Hayes' Spade

Take him anywhere, play him for anyone, and the response is always the same: People want more. They'll write down the name if they don't know it already: It's Sean Hayes, our somehow-secret local superstar. Call it a perk of a rich music scene to have such an impressive treat in your pocket. Hayes' music succeeds on the tension between warm, resonant soul and dirt-road folk, all laced with a wandering troubadour's coo. Go to New York, or Kansas City, or Paris, and rest assured you can charm anyone's snake with this stuff: His latest recording, Flowering Spade, features songs like the hypnotic banjo slow jam "Elizabeth Sways," the great swinging sadness "Time," and the film tribute "Cool Hand." Nobody sings "You can bury my bloody body wherever it lands" like Hayes. The CD draws from a deep well of local talent for support, too, including contributions from accordion hero Rob Reich and trumpet hero Ara Anderson. JT & the Clouds open.
Fri., Jan. 25, 9 p.m., 2008