Mike Doughty, solo or with Scrap or with a band, will always be one of my favorite live performers not because he is such a great songwriter (which he is) or such a tremendous musician (ditto), but because he is and always will be infinitely charming on stage. Don’t get me wrong — I love Doughty’s music more than I love a lot of music, and I love watching him play live and turn neat, orderly songs into sprawling masterpieces of weird feelings and strange turns of phrase. But I also really, really dig it when Doughty addresses the crowd as “Hello, sexy friends in North Carolina!”

It was a gorgeous set, too — pulling from all his recordings, and a gorgeous version of “Ossining”, and it just made me realize again how a) great the new album is and b) how under-the-radar fantastic Golden Delicious was. (Haughty Melodic is always brilliant.) It was a low-key kind of show, just amazing tunes and excellent banter and good company. Doughty was one of the first shows I saw in the Triangle, on the Haughty tour, and he never fails to bring me as much comfort and joy as he did that very first time.

Full set is here.