the hungriest man in show business

Tobias Fröberg (myspace page) is a young singer songwriter from Sweden. He was the opening act at the Independent last night and, according to Teitur, he is the “the hungriest man in show business.” Perhaps that was a bit of tour bus humor, as Teitur (pronounced TI-tur) and Tobias (pronounced To-BE-us) have been traveling North America for the past five weeks in Willie Nelson’s old tour van, or perhaps the slim and dapper Tobias really can eat.

Tobias and Teitur are friends, sometime collaborators and, for half of Teitur's set last night, band mates as Tobias jumped on stage to help out. It was fun to see them enjoying their performance and good to learn Tobias has had a great time on his first visit to the US.

Tobias released his second album Somewhere in the City this summer, and it was just signed to small labels in the US and the UK, the next stop for the Teitur and Tobias tour. I hadn’t heard of Tobias before last night, but I am very happy I purchased the new album, and I plan on ordering For Elisabeth Wherever She Is, his 2004 debut effort.

Like Teitur, the sound is quiet, the writing is emotional and, live, the effect is intimate. Tobias performed alone with his semi-hollow body guitar, and for “Grace” he added a vintage Minimoog. Having listened to Somewhere in the City several times today, I think that without extra instrumentation or studio effects is how Tobias’ voice is most effective. His songs recalled Simon & Garfunkel or the mellow Jackson Brown.

As I mentioned in the previous post, Teitur and Tobias conclude their North American tour tomorrow in LA and Thursday in San Juan Capistrano. If you are in So Cal, don’t miss this show, and wherever you happen to be, support these wonderful artists by buying their CDs. With Tobias’ permission I am posting my favorites from last night:

God’s Highway from Somewhere in the City (Amazon, iTunes)
Grace from For Elisabeth Wherever She Is (Amazon, iTunes)

Be sure to visit Tobias Froberg’s official site for more downloads and check out the new When the Night Turns Cold music video