Mason Jennings w/ Nathaniel Rateliff and The Wheel

Mason Jennings is one of the most unlikely artists ever to wear the title of “protest singer.” His puppy-eyed folk-pop songs are comforting in their lack of ambitions; and even when Jennings tackles lofty issuespolitics, faithhe only does so by recycling comforting conventional wisdom. With his direct, hooky little songs, he sometimes makes even his friend and label-mate Jack Johnson seem multilayered and mysterious by comparison. But Jennings’ latest album, Blood of Man is a louder, harder album that eschews some of the singer’s usual cutesiness in favor of loftier folk-rock with Bruce Springsteen undertones.