Martin Sexton’s Choice of Music Matches His Vocalization Range

If Atlantic Records is looking to fill that void of yodel duet albums, it’s all set. Joining the ululating tonsils of Jewel, who’s known to yodel in her concerts, on the company roster is Martin Sexton, who displays his skill at that peculiar practice on his new major-label debut album, “The American.”

The burly, Boston-based bard didn’t yodel at the Troubadour on Thursday, but that was about the only vocal gimmick he left unused in a 90-minute set, firing an arsenal that went from gruff growl to imitation jazz-trumpet scat to sweet falsetto. Ditto for the music, as he pulled out a busker’s bag o’ tricks on his acoustic guitar from syncopated pickin’ to Hendrixian feedback, manufacturing a wealth of textures with drummer Joe Boradio to compensate for the lack of the album’s elaborate, often oddball ornamentation.

He’s not just a special-effects show, though--he’s got substance and character to back it up. Bouncing ebulliently from foot to foot as he strummed, he showed as much range and reach in music and subject matter as in vocalizing, even if the folk ‘n’ jazz structures and observational-introspective themes he favors aren’t exactly virgin terrain.

At 31, Sexton isn’t a likely candidate for big crossover pop success like Jewel, lacking the latter’s fashion-mag/flower-child ingenue element. But he’s a good bet to become a fixture in the adult alternative market.