to the wanderer in us all. Hutchinson also plays with music biz preconceptions, specifically facing the gnawing guilt over success in "Good Rhythm" or his escaping the shadow of his musical heroes to forge his own unique voice in "Same Old Thing." "When I was growing up I thought, 'I'll never be my heroes'," he admits. "And with this album I say 'I don't want to be my heroes. I want to be me.'"