Singer Eric Hutchinson, playing Musikfest Cafe, says 'Best Of' tour lets him reflect, enjoy

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Singer Eric Hutchinson said that when he was having his biggest success in 2008-12, it was a hectic, stressful time for him.

As he played hits such as "OK, It's Alright with Me," "Rock & Roll" and "Watching You Watch Him" for appreciative crowds, he was too worried to enjoy himself, Hutchinson said.

"Sounds Like This," his major-label debut album, "was really starting to blow up and my life was really changing in a lot of ways," Hutchinson said in a recent phone call.

"I wasn’t getting to enjoy playing the music very much — there were too many other things I was worried about, whether it was my career or my image or just how fast things were ramping up.

“I felt like I spent a lot of time thinking about what was coming next."

More than 15 years and nine albums later, Hutchinson said his new Best Of tour, which stops at Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks tonight, April 23, is him taking a moment for himself.

Tickets for the show, at $40 (some areas are sold out) remain available at the SteelStacks website.

“And so when I realized it was the 15th anniversary [of 'Sounds Like This'], I thought this is a chance for me to go out there and perform these songs and really get to be present and enjoy them and celebrate them,” he said.

He 'got lucky'

While that period was the era of Hutchinson's biggest success — it also was, paradoxically, a period of great unrest in his career.

After starting his career by releasing two independent albums, Hutchinson's 2008 album “Sounds Like This” was snapped up by Madonna’s then-label Maverick.

But as his career was taking off, Hutchinson got caught in a wrangle with the dissolution of that label.

“I had tried to make a different album with Maverick Records, and they folded and I got lost in the shuffle," he said.

"And I seriously considered just quitting music ‘cause I felt like my chance had passed. But I just couldn’t stop feeling, like, if I didn’t at least get to make one album, that I was going to regret moving on in my life.

"So I decided to pour all my money into making this record the way I wanted to always have one."

"Sounds Like This" won praise from gossip blogger Perez Hilton, helping to push it to No. 5 on iTunes — the highest-charting album by an unsigned artist in iTunes history.

Hutchinson said he "got lucky" and the album "sort of exploded on the internet and from there I signed to Warner Brothers Records,” which released the disc.

It then debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.

New disc, 'frustrating experience'

Despite that success, Hutchinson's career path continued to be rocky.

He released just one more disc on Warner Brothers, taking four years to release 2012’s “Moving Up Living Down,” which contained his biggest hit, "Watching You Watch Him."

The song debuted on the season premiere of the then-hot TV show "Grey's Anatomy."

“‘Moving Up Living Down’ was a bigger budget, and bigger producers, and the label had opinions," Hutchinson said. "So that took awhile.

"And on top of that there was some record label tomfoolery, we’ll call it, that ended up buying me out. It was very frustrating time for me.

"I tried to make that album, ‘Moving Up Living Down,’ more about the heartbreak of the afterglow. And some of those songs made it, but there’s more I really wish I’d really fought to include.

"But the label was, like, ‘Nobody wants to hear that when you get your dreams it doesn’t solve everything’ or something."

But that's exactly what happened, Hutchinson said.

"I’m very thankful — Warner Brothers gave me a lot of attention and a lot of publicity and a lot of money to be all over the place," he said.

"But it was also a very frustrating experience to be on there."

'You're gonna figure it out'

He released his 2014 album "Pure Fiction" on the indie Kobalt label. The first song, "Tell the World," became the theme for the NBC-TV sitcom "Growing Up Fisher" and was used for the first-ever Microsoft Windows 10 commercial.

He since has released his albums independently.

“I think in my heart I’ve always been an independent artist and I kind of like the DIY thing," Hutchinson said.

“And it’s been gratifying to see that there’s a lot of young artists that are digging that message — Billie Eilish is one that I’ve seen.

"There’s people who are saying, ‘Hey, this is not everything.’ I felt that was really important to communicate."

Hutchinson said he has thought a lot " in revisiting these songs and playing them all, and today I’m a dad and professional musician and songwriter and married.

But he said "Sounds Like This" "is really the soundtrack of young adulthood and growing up from being a kid to a young adult and all the anxieties and confusing things that come along with it.

“And I hear this record, I kind of want to give my younger self a hug and say, like, ‘You’re gonna figure it out, it’s OK.’

“When I’m playing ‘Sounds Like This’ and thinking about my older songs and my career, I’m just trying to enjoy it now as much as I can in the present. ‘Cause that’s all we have.”

'Greatest hits' — and humbling

Similarly, Hutchinson recently released a "greatest hits" album of his more recent work, "Cliff Notes: The Best of 2014-2024."

"There has been a lot of music that came out since ‘Sounds Like This’ and there’s been pandemics and everything — it’s hard to keep track of everything," he said.

"We e found some more recent stuff that maybe not everybody’s heard, but is some of my favorite stuff I’ve ever done.

“Whether I like it or not, it’s kind of my life’s work. It’s kind of cool to put it all together and see where it lands.”

In addition to getting a chance to enjoy his own music, Hutchinson said the Best Of tour is helping him again thank listeners who have supported him over his career.

“The feeling I really have is I feel really grateful that — and I really try to thank every crowd," he said.

When he was making those early discs, Hutchinson said, "I just wanted anybody to listen to the music. And the idea that 15 years later there’ll be people coming to hear the songs is amazing to me.

“And it’s given me a chance to reflect on what I was hoping for when I started out, and the fact that I get to be a professional musician and songwriter — this life has left me with a lot of gratitude."

He said that for the first time in awhile, he stays after shows to sign autographs and take photos with fans.

"And that’s actually become my favorite part of the night," he said. "Because people have old pictures of us from 15 years ago, or they have stories about what the music has meant to them.

“And that didn’t exist 15 years ago. People just would say, ‘I saw you on VH1,' or whatever. But now there’s this rich history of the music.

"I have so many songs of other people who are the soundtrack of my life, that even if I get to be a small part of someone else’s is very humbling.”