Kyle Blessing @ Saige Cafe.

Text and images by Diana Shalenkova.

The glass doors kept out the howling winds and the tangerine walls radiated a sunny disposition Thursday night at the Saige Café, where Kyle Blessing, a Temple University freshman, radiated an air of nervous confidence as he set up for his first gig.

Armed with only an acoustic-electric guitar and a mic stand and tuning between songs, Blessing played a variety of covers such as Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” The Handsome Family’s “So Much Wine” and the Grateful Dead’s “Brown-Eyed Women,” along with some of Blessing’s originals.

“This one’s about being homesick,” Blessing said about “Places I’ve Been,” a song he wrote in his first semester. “I’m kind of surprised I wrote this because generally I don’t get like that. But it happened.”

Blessing doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. As he sang “Places I’ve Been,” with his eyes closed, hair in his face, his voice milky as he belted the lyrics, almost pleading, it was apparent that Blessing’s heart lives in his music.

Blessing performs at Saige Café every Thursday at 6 p.m. Ask him to play “How to Break Your Own Heart.”