Jake Bugg at the Town Hall

Jake Kennedy was born in a musical family in Nottingham, England; his parents separated when he was young and he took his father's surname and renamed himself Jake Bugg. He started playing guitar at the age of 12 after being introduced to the instrument by his uncle. By the age of 16, he was writing and performing his own songs. Bugg was selected to perform on the "BBC Introducing" stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival at age 17. Bugg won Best New Act at the 2013 Q Awards, Best Solo Artist at the 2015 NME Awards, and Best Male at the 2015 Silver Clef Awards. His fourth album, Hearts That Strain, a largely acoustic effort, was released on September 1, 2017.

Bugg did not cheat on his solo acoustic concert at the Town Hall tonight. He finger-picked and strummed a plugged-in hollow acoustic guitar and sang into the one microphone on the stage, with no assistance from additional musicians, tape loops or electronic gimmickry. Early in his career, Clash magazine celebrated Bugg as a "precocious talent fusing retro folk with blistering contemporary rock riffs," but this was his tour is his opportunity to show that his songs can stand alone as simply as they were written. His signature snarly voice made the songs distinctly his own, but his intricate finger work proved he is also a very accomplished guitarist. Traces of the retro rocker were in evidence in Bugg's dynamic delivery, but he fared well as a self-contained busker on a naked stage.

Visit Jake Bugg at www.jakebugg.com.

1. Hearts That Strain
2. How Soon the Dawn
3. Saffron
4. Strange Creatures
5. Slide
6. Southern Rain
7. Simple as This
8. Trouble Town
9. Country Song
10. Me and You
11. Nevermind
12. There's a Beast and We All Feed It
13. Slumville Sunrise
14. Broken
15. Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues (Danny O’Keefe cover)
16. In the Event of My Demise
17. The Love We're Hoping For
18. Seen It All
19. Two Fingers
20. Waiting
21. Lightning Bolt