Brendan O'Donnell & First
Songwriter Brendan O'Donnell counts Harry Chapin, Paul Simon and Dave Matthews as influences, but all you have to do is listen to any song on ``First,'' his strong debut album, and his real inspiration is obvious: it's the late Tim Buckley. O'Donnell, a New Yorker, sounds so much like Buckley in timbre, tone and emotional language it is almost scary. Some of the song structures are more varied and modern, strongly evoking Tim's son, Jeff Buckley.

Both Buckleys possessed such a high degree of musicality that sounding like them is no great sin. O'Donnell is already a polished, sophisticated melodic talent.