Jose Gonzalez - in studio

St. Paul, Minn. — Swedish singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez keeps his songs simple. He once was a hard-core punk who loved Black Flag but you can hear little of that in his modern folk style.

The things that set him apart from acoustic-guitar playing Nick Drake acolytes are his beautiful voice and virtuosic guitar playing. And in case you're wondering about the name, the Gothenburg-based musician's parents were of Argentinian descent, thus his non-Scandinavian sounding name.

Songs performed: "Heartbeats," "Dead Weight on Velveteen," and "Crosses."

Engineer: Sam Keenan

Guests

• Jose Gonzalez