Artist Jonathan Richman

Rory Earnshaw

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Jonathan Richman

Since his days fronting The Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman has maintained a wide-eyed innocence, whether addressing the explicit rejection of his peers’ recreational activities on “I’m Straight” or just volleying the goofy naïveté of a song like “Springtime In New York,” which sounds exactly like its title. Richman is deeply understated, a bona fide genius working on something akin to children’s songs, and his kid-like charm suits the music, which has a loose-limbed shuffle and frequently delves into genre exercises. Here, he and drummer Tommy Larkins—Richman’s cohort in There’s Something About Mary—tour behind 2010’s O Moon, Queen Of Night On Earth, which couches twilight details reminiscent of the Lovers’ immortal “Roadrunner” in skeletal acoustic arrangements.

Updated 04/27/2011