#acoustic throwback

Acoustic Throwback – Nineties Rhythm and Blues by Ernie Halter features an enticing assortment of cover songs, including “This Is How We Do It,” “Always Be My Baby,” and a mash-up of “You Make Me Wanna”/ “Where My Girls At,” amongst other classics. Halter stated that he was inspired to make the record after he covered “Cyclone” on his Starting Over album, as well as by the great success his cover of “Black Coffee in Bed” received on Sirius XM’s Coffeehouse. “That cover introduced me to new fans, and I wanted to do something like that again. I had done prior Kickstarter projects, and wanted to do an all-covers record. I asked my fans what they wanted to hear, and 90’s R&B songs were the overwhelming consensus,” he explained. Of the songs on record, Halter notes that “Shoop” is his favorite: “It was the first song that we did. In a way, the record was frustrating to make –it was a lot of figuring out the learning curve and getting the mixes done. “Shoop” was the first song I recorded that I felt really good about.”

Halter talked about his songwriting process, both with respect to writing original music as well as writing the arrangements for the Acoustic Throwback album. Halter writes the music first, and then layers in the lyrics. It’s important, too, he notes, to “keep the end goal in mind – I always want to be creating a song for a specific reason, whether it’s co-writing for mine or another artist’s record, for a TV show, or for a custom made song, which is a Kickstarter project I started --fans fill out a questionnaire, and I write songs for them for any occasion. I’ve found a good formula for writing the songs in a way that they’re personal and universal at the same time; I’ve written 40 of these custom songs so far.”

The singer, who boasts an impressive resume with over 500,000 Twitter followers and over 10 million Spotify streams, grew up in California and lived in LA before moving to Nashville over three years ago. Compared to LA’s spread out music scene, Halter has embraced the music city’s community vibe, adding that his level of craftsmanship and intention in writing songs has improved by virtue of being around many other talented musicians. Additionally, his location makes it easy to travel to other major cities to perform shows. He has played numerous times at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City (“New York has always felt like a second home to me; I connect well there, and I have a lot of friends in the city,”) and has shared the stage with artists such as Eric Hutchinson, Sara Bareilles and Jason Mraz. This winter, he will be touring Europe with fellow singer-songwriter Tony Lucca.