David Dondero is that zen style of country folk punk you can really get down with. His fingers are little waterfalls on the strings of his guitar. His lyrics are often neither wholesome nor hopeful, yet still leave a listener feeling like a sunbeam just broke through the clouds.

He’s raw and emotional to a point that would normally embarrass me. I’m a bit uptight about ‘feeling ‘ stuff sometimes, but Dondero is so subtle, darkly humorous and lyrically brilliant that I am kind of in love.

He’s an old hand, with bands like Sunbrain in his past, and is probably well past sick of hearing how NPR’s All Things Considered described him as one of today’s best song living songwriters, alongside Dylan and Waits.

All Things Considered once described me as a ‘Newfoundland food expert’ and some days I can’t boil a potato, so I decided to turn to a more familiar source. Musician Dani Bailey turned me on to Dondero, so I asked her what she liked so much about him.

“I like his music because it’s fun and heartfelt. Songs that get you through all the hard times whether it’s a break up you’re going through or you’re pissed off about the state of the world, he’s got a song that for me adequately expresses all those feelings.”

Hearing Dondero for the first time at an almost sickeningly positive time, I still really got the “introspective and real” element, and he’s just too good with words to resent him for telling you about his feelings.

David Dondero is bringing his songs to the Ship Pub on Tuesday , May 9th. Jenina MacGillivray starts the show at 8:30, followed by Sherry Ryan, Dani Bailey, and David Dondero headlining at 10 :15, still early enough to make it home by midnight with only minor hangover issues in the a.m. It’s really immaterial anyhow though. If you did show up at work totally destroyed on Wednesday, it would just remind you wistfully of that really awesome David Dondero song you heard last night.