Matt Nathanson remains one of my favorite “strummers” of all time. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching Mayer or Clapton tear through the fretboard as much as the next guitarist but for when it comes to crushing it on the rhythm, I will take Nathanson any day of the week. From 2:39 on, Nathanson’s right hand is out of control. With strumming that hard, no wonder his guitars tend to look like this.

This video was brought to my attention along with the knowledge that some of John Mayer’s biggest hits—Neon, Why Georgia, Comfortable, No Such Thing, Man on the Side—were actually co-written by John’s former Berklee classmate Clay Cook. Cook, a solo artist in his own right, has also been an active member of country-cross over favorites The Zac Brown Band since 2009.

I think I like Cook’s version of “Comfortable” better, and not just because he throws in “your mouth was fuckin’ dirty.” Overall the song seems to have more feeling behind it and after listening to Cook’s versions of some other songs they’ve cowritten that seems to be par for the course. I like Mayer and the guy can certainly wail on a guitar like no one else from his generation but I can’t help but wonder if he’d have been as big without Cook’s influence.

The recipe for a great stripped-down acoustic version of an indie song? Apparently mix one part The Format, one part Anathallo, and one part Steel Train, shake until frothy, garnish with Janelle Monae.

After the breakup of indie pop band The Format, lead singer Nate Reuss joined forces with Andrew Dost from Anathallo and Jack Antonoff from Steel Train to form Fun. Their debut album Aim & Ignite was released in 2009 and re-released as a deluxe album in 2010. However, it wasn’t until late 2011 when their single “We Are Young” was performed on Glee that the band really started getting the attention they deserve.

Don’t remember what I was watching that this popped up as a related video on Youtube, but this cover of Gorillaz “Feel Good Inc.” by Dustin Prinz is…just watch it. Not only does he kill it on the acoustic guitar but he manages to play and sing the rapping verse part—which have totally different melodies. Oh, and he kind of sounds like Jack Johnson, so there’s that.

I wore down the replay button with this one. Anyone who reads 34th & Now knows how much I dig acoustic Matt Nathanson performances and this is one of the best recordings of one I’ve seen yet—let’s be real nothing compares to acoustic live but I’m currently stuck in the middle of the Caribbean so….yeah. Anyway, this version of “Run” is, like I said, fantastic. Matt & Aaron Tapp manage to take a pretty highly produced male-female duet (female vocals by Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles on the album) and strip it down to a one-man-vocal acoustic song while maintaining the emotional integrity and sincerity that make the album version a fan favorite.

For the love of good music I strongly insist you reblog this. Hell, I don’t even care if you re-up it yourself rather than a reblog, just make sure it gets spread around. Budding indie/guitar/music enthusiasts (read: potential future music snobs like me) need to hear that there’s more out there than Bieber, Weezy, and Gaga.

I rarely post two videos back to back and never post the same song but both the studio and acoustic versions of “Parachutes” are so good that I couldn’t choose one. Plus, the acoustic version features Ingrid’s bandmates more. When Liz and I got to watch Ingrid from backstage at The Troc in Philly, Elliot Jacobson (drums), Kris Kuffner (bass), and Allie Moss (guitar) were all super nice. Jacobson, who I’ve met a few times and who was named Modern Drummer’s #1 Up and Comer for 2010,  is totally crushing it on that cajon in this version.

I’ve listened to Ingrid Michaelson’s “Parachute” roughly 25x since last night. Those of you from across the pond (read: England) might recognize it as it gained popularity there after Ingrid gave it to Cheryl Cole. Since that time, Ingrid has readopted it and “funked it up” a bit—for lack of a better term. Everything about this song is catchy as hell.

All I could think of when watching this was “Ah-ha! Mayer is human” after he flubbed the chords at 1:13 and 3:07 and forgot the lyrics at 2:55. But then…I realized this might kick ass that much more because he rolled with it and maybe that’s what makes a good performer.

She says the bible is all that she reads
and prefers that I not use profanity
your mouth was, so dirty

Life of the party
and she swears that she’s artsy
but you could distinguish
Miles from Coltrane

Happy 45th birthday David J. Celebrate we will ‘cause life is short but sweet for certain.

Gabe Dixon, who the hell are you? How have I never heard you before tonight? Okay, technically your song, “Find My Way,” was the opening song in that Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds movie, but whatever, I didn’t know that was you, so it doesn’t count.

I came across this song, “All Will Be Well”  off 2005’s All Will Be Well, during a bacteriology study break while catching up on the latest episode of Parks and Rec. It seems like every prime-time show these days is using indie music or songs by “buzz bands” for their backing tracks but rarely do they work this well with the scene. Kudos to the music director for that one. I am totally going to pick up Gabe Dixon - Live at World Cafe Live.