Young rocker Pete Yorn embodies the best of his two favorite musical worlds. "I love the emotion and the lyrics of American roots-rock, and I love the emotion and the melody of Britpop," says Yorn, adding, "and I love Bruce Springsteen and the Smiths. With his debut album, musicforthemorningafter (Columbia), the L.A. based artist echoes David Bowie, the Psychedelic Furs, the Replacements and John Mellencamp, and manages, quite well, to make it all sound fresh and original.

Part of the secret of Yorn's success is his understanding of Britpop sound structure. "The verses all have minor chords, while the choruses all have major, poppy chords to them," he explains. Indeed, Yorn's songs are streamlined and very hooky by design. "I'm not into clutter in songs - the vocal starts quick, and the verses roll right into each other."

Born and bred in New Jersey, Yorn started playing drums as a child and moved on to the guitar when he hit his teen years." Once I learned to play, I was immediately writing songs," he says. After he enrolled at Syracuse University his songwriting exploded, in part because of the climate. "The Syracuse winters are so harsh, there isn't much else to do." Though he played in bands for fun, Yorn shared his songs only with close friends and family. Their encouragement led him to view music as a possible career.

Much as Yorn is concerned with songcraft, he also takes a strong interest in production. "Over the last few years I've learned a lot about how to layer guitars, especially acoustics," he says. "When done correctly, it's a really nice complement to any song, adding a nice fullness even if you're just playing one droning note." Though he used a variety of Martin and Taylor acoustics on the album, Yorn's songwriting and "in-store/radio interview" guitar is an old Gretsch New Yorker archtop, which he loves because it "never goes out of tune, no matter how many times I take it on a plane.