Quick heads-up on a semi-local musician you should know about if you don't already:
Nicole Reynolds is a Pittsburgh who splits her time between her hometown and that other big city on the other side of the state. I caught her last year opening for Madeline at the Earthstone Cafe (is that place still open? I have heard of any shows there in a while . . . ) and she kind of caught me as well: singer-songwriters with guitars are a dime a dozen, but singer-songwriters with guitars with beautiful, meaningful lyrics are a different story.
She's got a tiny, nearly naive voice like Joanna Newsom only not as painfully affected, or maybe like a more childlike Jolie Holland with less twang. Her songs are less naive, though, dealing with the ins and outs of close relationships -- fans of, say, Lovers might dig.
She plays Thursday night at Club Cafe with Philly's Ben Arnold.