Andy Grammer at Irving Plaza

Andy Grammer was joined on one song by Colbie Cailat

While in ninth grade, Andy Grammer picked up his dad’s guitar and taught himself to write songs. The Los Angeles native later started on his music career as a busker on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica with his car battery-powered amplifier and acoustic guitar. Grammer began playing everywhere he could, including gigs at more than 100 colleges and universities, as well as birthday parties and high school dance classes. He later performed in the Viper Room, the Roxy Theatre and the House of Blues. With the 2011 release of his debut album, Andy Grammer, national tours with Natasha Bedingford, Colbie Caillat and Train, and television appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (twice), and Good Morning America, Grammer found a wider audience than pedestrians on a promenade.

At Irving Plaza tonight, parents lined the perimeter of the room while teenaged girls sang along to light pop tunes and shrieked anytime Grammer said anything cute. He smiled a lot, flashed beautiful teeth and said all the right things. It was so squeaky clean that I wanted to go wash my hands. Nevertheless, Grammer’s radio-fit music was enjoyable for adults as well. Perhaps it was the southern California sun in the compositions, but it felt like the return of winter outside and Grammer’s songs sounded like summer. Singing about internal turmoil and relationships with girlfriends, even the songs about breakups sounded like feel-good songs, with sparkling melody hooks, an air of soft soul and a subtle funky undertow.