Singer-songwriter Ernie Halter went through a real "shit storm" this year.

"The new record is called Starting Over for a reason," says Halter. "I wanted the title to be direct, simple, and set the tone for the album. In this past year, I experienced the unraveling of my marriage and the birth of my first son. It was during this year that I wrote the material for the new record and performed over 150 shows."

"More than ever I think it's important to be as open and honest as possible, both as a songwriter and as a person," Halter continues. "One positive side to the tumultuous year I’ve had is this new-found freedom to say it as it is, to admit who I am and where I’ve been, faults and all. I feel this is a total crossroads for me."

Starting Over was recorded in early 2008 in New York City and is the follow-up to 2007’s Congress Hotel. On Starting Over, Halter puts himself out there in deeply personal ways like never before. Says Halter: "I feel like I’ve started to become a real songwriter in the last year through these experiences and the acknowledgment that it's universal. I’m not the only person who has been in a situation like this, who's been hurt, who’s hurt other people."

On the eleven-track new album, Ernie mixes blue-eyed soul, pop, and rock in a style that is both familiar, unique and always inimitably Halter. His vocal delivery is percussive and smooth, raw and real, his phrasing often an instrument itself. The entire recording process, for perhaps the first time ever, was broadcast over the internet from their New York City studio. Says Halter: "To my knowledge, nobody has ever done that." Halter has been called a pioneer by many including EQ Magazine and text broadcasting company Mozes (Halter was one of its first artists) for his technologically-oriented approach to connecting with fans. It was actually Halter's tech-savvy approach to promoting and marketing his music that garnered the attention of his management and label, Rock Ridge Music, in the first place: Halter was one of the first artists to really take advantage of MySpace as a promotional tool. Utilizing his tech know-how and his extraordinarily focused work ethic, Halter has incorporated such unique features on the page as a live "tour van cam" and nightly webcasts of his concerts across the United States.

Stylistically, Halter endeavored to make Starting Over, sound more organic and a little less polished than previous recordings. Halter’s long-time drummer Michael Peters and bassist Zack Rudulph flew out from Halter’s hometown of Los Angeles to record with him. Jason Spiewak (Five.Bolt.Main, Chris Volz) sat in the production seat.

Halter also has an ongoing cover video series on , popular with his fans who submit requests on an ongoing basis. It was this, as much as Halter's penchant for performing covers during his live shows, that prompted him to include three covers on the album: "Just Friends" (Musiq Soulchild), "Pretty Girl" (David Ryan Harris – a song that Halter wishes he had written himself and calls it "the most beautiful song ever"), and "Cyclone" (Baby Bash).