Whether you’re a runner or a rocker, pace is important, and on the same day as the New York City Marathon, singer-songwriters Eric Hutchinson, Tristan Prettyman and Nick Howard settled into a good rhythm right away during their respective sets Nov. 2 at Manhattan’s Highline Ballroom.

A recurring theme throughout the night was well-known cover songs, played in part and in full. Following his shoulda-been-a-huge-hit “Watching You Watch Him,” Hutchinson (above) went straight into another song from 2012’s Moving Up Living Down, “The Basement,” which included bits of Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools” and Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” Hutchinson showed both songcraft and a sense of humor during “Forget About Joni,” which can be found on his latest album, Pure Fiction.

Prettyman, whose latest is Back to Home, also played choice cuts from her previous release, 2012’s Cedar + Gold, including “I Was Gonna Marry You” and the set-closing “My Oh My.” Her choice cover was the well-received (and well-done) rendition of Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.”

Opener Nick Howard made the most of his brief set, which included working in a few lines of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’.”

— Text and photos by Chris M. Junior