Sometimes the only way is jumping

I first heard Gavin Degraw several years ago in his very first television appearance, on Last Call with Carson Daly. (I think he and Carson were friends from way back, if I remember correctly, which is how he landed the gig.) I was immediately impressed by his bluesy piano-heavy style, but he didn't even have an album out yet, so I went out and downloaded a bunch of his live stuff.

Of those live songs, one of my absolute favorites was "Dancing Shoes," which has finally made it onto one of his albums - the recently released Free.

Here he is performing a beautifully sleepy version of that song on Regis and Kelly:



I'm also digging his self-titled 2008 album, which is much poppier and heavily produced, in a good way - it's pure ear candy. (This is the album that spawned the radio hit "In Love with a Girl," though I think there are several songs on the album that are even better top-40 radio hit material, such as "Next to Me," "Cop Stop," and "Untamed.")

Degraw's music is such a likeable mix of blue-eyed soul, blues and piano singer-songwriter, it's hard not to love.

As evidence, here's a live version of "Meaning," my favorite song from his first album:

Summerfest 2008

Why I love the idea of Summerfest: In the span of one hour on a random Thursday night during the biggest music festival in the world, you have to choose between Alejandro Escovedo, Ingrid Michaelson, and Marie Digby. Later that same night, you'll get to choose between Gomez, Gavin DeGraw, Lucinda Williams and the Plain White T's. All for a flat entry fee of $15.

Why I find Summerfest very trying in practice:
1. The crowds -(See pic)


2. The technical difficulties -

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Summerfest, Unplugged - Boom boom go the lights for almost three hours

3. But perhaps most importantly, the escalating beer prices! Grrr... -

WISN 12: Price of beer goes up for Summerfest 2008

Stripped - No, not like Xtina

Radio station Cities 97 out of Minneapolis, thanks to media conglomerate Clear Channel, has a great feature on its Web site called Stripped, and it's a series of live, acoustic performances by artists like John Mayer, Melissa Etheridge, Rob Thomas and Gavin Degraw.

Right now I'm listening to John Legend, and if it's possible, I think I like it more with every listen. He plays an amazingly funky, grooved-out version of my favorite song from his debut album, "Number 1," and covers Stevie Wonder's "Visions," among the half-dozen songs in this performance.

Check it out.