Will Dailey- Never Be Your Baby (live)

Good luck, Will!

It's only appropriate that as I sadly note the recent losses of singer-songwriters Kenny Rankin and Jeff Hanson I spotlight an exceptionally promising newcomer from the same tradition. While neither as mellow as Rankin nor as insular as Hanson, Will Dailey shares the melodic sensibility and respect for the art of song that marked the careers of both late artists.

Torrent, Volumes 1 & 2, Dailey's new major label release, will immediately appeal to fans of the commercial roots-rock trinity of Counting Crows, Matchbox Twenty and Train. A couple of Dailey's songs also evoke the soulful side of Jason Mraz.

But hipsters need not turn away in horror. The album brims with power pop jangle. Besides, Roger McGuinn is in the house! The brawny live track featured here pays homage to Phil Spector via Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen.

Dailey dismissively sings "we want riches,darlin'/we want fame" on "Down the Drain." Whether he wants it or not, Torrents is precisely the type of undeniable statement that precedes untold glory.

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Regina Spektor has one of the most annoyingly obsessive audiences I've encountered. Her freakish fans give me the creeps. But the joke's on me. Between the adorable new video for "Dance Anthem of the '80s" and the devastatingly brilliant new "Laughing With", I'm on the verge of becoming one of those cultish weirdos.

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I really like the new retro-style albums by Rancid and The Aggrolites.

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Before you ask, I have nothing strikingly original to add to the DJ Jazzy Jeff controversy.

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Kansas City Click: I'm tempted to take a peek inside Jardine's tonight to catch a bit of the site-less Carol Comer.

The Crystal Method will blow speakers / be asked to play a different kind of music do whatever it is they do Wednesday at The Beaumont Club.

(Image of Will Dailey by Eat My Design.)