We’ve been huge fans of Central Coast “local” M. Ward from the get-go.  His Transfiguration of Vincent album remains one of our all-time favorites.  Ward attended Cal Poly and cut his musical chops in San Luis Obispo as a member of Rodriguez.  Despite this local connection, we have only seen him briefly in a short (but lively) set at last year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and as a key component of the luminous Monsters of Folk show at the Granada Theater in 2009 (the best show of that year).  So we are keyed up to catch his compositions and consummate playing in concert this Saturday at Soho in Santa Barbara.  For a flavor, check out his recent performances of new song Primitive Girl (off his just-released new album, A Wasteland Companion) on Conan last night (courtesy of the Audio Perv), and of Chinese Translation recently for KCRW.