Written by: Geoff Tischman

Clem Snide played an intimate warm-up set before the Avett Brothers took the stage the other night at the Capitol Theatre in New York.

More specifically, Clem Snide’s frontman Eef Barzelay was the only member of the band to play, but his acoustic set was as rousing and moving as they come.

The Tel Aviv-born and New Jersey-raised Barzelay is one of the finest songwriters out there and his songbook is a rich collection that’s redolent with poetic couplets that are comedic, heartbreaking and bittersweet.

Joined by Scott Avett for several numbers, Barzelay’s set was quietly wondrous and he and Avett played some marvelous new tracks they’ve recently written together.

Incidentally, Barzelay gave Avett credit for bringing “Clem Snide back to life.”