What Tiny Tim was for Tin Pan Alley-era singers, Tommy Dean is for rambling folk of the '50s and '60s. Like Tiny Tim, Tommy Dean is a self-stylized revivalist, an encyclopedia of long-forgotten tunes. He's a jukebox - pop a quarter in him and he'll go. Armed with a six-string and a harmonica around his neck, Dean has traversed the entirety of the country, soaking in the dust and the highway hypnosis that defined the lives of those wandering folkies he so strives to emulate. Even when he's standing on a stage, Dean is unmistakably a busker, a man made to peddle his songs on the street, guitar case open and waiting for passersby to grace it with coins. This quality made him a natural protegee to Baby Gramps, who called him the "greatest songwriter in Seattle." High praise, indeed.

TOMMY DEAN, w/ Tortilla Flat, RowHouse, 9 p.m., The New Frontier Lounge, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, cover tba, 253.572.4020