New Music Alert! Daniel Merriweather

My friend Tammy discovered Aussie singer-songwriter Daniel Merriweather in Paris last year, and was kind enough to share some of his music with me. So when he announced a show at LA's Troubadour, we had to be there. And we got a huge bonus seeing Samantha Ronson spin to start off the night (her brother Mark Ronson produced Merriweather's album).



Most people know Samantha Ronson mostly from her association with Lindsay Lohan, which has been well documented in the tabloids. Music aficionados know she's a hell of a DJ, and I was thoroughly impressed with her mash-ups and wide ranging musical taste. Here's a little sample of her playlist featuring some unique sequence choices...and they all worked!

• "California" (Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre)
• "Fidelity" (Regina Spektor)
• "In The Air Tonight" (Phil Collins)
• "I Want You Back" (Jackson 5)
• "Under Pressure" (Queen)

My favorite move of the night was Guns & Roses "Sweet Child of Mine" cutting to Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl." How Sam's brain comes up with this stuff, I don't know. But I loved it.

Then it was time for Daniel Merriweather's set.



As he walked on stage, he looked a bit like the love child of Michael Buble and Brian Setzer. And he's got a serious case of John Mayer "Guitar Face" when he sings. But get past all that, and he's a soulful, emotive performer who connects so well with the audience he had everyone doing a two-step in unison by the end of the night. His voice reminds me a lot of Marc Broussard, another underappreciated singer with a major set of pipes. All of Merriweather's original music was great, but the highlight of the night for me was his cover of Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed." It absolutely blew me away.



And any guy smart enough to put a jamming female bass player in his band is OK by me. Look out boys! She was holding it DOWN!



Merriweather's single "Red" is available now on iTunes. It's listed under RB/Soul, but don't be deterred by that. He's got a lot more range and is well worth your time. His album drops February 28th here in the States.

And what better way to end a great night than with the promise of more great music in the near future...



The Kings don't have a game due to the Olympic break, so unless work takes me out of town, you can find me at the Troubadour with Bob!