Paleo

David Andrew Strackany hails from Elgin, Illinois, but would just as soon call the road his home. Beginning on April 16, 2006, Strackany (aka Paleo) began recording and uploading a new song every day for an entire year. Shortly thereafter, he embarked on a basically endless tour that's seen him crisscross the country several times.

In addition to every single track from Paleo's 2006 debut LP, Misery, Missouri, you can find his yearlong song diary at www.paleo.ws. What seems like nothing more than a creative exercise is actually quite engaging. Strackany's folk-inflected strum and downbeat tenor stumble and shuffle with ramshackle grace. His trilling voice suggests Devendra Banhart, though his songs aren't nearly as precious as Banhart's.

There's an undeniable energy to these lo-fi tracks; Paleo delivers a remarkable number of good tunes. Among the best is "In the Morning Linda Dies," in which he's "busy cutting diamonds with the corners of my life," and warns, "Be careful what you pay for when the soul is your receipt."

This fall he's releasing the entire diary, with an accompanying lyric book.