OCTOBER 12 • 2023 | 65
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songs to the group. “It was this 
wide-open music lane,
” she 
recalls.
Without any marketing, 
Palter began to lead similar 
groups for babies and young 
children throughout the Los 
Angeles area, developing her 
own method for teaching.

A NEED FOR CHANGE
Yet everything came to an 
unexpected halt when her hus-
band, Bryan Abrams, suffered 
a so-called “widowmaker” 
heart attack just six months 
after their son, Jude, was born.
Abrams was young and 
healthy, and there were no 
imminent signs of a pend-
ing heart attack. Luckily, he 
received medical attention just 
in time and survived.
“It was a huge wakeup call 
for us that led us to reevaluate 
our priorities and consider 
what really matters in life,
” 
Palter says.
Ultimately, the young 
family decided to return to 
Metro Detroit and settled 
in Huntington Woods. “In 
Detroit, we found such a 
supportive community and 
a renewed purpose,
” explains 
Palter, who moved back to the 
area in November 2022.
As her husband recovered, 
she continued building her 
business of teaching group 
music classes to young kids — 
and found surprising interest 

in the Jewish community.
Since relocating to Detroit, 
Palter has taught at Temple 
Beth El, Temple Israel (where 
she was a junior cantor), 
Lamplighters, Aish and the 
Jewish-owned Fascination 
Factory. 
“It’s been incredibly fulfill-
ing,
” she says of the process.
With her husband miracu-
lously recovered and practicing 
as a chiropractor in Bloomfield 
Hills, and her son nearly 2 
now, Palter has not forgotten 
about her own music career.
She released her latest 
album Nothing Standard 
independently in 2022, which 
has since amassed more than 
3 million streams on digital 
streaming platforms.
Palter also played the 
main stage at the Detroit Jazz 
Festival on Sept. 4 and has sev-
eral gigs lined up throughout 
Metro Detroit and Ann Arbor 
through the end of 2023.
In addition, Palter was 
awarded a grant by the South 
Arts Organization to record 
her music in New Orleans. 
This fall, she’s gearing up for 
a domestic tour, with talk of a 
potential international tour in 
2024.
“The support has been 
mind-blowing,
” she says of 
returning to Michigan. “I just 
felt the greatest warmth from 
the Jewish community after 
what we had been through.
” 

ANNA WEBBER

Jesse 
Palter