Free KT Tunstall clip on iTunes

Clearly Virgin is trying to drum up some publicity for KT Tunstall, and this is going to work big for her. Currently, they're offering a free video of "Black Horse" on iTunes, from The Today Show on 1/20/06.

Big Daddy Rinke posed a very good question: Would the music be as impressive if she didn't have that gimmick?

The looper pedal is definitely an impressive gimmick, but you can't just place it all on the pedal - she still needs good songwriting skills to write a song, and has to know where to place the loops. Listen to "Miniature Disasters" from the Rolling Stone video page and you'll see what I mean. She opens with a few loops of vocals and only brings them out on the chorus. It's pretty clever.

I definitely would not have been interested in her initially without the gimmick. And I did wonder, when going to see her live with a drummer in tow, whether the music would work without all the loop focus. The loop adds a lot of creativity, but she did a number of songs without the pedal, and even with the loops, much of the rhythm was replaced by her drummer.

The loop pedal got me interested. Her guitar work, vocals, and creativity with the pedal got me hooked.