Is it possible that, despite what history and everyday logic would tell you, that Soul Asylum invented the Seattle sound... in Minneapolis? Dave Pirner and co started seasoning Neil Young loner folk with country twang and punk aggression back in 1981, the same year  Kurt Cobain was picking out Cars covers on his first guitar at 14.

The sound they came up with was definitely grunge. Whether or not Soul Asylum was the first band to play it doesn't really matter. It's usually impossible to attribute the origins of musical styles to single artists, anyway.

But the fact that Soul Asylum didn't come out of the '90s as notorious as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins did, is a little bit surprising -- I mean come on. Look at Dave Pirner! He was like Meg Ryan with dreadlocks! And that scratchy crybaby voice... Man. Sweetest dude ever. No wonder Winona Ryder was so wild for him. Now you can't even find a decent photo of him on the internet. WEIRD.

In the Unplugged performance below, Soul Asylum go easy on their classic Grave Dancers Union opener, "Somebody To Shove," fleshing it out with an orchestra. Watch the video, and tell me that song's not just as good as "Bullet With Butterfly Wings."

The Canadian border that separates Vancouver from Washington State is slimmer than you might give it credit for. In fact, it's arguable that grunge started in Vancouver when one of its most famous sons, Neil Young, moved his flannels south to California. No matter what the origin, that grungy out-West attitude has been ping-ponging between Seattle and Vancouver for ages, and producing extraordinary musical results along the way.

Vancouver's latest contribution to the woodsy-rocking world is Vince Vaccaro, a Canadian longhair with ties to hometown hero, Sam Roberts. Forever in Chucks and a bandana, Vaccaro builds new-school classic rock ballads out of heartbreak guitars and his unstoppable voice. The soaring, heartfelt results are as much Snow Patrol as they are Journey. Sounds pretty irresistible, right? Well, it is. Get familiar with this charismatic Canadian on his website, watch the acoustic performance video after the jump and spread the word!
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