While still a teenager, British singer-guitarist Newton Faulkner had lofty ambitions. The guy was trying to learn to play guitar like masters such as Gordon Giltrap and Django Reinhardt. He had a good mentor, too. The late Eric Roche, one of his teachers at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guilford, England, was the one giving the lessons. And Faulkner listened. Well, sort of.

"I was in exactly the right place at the right time," Faulkner says via phone in a transatlantic call from his English home. "Eric Roche had a massive influence on me. But in any education situation, you pay attention to the bits you want and ignore the rest. I didn't completely ignore the rest, but I'd have a go. If it didn't appeal to me, I'd rather work on completely different stuff. I just focused on the bits that worked for me. I'm still learning. I still have lessons now and then. I don't want to sit in the same place. That'd be boring."

For Faulkner, who originally played bass in a band dubbed Half a Guy, things have taken off quickly in the UK where his debut, Hand Built by Robots, has topped the charts and led to a sold-out tour in its wake. The album, scheduled for stateside release later this month, sounds similar to Jack Johnson and adopts the same laid-back surfer attitude. While his dreads make him look like a product of Southern California, Faulkner doesn't surf, though he finds the culture appealing nonetheless.

"I do strongly identify with hippie culture," he admits. "And with surf culture, too. I'd say they're quite closely linked."

In the UK, the album's slowly ascended the charts, thanks in part to high profile tours with the Fray, Paolo Nutini and James Morrison.

"Ah, yeah, it's been really mental," he says of his success. "It's been incredibly calm in other ways. I've been able to sell records and sell out tours and have very little hassle. It's been a steady build to where I am now. Even when people do recognize me, especially the way the live show is, it's very casual. I'm just the same and people assume they know me anyway. It's just, "Hey, how are you doing?' They chat about what they're buying, usually in clothes shops, and ask me their opinion."

With a unique style that he says "isn't a style," Faulkner plays percussion on his guitar, tapping it to get the pitter-patter beats you heard in tunes such as "To the Light" and the rollicking "Dream Catch Me." The album, which commences with an "intro" and then even includes an intermission-like instrumental dubbed "Sitar-y Thing," was meant to be heard from start to finish.

"That's what I was pleased with about the album," says Faulkner, who recorded some of the disc while on the road. "I didn't want just a bunch of singles. That's where that stuff comes in like "Sitar-y.' The sitar does so much stuff. It does so much that you don't expect. It just creates a random chord. I played it and was like, "What the fuck?' It was a lot of fun."

A cover of Massive Attack's "Teardrop," which retains the original's ambient textures but adds a more compelling vocal (and sounds like how Radiohead might have approached the song), was a bit of an accident.

"I learned it as a necessity at the time," he says of the tune. "It was for a radio thing that was booked. It was one of the first big live things I did. A really short time before it happened, they told me I had to do a cover. I looked at all kinds of things. Having attempted it and given up, it was the one that could turn out best. I was awake for those three days, just locking it in. It was a real nightmare. All the elements are simple but playing them all at the same time gets complicated."

And while the disc, particularly songs such as "People Should Smile More," has a certain innocence to it, Faulkner says he's cognizant that the hippie lifestyle and attitude may not mesh with a world in turmoil.

"I'd say I'm optimistic while maintaining a slightly realistic outlook," he says. "I wish I could say everything is peace and love."

Newton Faulkner, Jessie Baylin, Brian-Marcel Edmond: 9 p.m. Saturday, April 26, Grog Shop, 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216.321.5588. Tickets: $10.