Jose Gonzalez

Blessed with a rich, reverberating voice and an ear for easy-going guitar rhythms, Jose Gonzalez is a gifted songwriter, but he owes much of his fame not to his originals, but rather his to covers. A sparse and emotive take on The Knife's "Heartbeats," used prominently in a Sony commercial and a handful of TV shows, anchored 2003's Veneer, a collection of spare, quiet tunes. Though he’s grown less introspective in his recent studio efforts, Gonzalez hasn't completely shied away from his sensitive troubadour role, as evidenced by live renditions of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and Kylie Minogue's "Hand On Your Heart," two emotional numbers he reinterprets in his own indelible style. Gonzalez plays an 8 p.m. show tonight at the Pabst Theater.