As a Jan. 21, 2004 CNN article entitled Does Sex Still Sell? claimed, ”Christina vamps like a burlesque stripper. Britney's gone from schoolgirl to slut. Pink is punk.” As pop music falls deeper in lust with image and more frequently gives rich, honest emotion the cold shoulder, it gets harder to find mainstream-driven artists making music that s catchy, personal and inoffensive without sounding target-marketed, melodramatic and stale. That is, if you haven t already discovered singer/songwriter Gavin DeGraw. The themes that run through his songs and live shows reflect the real Gavin DeGraw. With lyrics and messages that dig deeper than the average radio-ready song, he represents a re-emerging species of pop musician- one that connects with the audience simply by being himself.

"The only thing that really counts is the live show," Gavin says. "Live is the truth." On stage, Gavin aims to exist on the same level as every member of the audience with whom he warmly makes eye contact. His charisma and genuineness are just as tangible in a one-on-one interview as in concert.

"With time I became less involved with industry," he reflects. "I was more involved just satisfying myself as a player and keeping the audience members in mind. If you keep that in mind, everything else will follow, in my opinion."

“I like to play and I fell in love with something that became my job,” he says. “I play because I like to play. Ultimately, I found a niche of people that liked what I was doing, and we all kind of like being around each other. You just kind of get to know people and they kind of become a big social organization. They just want to go out and hang out with each other. That s how it develops: on a person-to-person level.”

Even more remarkable than the success of his artistic philosophy is the keen foresight he employed early in his career, at a time when most young musicians are practically expected to have their judgment clouded by the allure of a fat record contract: as a club-gigger in 1997, Gavin was offered, and refused, a deal with one of BMG s labels. ”I figured that their offer was a reflection of their belief in my readiness,” he says. ”I wasn’t ready.”

Although his music has an undeniable teen soap opera taste (both Fox and the WB have adopted his tunes for new shows about rich white kids), that doesn’t mean it lacks righteous and diverse influences. In fact, the soaring melodies and endearing optimism on Follow Through recall Stevie Wonder, and Chemical Party resembles a slightly tamer, more polished, but equally rollicking Replacements - further proof that Gavin prefers to cultivate his songwriting rather than his image.

“I would like a music video to expose people to who I am, and they either like me or not,” he says of his first video shoot (for Follow Through, filmed at Brooklyn s own Southpaw). “I’m not focusing so much on an image. They can either like who I am, what I say, and what I stand for, or not. I was never so ponderous over my image. You just let everything else ride and stop thinking so much about it. You just end up becoming pretty basic if you’re a basic guy.”