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So the other day I’m browsing through some artists, trolling around on the Intarwebs trying to locate some brand spankin’ new music worthy of unleashing on the Gigatracks visitors. I happen to come across this young singer-songwriter and take a listen to one of his songs. Wow! That’s my first thought. This guy’s definitely GT material. So I’m letting the track spin and I start digging around in his bio and I find that he’s a ripe old 17! So that comes as shocker number two, since his sound is far more mature than that. Then I notice that he lives just around the corner from my house! Now if I lived in a large city, that might not come as a surprise, but I live in a very small town that is not exactly a hotbed of musical activity. We can boast that we have a yearly bluegrass festival, but don’t epect to see Alison Krauss or Nickel Creek here.

So anyway, after chatting back and forth with the guy, Spencer Durham, I find out that he’s got a gig in a couple of nights here in town. So I head out to check him out and I gotta’ tell you, I was really impressed with his live show. Take a listen to this track called ‘I Wonder Why’ and you’ll begin to understand. The main things that struck me was both his strong abilities to write a catchy song and the fact that his voice sounds mature beyond his young years. Sorta the same thing as Norah Jones, who also sounds much older and wizened than she actually is.

Spencer’s racked up quite a few awards from songwriting competitions and it’s easy to see why. He’s got the singer-songwriter aesthetic down pat, and his songs never sound forced. They’re laid back and comfy like a good couch. It sounds as though he just sits back and the songs begin flow out of him.

So grab the single ‘I Wonder Why’ and have your faith in the future of music restored. In the capable hands of Spencer, you can see that there’s definitely some young artists out there making music that are destined for bigger things. He’s also proof that sometimes you can find a little great music right around the corner, even when you live in the middle of nowhere.

One last thing. Be on the lookout for an upcoming review of Spencer’s album of the same name.