Having reportedly recorded an entire follow-up to his 1997 debut and scrapped it, dissatisfied with the results, Mason Jennings can hardly be accused of glibly capitalizing on his local popularity. He wants things done just right, it seems. And he still leads his Mason Jennings Band with a rock 'n' roll momentum--fast songs, fast songwriting--without cheapening his relationship with his growing audience. After a four-month run of weekly shows at the 400 Bar last year, the acoustic strummer-crooner-shouter kept writing new tunes as if audiences might turn on him or get bored, penning a remarkably affecting meditation about the Black Panthers, and taking on whatever else struck him. He stayed on local disc players via his contribution to Stuck On AM 2: Live Performances on 770 Radio K (No Alternative) with the live favorite "Rebecca DeVille." And he seemed to put sold-out crowds at the Cedar Cultural Centre in a trance, showing how rapt his audiences can be without more than a few flasks of alcohol. His voice--that quaver easing around the notes, falling off of them, climbing to trembling peaks, and jumping into guttural lows--may stay a treasured regional secret forever, but we doubt it.