Two up-and-coming folk-rock singer-songwriters, Jesse Ruben and Madi
Diaz, introduce themselves to a national audience Friday, performing a
concert from WXPN and World Cafe Live in Philadelphia at noon ET.
A
fourth-generation musician, Ruben began his musical education at an
early age and attended Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music,
where he starred on the local college and coffeehouse circuit. He now
sells out venues across the Northeast. Heavily influenced by classic
singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, Ruben’s
debut album is titled Aiming for Honesty.
Opener Madi Diaz also attended Berklee, where teachers and students already knew her from her prominent appearance in 2005’s Rock School, the documentary about Philadelphia’s Paul Green School of Rock. Diaz’s solo debut, Skin and Bone,
does a nice job conveying her mixture of precocious wisdom, unassuming
poetry, and melodic sophistication. Engaging and steeped in rock
tradition, Diaz’s voice brings to mind Americana icons such as Shawn
Colvin, Sheryl Crow, and Patty Griffin.