For ten years now, socially conscientious troubadour Mason Jennings has been recording and performing his ridiculously catchy, frequently moving brand of folk-rock, building up a devoted cult following, attracting the attention of Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock (who signed Jennings to his label for 2006’s Boneclouds) and performing a couple of Dylan covers for the I’m Not There soundtrack—appropriate enough given his Minnesota base of operations and his Dylan-esque vocal inflections, which wrap themselves around your ears like a baby blanket. Jennings achieves the nearly impossible task of creating music that would sound as at home on Jack Johnson’s iPod (see “California” from his eponymous debut album) as it would on the Anthology of American Folk Music (see the kinda eerie yet poignant “Duluth” from Birds Flying Away), and he makes it all sound effortless as a coastal breeze. This is a show that both your hip aunt and the hot R.A. you’re trying to make time with are sure to enjoy.
Sun., Nov. 16, 8 p.m., 2008
