Dancehall With a Different Accent

On Monday night, America’s most popular reggae singer took the stage wearing a black hat and a long black coat, but it wasn’t a costume. The singer is Matisyahu, a former hippie from White Plains. Once he followed Phish. Now he follows the teachings of Hasidic Judaism. And tons of fans follow him.

Monday’s concert was the first of two sold-out shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom. And yesterday he released his major-label debut album, “Youth” (JDub/Or/Epic), which is all but certain to enter the pop charts near the top. The record is dull, and the concert was often worse.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 at 5:18 pm and is filed under Reggae Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.