Greg Laswell & Jenny Owen Youngs

Jenny Owen Youngs’ familiar brand of sighing alternative-pop has earned her tour dates with like-minded singer-songwriters Aimee Mann and Vienna Tengas well as some royalties from the Showtime series “Weeds”but if anything, Youngs’ plucky demeanor most recalls Ben Folds. Like Folds in his prime, the magnetic Youngs blends sentimentality with rabble-rousing silliness, cutting her saddest songs with bursts of profanity. In the hands of most singers, a Lilith Fair cover of Nelly’s “Hot In Herre” would be overly jokey, but Youngs makes hers work, creating a wistful new melody for the song’s ridiculous chorus. Youngs opens tonight for everyman troubadour Greg Laswell at Shank Hall at 8 p.m.