thoughtcrumbs

Brad Yoder at Starbucks

Elsa and I went to hear Brad Yoder at the Starbucks on Murray tonight. He's got a Willie Porter/Bob Schneider/Elliott Smith vibe, and a strong respect for the proper treatment of Starbucks furniture. ("Those are the indoor chairs. Maybe you could take one of the outdoor ones outside instead?") With gorgeous chord progressions, nimble fingerwork, and particularly clever lyrics, he's definitely my first Pittsburgh fave. It's a rare musician that can capo at the eighth fret and still produce a rich sound.

He has the audience rapport down, too. (It helped that he seemed to know half of them personally.) "This is about a crush from 1991 that I put into a song in late 2004. Regrettable, I know. But I needed the detail."