Every day we learn new things about South Bend, Indiana mayor and presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg. Unlike most politicians suddenly thrown into the national spotlight, most of these things are even good—like that fact that Buttigieg apparently learned Norwegian, one of the eight languages he speaks, because he once liked an author from Norway enough that he wanted to read the rest of their books that hadn’t been translated into English.
Now, more from his past has surfaced, including a newspaper essay he wrote back in college about pre- and post-9/11 pop music and that time in 2015 he played piano with Ben Folds at an Indiana show.
The above video shows Buttigieg jamming on Ben Folds Five’s “Steven’s Last Night In Town,” more than keeping up with the rest of the band. In an article for Esquire, Kate Storey asked Folds about the performance. Though the musician thought the idea of a mayor “sitting in” on the song sounded “like a possible train wreck” after being introduced to the idea, he was happy when they “went over the music” and it became clear “he was a very good pianist.”