James Gardner - Alberta Street Pub, Portland OR - May 10, 2017

[Portland OR] my first venture into exploring Portland venues A to Z – pleasantly surprised by the sophistication of this venue and happening upon a monthly live recording for a radio station (KMUZ) that’s been going on for years. A young boy with a dark mop of hair, the kind they shake out of their eyes – he stood up there with an acoustic guitar and told us his favorite music was EDM and house – I was baffled. The boy came through! In addition to the guitar, he had a laptop on the ground (which I hadn’t noticed) – this was his main accompanianment. He had a beautiful voice – George Michael, Gotye – R&B, soul. His voice was rich and could go high – like Jeff Buckley. The lyrics were ‘deep’ for a young boy but trite – I was in some sort of place where I still got chills – something about the innocence of a clearly smart boy.