Soft Lights and Bright Colors

Andy Grammer resonates the meaning of being a modern troubadour. I first heard him on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade a couple of months ago, overpowering the other street performers and gathering a large crowd with his outstanding vocals. In light of his CD release party for his new live album, "Soft Lights on Bright Colors" on April 11 at Café Muse in South Hollywood, Grammer is definitely reaching beyond the hundreds of passersby.

Although he usually performs with a guitar at hand and has a liking for acoustic and uplifting sounds, he's not just another John Mayer-esque/Jason Mraz wannabe. While they sing about love and the unification of people, Grammer actually goes straight to the potential fans by performing on the streets.

"In a really loud city like L.A. where everyone is trying to build a fan base, one of the hardest things is to connect with people," Grammer said. "But if you walk past me on the street and hear me and I grab your attention and you like it, you could possibly come to a show. I don't know but performing on the street helps."

And it certainly has helped. Grammer's CD release party at Café Muse was packed up to a point where people were sitting on the ground and some were even standing outside. The vibe was very happy, with people of all ages singing to the words and a surprised laughter from the crowd when Grammer broke out with a One Republic cover of "Apologize", beat boxing and all. In fact, he supplies his own beat boxing to a couple of songs from "Soft Lights on Bright Colors".

"I was traveling down a river cruise singing in a choir with my father when I first heard someone make drum sounds with their mouth... after many hours of being in the car and trying to entertain myself I actually started making some sounds that were respectable," he said when asked how he learned beat boxing. "What is great is that people have heard lots of guitarists and even lots of beat boxers. Just not a whole lot of people do it at the same time."

Grammer is currently out on an East Coast tour with other well-known musicians such as Jason Reeves and Devon Gundry. To buy "Soft Lights on Bright Colors" or his other tracks, visit www.andygrammer.com or www.myspace.com/andygrammer.