Ernie Halter and Tony Lucca are “brothers from other mothers” who have “toured a shit-ton together over the years.” While Lucca is originally from Pontiac, Michigan, he and Halter (a native of SoCal) both lived in the LA area for years. Now, however, they have both moved to Nashville, where they’re close enough to babysit each other’s kids when the need arises. This, while great for their families, is not so great for me, as it means I get to see much less of them than when they were a mere 6-hour drive and toured California much more frequently. They recently graced the upstairs stage at Neck of the Woods on Thursday, 5/17, and because it had already been over a year since the last time I’d been able to catch Lucca in my actual neck of the woods, I got there with my proverbial bells on.
For anyone not familiar, Halter and Lucca are two solo singer-songwriters. This particular evening, however, the two performed “in the round,” taking turns with each guy singing lead on his own songs while the other added harmony. By the way, I’m confident that Halter would want me to clarify that he’s only technically a singer-songwriter, because “baby-makin’ songs,” which he likes to call his personal style, isn’t yet a recognized genre on iTunes. The night’s set began with Lucca admitting that he had “done the unspeakable,” by which he meant he had changed his guitar strings between sound check and showtime. As the duo settled in and began to play, they were momentarily delayed as they tried to figure out what was being played on the downstairs stage. Unfortunately, this particular venue doesn’t have adequate sound-proofing, so hearing the other performance would be an issue for most of the evening.
Halter started the evening with “This Lonely,” followed by “I’d Look Good on You,” which inspired both of them to break into some impressive Michael McDonald impressions. When they were done, amid a few giggles, Lucca explained that they “never know when he’s gonna creep. It gets a hold of ya!” All I can say as a spectator is that it’s definitely silly, but mostly because they each do a pretty damn good impression of McDonald. Lucca’s “Death of Me,” which is still a huge fan favorite, was next.
Halter then explained how he and his children have a common ritual they call “bedtime songs.” Rather than just reading stories, he went on, Daddy often makes up songs about things in their home and their lives. For example, his kids asked him to make up a song about a cat they adopted, who came with its name, Whisper. Fortunately for Halter, he’d written a song by the same name before his children were even conceived. The kids think Dad’s a genius, and everyone wins. This story of course led to Halter performing the aforementioned “Whisper,” during which he went into a little of Mr. Mister’s “Broken Wings.” Halter made sure to point out as he closed that song that he had purposely timed its ending with that of the song being played downstairs; this ability comes from years of performing in coffee shops over the years. This allowed him to hone the skill to play in the same key as blenders and other similar skills, he added.
Lucca’s “Delilah” was next, and then Halter played a song he had intended to play the previous night, but hadn’t. He made mention before beginning of his first ever Kickstarter project, which was the first thing he did when he moved to Nashville. The “52 Song Club” was a year-long project wherein he recorded a new song each week of the particular year. The first of the songs for this project was one he wanted to share, and was called “Sweetness.” Lucca followed with what he said was “a cover… possibly a double cover. Oreo double stuff.” He played his version of “Grandma’s Hands,” which he’d planned ahead with Halter to blend fairly seamlessly into the latter’s cover version of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity.”
Halter’s second Kickstarter project had been a 90s R&B covers album, he explained. It was a project that showed him that even when we think we know the words to these great songs, we haven’t ever necessarily given them much thought, or as he put it, “there were many songs I’d never really listened to the words to…” (more on that later!)
Lucca explained that he was just finishing up a new record, about which he said he was “pretty fired up.” He wanted to play a few songs from it, including the next one, which required a little crowd participation. He taught the simple bit he wanted the crowd to help with, explaining that it was really very simple, and that he typically wasn’t into a lot of that sort of thing, so the crowd could trust him that it would be easy and would sound cool. Before Lucca began the song, “A Room with a View,” Halter punned that all of their shows were “soul’d out,” and that some were even also sold out.
At the close of Lucca’s song, Halter announced that he, too, had a new record that would be coming out soon. “Not to one-up you,” he assured Lucca. “We’re like the Stones and the Beatles…? Not really…” He went on to quickly screw up his intro, which he admitted with a laugh. Eventually he got into the song, and then part way through decided he wanted to “get weird,” and tried channeling what he called “old country,” explaining that a lot of older country songs have “just random talking in the middle of songs… I’m just gonna try it on. It’s like a suit; I’m gonna see if it fits… It’s kinda 50/50. It was, like, a bunch of cheesy spoken words, and then back into the song.” He again referenced his preferred term for his style of music, noting that what he had meant was that there was “weird baby-makin’ talk in the middle of a song…”
Lucca then offered up another new song from “the new record that’s comin’ out God knows when… I just wanna play the new stuff!” The next song was one he wrote with Bay Area musician Jayme Brown, and was “Frame by Frame.” (Jayme, who was sitting with my friends and I, whispered that she’d only helped with one line of the song!)
Halter then also played another new song, which he said was not on a record but was one he’d been playing live for a while. He explained the process of writing this particular song by explaining that he had a ten-year-old son and twin daughters who are almost seven. He doesn’t have a lot of songs that he’s written about his children, he explained, going on to reveal that songwriting doesn’t necessarily come easily to him. He went on to try to describe the process as a gradual changing of things he dislikes until he dislikes them less and less over time, eventually resulting in a song he can tolerate and possibly even like in the end. He didn’t think he could handle that process with songs about his children, he admitted, but when he showed up to a pre-arranged co-writing session with a girl in Nashville, he was only going to be there working with her for 3-4 hours. He planned to come out “guns blazing,” if possible. The girl showed up with a chorus (or “half a chorus”) already written that was something of a daddy-daughter song; Halter admits that he literally doesn’t remember the process of songwriting for that song. Something just took him over and he allowed himself to get out of his own way for the first time. After the long, sweet explanation, we were finally treated to the song, “Daddy’s Little Girl.”
When Halter had finished, Lucca had something to add about that particular song. “Here’s the cool part about that story,” he began. “I babysat daddy’s little girls while he wrote that song! My wife and I babysat ‘the twinges,’ they finger painted while Daddy was off writing the song for them.” Changing the subject then, Lucca discussed his side project, a band called “TFDI” that he formed with Jay Nash and Matt Duke when they toured together years ago. “We totally fuckin’ did it last year, on 4/20,” he began, elaborating that they may have celebrated the “holiday” with a walk around the San Francisco block between sets. His next song was from one of their recent releases, The Minute You Get It. The song was “Forever and Again,” and I believe it’s one Lucca wrote about his wife. When he finished, he lamented the sounds from downstairs again, declaring, “I feel like we should all just go downstairs, stand in the back with our arms folded, and make Mr. T faces. It’d be hilarious!”
A cover of Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” was next, followed by another of Halter’s 90s R&B covers. “Talk about baby-makin’ music, and songs I’d never really listened to…” He told a story then about a show he’d played in Nashville with singer-songwriter friend Tyrone Wells where he had been introduced pre-show to a sign language interpreter who was attending with a fan who was there just to see Halter. Understandably, this had flattered Halter, who was thrilled to share his music with someone hearing impaired who would experience it differently from those of us who have normal hearing abilities. People were requesting the next song, he explained, but they were playing in a nice place, and Wells’ fans are often a bit more conservative. Halter’s fans, though, were not letting him off the hook; they started chanting the name of the song. “Everything I’m singing is being signed for the hearing impaired,” Halter explained his hesitation to perform a raunchy cover. He felt he had no choice, given the number of people requesting, so he indulged his fans by performing his cover of Ginuwine’s “Pony,” and at one point looked over at the sign language interpreter and noted that the signs were essentially exactly what he expected they would be. Halter couldn’t help but laugh, but then feared that the hearing impaired fan might think he was somehow making fun of the sign language. The whole experience, he explained, had left him “scarred for life,” though evidently not so much that he stopped performing his cover of “Pony” live, to which I can personally attest. For the record, I don’t think he should stop, as it’s a great song and he does a fun version.
Lucca then addressed the room, saying, “If I haven’t thanked you enough, let me take another stab at it and say thank you for making us a part of your week. We realize you have options in San Francisco, or even in the building. Thank you for coming to see us and try like hell to listen to us!” He then performed the rockin’ “Foxy Jane,” during which he added a little of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.” When he was done, he briefly left the stage, telling Halter simply, “I gotta pee.” Halter created an impromptu song that lasted the duration of Lucca’s absence, essentially roasting him for having to leave during their set. (“Anthony Lucca’s gotta take a piss, I thought you might like to know this…”) He concluded with a shrug as the crowd laughed, admitting, “they can’t all be ‘Hey Jude,’ what can I say?”
Lucca returned to the stage to much applause, and one of them mentioned that if they ever recorded a joint album it would be called Mouse Ears & Halter Tops. Earlier that evening I had heard a mutual friend offer them this title, which they loved. Lucca then indulged a request for “True Story,” and before he began it someone was already requesting one from Halter, too. Before he accommodated the request, Halter explained that the song, “Lighthouse,” was the “first song I ever saw tattooed to another person,” which was admittedly a “very cool and very strange experience. It made me realize I needed to be very careful about the lyrics I’m writing, because they could end up on someone’s body. Permanently.
Before continuing with another song, Halter and Lucca conferred, trying not to give away their selection. “What’s up with this guitar, man?” Lucca wondered aloud, before deciding it was the new strings. The two played a fan favorite of Lucca’s, “Pretty Things,” next, and someone in the crowd started chanting, “five more songs! Five more songs!”
“Five more songs?” Lucca asked. “This one’s kinda like five songs in one.” They went on to explain how when they had first started performing this particular song together, there was some discussion over who would “get to be Sam Cooke” and who would “be” Lou Rawls, but that they’d been playing it together ever since. For most of us, the mention of these names was enough to excite us in advance of their fabulous “Bring it on Home,” which has never disappointed me, and this evening was no different. At its conclusion, Halter declared that they were “not gonna do the whole charade of leaving and coming back,” but that they were going to play a few more songs.
Halter’s “Blue Dress” was next, into a bit of Prince’s “Kiss” and back to finish the song, but not without devolving once again into a bit of Michael McDonald. Halter used his McDonald voice to sing a bit of Lucca’s “Death of Me” into McDonald’s own “I Keep Forgetting,” and finally declared that the two needed to “do a record of Michael McDonald.”
Lucca’s next song was a request, in a way. Truth be told, it was one an old friend of his had requested repeatedly at the previous night’s show, and that he had avoided playing for her. This night, however, he had come prepared, and began the song by talking about his experience dating a former soap opera actress who had always thought it would be super romantic to get a bottle of rain from a loved one. Lucca went to great lengths while home visiting family in Michigan to fill a “cool old bottle” with rain for her, which prolonged their relationship. Lucca called it an “A for effort kind of thing” before admitting that they broke up, “she wanted me back,” and that in the end, “the song called ‘Bottle of Rain’ will last a whole lot longer than an actual bottle of rain…” Then Lucca realized that with this big of an intro, he did actually have to play “the stupid song,” which he did. I have never heard him sing this particular song before, mostly because it’s so old. I have a recorded version, but thanks for indulging Nancy and all the rest of us by giving us the old one, Tony. Even if I never get to hear it live again, I’m glad I did just this once.
Halter’s “Love in LA” was next, after which Lucca indulged another request, this time for “New York City.” Before the final song, Lucca addressed the small crowd that had remained till the end. “This is it,” he said. “I think we outlasted the folks downstairs! We’d like to play all the songs, but if we do, we won’t be asked back because there won’t be anymore songs for next time…” And with that, they closed with a cover of Ray LaMontagne’s “Jolene.”
I’ll admit that the end of a live Lucca show will likely never leave me entirely satisfied, because of all my musician friends, he’s the one I’m the biggest fan of. But that won’t ever stop me from seeing him every chance I get and relishing every minute of it. So until next time, I’ll consider getting a bottle of rain of my very own, and be awaiting his return.
