Artist Tom Schraeder And His Ego

Tom Schraeder’s ascent to regularly getting ink in music mags and on the Internet has a lot to do with his netting a spot at Lollapalooza in 2007 on the strength of the songs on his MySpace page. It makes for a great story, sure, but the whiskey-soaked singer-songwriter legitimately deserves the attention. The sudden thrust into the Lolla spotlight initially made him gun-shy to release a proper debut, as he went on to only eke out a pair of EPs in ’07 and ’08. This year’s sublimely barebones Once Lace, Now Cotton came out in early June. Tracks like “Carry On” and “Searched the Wagon” are instrumentally understated, but Schraeder’s lyrical pleas burst from speakers fraught with lovelorn angst.

Updated 12/13/2010