With a cavernous voice that he smartly controls on record and in performance, Greenwood convincingly marries folk, blues and hip-hop. An ace at focusing on a single-word mantra in a tune (his opener at the Wiltern Wednesday (4/7) was a great example, the balmy "Salvation"), he balances being a wordsmith with the simplest of choruses. The influence is as much the rapper Common as it is the blues songwriter Willie Dixon.
Greenwood's musical alchemy has an impressive consistency. The new album, "The Rainwater LP," is his fourth, and while it does not break new ground for the singer, vulnerability is showing up as a greater force in the overall package, giving a wider emotional range to his delivery.
If you like his records, you'll like his concerts. He and his backing trio of keyboards, bass and drums keep the beats flowing in various directions--"Let the Drummer Kick" snaps to a hip-hop flow, the new "Healing Hands" rows in reggae -- and he mixes his past with his present in a way that keeps the crowd happy. Based on the cheers that went up, you would have sworn "Bullet and a Target" had cracked the Top 40 when it was released in 2004.
Citizen Cope is nearing the end of a tour that started Feb. 2, right around the digital release of "The Rainwater LP." It was released physically on March 2.
