David Dondero @El-Rocko Lounge

A modern songwriting treasure, David Dondero has been relentlessly releasing beautifully-wrought portraits of America since his 1999 solo debut The Pity Party.

Named one of the best living songwriters among the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and Tom Waits by NPR in 2006, Dondero performed with This Bike is a Pipe Bomb and Sunbrain before writing and releasing songs under his own name.

He comes to town hot off the release of his tenth album, Inside the Cat’s Eye. It’s his first LP in four years, released a year after the EP “With Love,” a collection of demos and songs from an old studio session with Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace.

Inside the Cat’s Eye, released in January, continues the criminally overlooked writer’s tradition of wry, journeyed storytelling, pairing up-tempo acoustic guitar and Dondero’s affably cracked vocals. Any opportunity to catch the Austin-based songwriter is one worth taking.

Saturday, April 1, 9 p.m., free, 21+