To describe last night's Newton Faulkner show at the World Café Live as joyous wouldn't be a stretch.

Jessie Baylin's opening set contributed to the overall lighthearted mood. With mussed hair, fierce vocals, and a confident strut, comparisons abound to Ann Wilson from Heart, or maybe Debbie Harry from Blondie. She and her guitarist blew through a short set, and we got our first taste of Newton Faulkner's whimsy when she called him out on stage to play an oversized kazoo. She finished her set with a punchy cover of the Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon."

After the break, Faulkner returned to the stage, red dreadlocks swinging. A relative newcomer, and already gone platinum in the UK, he charmed us instantly with his onstage banter and warm grin.

He opened his set with "To the Light," and we immediately caught a glimpse of his intricate guitar playing (and side-slapping), curious tuning style, and clever lyrics. My date for the evening summed him up as "the male Ani DiFranco." I concurred, though I'd throw in pinches of Neil Finn and Christine Lavin, too.

He poked gentle fun at the whole singer-songwriter stereotype (strumming his guitar, singing off-key, "I'm slightly depressed"), and then kicked into "I Need Something."

His lyrics are intricate and overwhelmingly positive, not your typical slightly dysfunctional love songs. He made us laugh with his foot piano and bleeping bloops replicating a Nintendo game, sang us the Three Amigos campfire song, and led a singalong to "Gone in the Morning" (during which he encouraged us to channel the vibe of rabid pirates battling barbarian hordes). He threw in his crowd-pleasing song "UFO," and did a fun cover of Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Right Round."

It's also a special skill to write and sing a lyric like "God is a small sausage roll" and make your audience contemplate that concept sincerely.

But he's also got the chops to back up the chuckles. He wrestled his guitar into the ground, playing an aching cover of Massive Attack's "Teardrop," his hit "Dreamcatcher," the sweet and lowdown "Feels Like Home" and the twang-tinged "She's Got the Time."

He won my heart by rejecting the whole offstage/encore trick, and finished the night with some more audience participation, with a both-sides-now run through of "Billy," and a rollicking cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Faulkner may be only 22, but if last night's show is any indication, he's got quite a career ahead of him.

Image via Flickr user Nadworks.