Somehow Scott Barkan manages to combine wonderfully the raspy, gritty quality of Tom Waits with the warm and introspective tenacity of Townes Van Zandt.

On his new album Flightless Bird he manages to create a set of songs that echo with the restless, free spirit of jazz, but which are also firmly anchored by their Americana roots. Of the title track to the album he says, “Flightless birds are fascinating to me because they have all the looks and tools of a regular bird, yet they cannot do what birds are meant to do. Fly.  I used that as a lens to look back at myself, look at the tools I’ve been given that seem like they should be worth something, and yet, often I feel stuck and unable to move forward.”

Download, listen and decide for yourself, but we reckon Flightless Bird might be a pretty big leap forwards…it is out in January.