Why Don't You Come On Home?

I readily admit absolutely hating Johnathan Rice's single, So Sweet. In fact, I hated it so much that I never listened to another song on the album on which it appeared. It was a manufactured piece of Top-40-hopeful elevator pop, fit to score a Hillary Duff movie or sell button-down shirts in a Gap commercial. This in mind, I could have missed the boat completely by judging Rice on one song. Whatever the case, I saw the 23-year-old Scottish (by way of Virginia) folk-singer last night in the company of some very esteemed lads — Ben Gibbard and David Bazan to be precise — and was pretty blown away. His set was almost exclusively new material from his week-old EP, A Girl Called Miami, or the LP that it is preceding, which I immediately got home and purchased.

Rice, who is more commonly referred to as "The Dude Dating Jenny Lewis" or "The Dude Who Played Roy Orbison in Walk the Line," received a lot of John Mayer comparisons early in his career, but I can happily say they are simply no longer accurate. If anything, the songs were more influenced by the likes of Neil Young, Gram Parsons, or even Graham Nash than they were by the breathy and irritating Mayer. I strongly suggest you click the link to purchase the aforementioned EP: it's the best three dollars I've spent all week. Oh yeah, and Jenny's band, Rilo Kiley (they're sort of a big deal) are working on a new album to be released this summer on Warner titled Under the Blacklight.

[mp3] Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous