Fishing For a Thank You

Beans on Toast is the stage name of Jay McAllister, a sharp-tongued singer/songwriter who's been taking it to the pubs and to the album format since 2005. (His debut album, Standing on a Chair, was produced by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons.) He never runs out of things to sing about, since his subjects sit right before his eyes. Named after an English comfort food, Beans on Toast makes music that's deceptively simple, mostly settling in with an acoustic guitar and a voice that's 100% British. (Think Billy Bragg.) Occasionally a band joins him, such as for the Bo Diddley beat of "Angry Birds" or the Salvation Army band jaunt of "Rainydays." Yet he's at his most natural singing about the smallest of things that make life worth living—though he acknowledges in the sweet anniversary song "Microwave Popcorn" that "without you it would be impossible, or at least it wouldn't be right." McAllister's comfort with himself and his life lets him keep his perspective (or at least not lose his mind) in the banjo-to-fiddle country explosion of "A Real Life Country Song."