Everywhere All at Once by Eric Himan

Bartender is part rock song, part comedic arrival in song for me. I think everyone at some point has wondered the allure of bartenders OR at least bought into it.

The most autobiographical of the bunch is the song, Where I’m Going. Coming from a military family, your never from anywhere and constantly asked , “Where are you from?”. As a traveling musician, I began to answer back, “Don’t ask me where I’m from, ask me where I’m going.” I also learned a bit of slide guitar from a stop through Portland, OR.

In comics, I find the villains the most interesting and complex. This song is a dedication to them entitled, Acquired Taste. The bridge even has a scream in it for artistic value.

Love Don’t Hide comes in at number 8 with a full chorus of nothing but love. This upbeat song is an effort to find the freedom to love who you love without hiding it.

A pop-punk departure from anything I have ever done, is I Don’t Wait Well. On a drive to Salt Lake City as the passenger gave life to this song. Stuck in traffic holding a guitar now has an anthem.

I always loved dance music and find it to be classified more by the writing not so much the instruments. Something To Dance To, starts a party that has all the rhythm of the discoteques, with an acoustic twist.

One of the barest songs on the cd (acoustic guitar and some lap-slapping), it has the simplest message, that tomorrow comes Whether I Do or Don’t Mind. A song that perfectly fits at the end of a long day.

Heart Clean drives right in as the rockiest song on the disc. Some balls-y lines are sung for a song that gets to the heart of the matter: staying true to yourself when it comes to what you want.

Hurricane Andrew hit home, my home in South Florida in 1992. This ballad, A New Life came as a response to the hours of coverage I watched during Hurricane Katrina. Piano by friend/fellow musician Levi Kreis made this song a powerful one.

Another personal touch to this cd is the song, What I Can Give. With just guitar and my voice, this song is also the quietest of them all. It is dedicated to my partner’s mother, who is going through breast cancer for the second time. That kind of bravery deserves a song.

The cd ends with the stripped down, country ballad, Tulsa. Guest vocals from Andy Moore sweeten up the chorus that states “I don’t need you to ask me if I miss you, I already do.” This song was one of the first written for the cd and closes it on a happy note.

Everywhere All at Once: Bio by Nick Burns

Eric Himan doesn’t like to stay in one place for long. Call it boredom, ADD or just plain old desire but, after just a few days of loitering, the road beckons for Eric like an old friend to whom he credits his success as a musician. So he spends more time in his trusty minivan, speeding off to his next tour date in Anytown, USA, than relaxing at home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It’s a testament to Eric’s passion for music and for entertaining fans that few musicians have the stamina to maintain.

“Being in one place seems like I’m at a stand still,” Eric says. “Being on the road allows me time to think, do a lot of planning, reflecting and finding ways to push myself to go further. Constantly moving has always been more successful for me.”

Eric has come a long way in the six short years since his humble beginning entertaining crowds in colleges near his alma mater, Penn State University, but his love affair with the nomadic life began much earlier than when plucked his first guitar string or struck a chord.

While Eric lives by the motto “Don’t ask me where I’m from, Ask me where I’m going,” his past has much to do with the life he now pursues with great fervor. Growing up with a father in the military, Eric constantly relocated, shuffling through cities and states without enough time to put down serious roots. , It was then that Eric first found comfort in the roads traveled and sought solace in the music of TKTKTKT whose styles have influenced Eric’s own songwriting. But it wasn’t until he attended Penn State University that he picked up a guitar and became a coffee shop crooner. It’s then that Eric released his debut CD and founded his own independent label, Thumbcrown records. He quickly gained a cult-like following and broke from the idea of being a small-town act, for his unique sound that transgressed genres as he penned songs that dabbled in blues, folk, pop, blue grass, country, and rock—all served up with a pinch of wit and charm. Eric has shared the stage with Cyndi Lauper, India Arie, Ru Paul, EnVogue, Duncan Sheik, Melissa Ferrick, and many more.

But it isn’t just the music that keeps audiences from coming back for more, for his shows are not about theatrics and inflated egos. Instead, his shows are intimate, and attendees can’t help but feel as though their best friend is onstage, for Eric forges personal relationships with many of his fans with his disarming charm and approachability.

As Eric releases his fifth studio album, Everwhere All at Once, which was written entirely while touring, he hits the road for another string of tour dates throughout the country. But audiences will notice a different sound than his previous collections of music, for Eric considers this release to be his most personal to date. “This CD is more like me,” he says. “I was able to say what I wanted while being honest about my feelings. Instead of trying to tell myself what my feelings were. Whether it’s happy, sad or confused. I feel like I grew as a songwriter.”

While Everywhere All at Once is a CD about love, it strays from the narratives of grieving over lost loves that proliferate the ballads of many artists and celebrates love in its various forms. It is with this perspective that Eric reveals his most personal thoughts about the struggles that he and those near to him have faced with romantic relationships, familial love, breast cancer, homophobia, and surviving Hurricane Katrina—an event that hit close to home for Eric who endured the devastation of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Over the past six years, fans have been granted the unique opportunity to hear Eric mature as a songwriter and as a man through his music. Everywhere All at Once is the closest thing to a testament to Eric’s coming of age that listeners will get, for it shows that Eric’s ever-evolving style has achieved a maturity that is sure to woo the most cynical of listeners and secure his position as a driving force as an independent artist.

Eric’s past begs his favorite question, where is he going? The answer is obvious for anyone who shares Eric’s obsession with passion, growth and love—everywhere all at once.

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