Addictive, finger-snapping, catchy. There’s something about Eric Hutchinson’s tunes that sticks in your mind and leaves you bouncing down the street long after the music is gone. Hutchinson, whose “Rock and Roll” can be heard everywhere these days (Jimmy Kimmel Live, the trailer for Away We Go), visits The Catalyst at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, July 11.

The Maryland singer-songwriter has been touring nonstop since January 2008 in support of his self-released album Sounds Like This. He took a moment from the whirlwind to answer a couple of questions for Weekend Santa Cruz.

You’ve said you have a goal of playing all 50 states. What number are you up to, and is this your first Santa Cruz visit? I’m playing my 45th state, Vermont next month. Then I’ve got only hard ones left: Alaska, Montana, The Dakotas and Wyoming. Hard to get up into that area and get enough people together. Hoping to do it soon though. This is my second time playing Santa Cruz, and I love the town. I opened for G. Love & Special Sauce back in February.

What was the first album, CD or song you wore out (whether physically or emotionally)? What was it about that music that made you put it on repeat? I’ve been lucky. Most of the albums that I loved in the past I still love. I never get tired of listening to the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, etc. Those were the albums my parents played while I was growing up and I still love those albums. On the flip side, a recent album I have never been able to wear out is Vampire Weekend. It’s a great burst of energy and melody, and no matter how often I hear the songs I always want to hear them again.

Reading the comments on your site, it’s clear that you have a strong fan community. What’s the best fan experience you’ve had so far? I always do a meet and greet after the shows because I love getting to talk to the fans face-to-face. My goal each show is to make the fan experience the highlight of their day, week, whatever. After a recent show, a woman came up to me and told me she’d lost her job that day and wasn’t going to come to the show, but was really glad she had decided to come anyway. That felt great to cheer someone up. That’s really what the whole live show is about for me lately.

What’s up with the Eric bios? Where did the idea of having fans write their own biographies of you and post them on your site come from? I always think official bios for people are silly and a little stiff. So I thought having a way to let website visitors create their own bios would be funny. Kind of goes into my attitude of never taking myself too seriously.

I understand that you’re working on songs for the new album while on tour. How’s it going and what new stuff can fans expect to hear? I’ve written plenty of new songs, but I like to test them out and gauge not only the crowd reaction, but my own feelings on playing a song. I’m lucky that I love every song on Sounds Like This because I can go out on stage every night and sing them with a real passion that doesn’t go away. When I test out new songs, I’m looking for that same feeling in the melodies and rhythms.

Catch Eric Hutchinson with San Diego singer-songwriter Anya Marina. 8:30 p.m. The Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Ages 16+. (831) 423-1338.

Find out what else is going on this week. Complete listings at The Week, The Weekend and Everything Else.