What’s rarer then a one-eared jackalope? It’s a talented singer-songwriter given room to breathe by the major label music machine. Luckily for all involved Chicagoan Rachael Yamagata is a rare beast indeed.

Her smoky vocals plumb the depths of human emotion while her ever morphing band provides backing that runs the gamut from willowy to brawn. Yamagata is an arresting live entertainer who peppers her cathartic performances with dashes of self-deprecation and witty asides.

Chicagoist has seen Yamagata as she’s transformed herself from backing singer in a funk band to solo troubadour on the club circuit to major label hopeful (and then signee) garnering great critical acclaim and -- the equivalent of a spot on 90210 on the cool-factor scale -- rubbing shoulders with Hollywood as a guest on The OC.

What Chicagoist is basically trying to say is that in the case of Rachael Yamagata we’ve got a hometown girl that’s done well and deserves all of the accolades that have come her way. It's hard not to fall a little bit in love with her each time she appears. Don’t take our word for it though, check it out for yourself tonight as Yamagata headlines a show at The Metro.