Magic

From the first few notes on Sean Rowe’s Magic it’s apparent that the Troy, New York-based singer/songwriter’s scruffy, bearded, tattooed appearance isn’t feigned in the slightest. His hardscrabble narratives and raw poetry sung in a weathered rasp reveal the baritoned bard to be “the real deal.” Rowe grew up on the eastern bank of the Hudson River listening to old blues records, ‘60s soul and Bob Dylan’s discography, though he credits Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits as his immediate influences — immediately obvious from honeyed grit of “Surprise.” The slow and smoldering “Time to Think” makes it easier to believe a bio stating that Rowe has been writing songs since the age of 13 — he seems to have tapped into that songwriter’s lightning rod that make luminaries like Neil Young and Townes Van Zandt totally peerless. Songs like “Night” and “Jonathan” reveal a storyteller in close touch with the wild nature encompassing his hometown, while “Old Black Dodge” finds him tapping naturally into the timeless, beat-down, workingman themes congruent with the magic Bruce Springsteen wove on 1982’s Nebraska.