Golden Boys, Spiderbags, Band of Annuals, Brother Will and Friends

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Band of Annuals from Salt Lake City, Utah.

 "...Band Of Annuals raised the bar immediately with its first song, "Blood On My Shirt". Front-and-center here is the male-female vocal interplay between frontman Jay Henderson and keyboardist Jeremi Hanson. Henderson sounds rather like Gerald Collier or Rocky Votolato (who you may well not know if you’re not from Seattle, but just trust me that it’s a good sound); the closest touchstone for Hanson is Karen Peris of the Innocence Mission. Together they come across a bit like the best of Mojave 3’s work, with first-class backing from four quite congenial lads (electric guitarist Jamie Timm, bassist Trever Hadley, drummer Jordan Badger, and pedal steel guitarist Brent Dreiling) who appear to be in a bit of a beard-growing contest. (The lead guitarist seems struggling to keep pace, while the pedal steel player is comfortably in the lead, which seems as it should be.)

The band offered up an infectiously bluesy take on Dylan’s "Leopard Skin Pill Box" hat just before closing their set with the anthemic "Don’t Let Me Die" from their recent debut disc Let Me Live. Members of Or, The Whale joined them onstage for the finale, the two bands apparently having bonded the night before on a bill together in Portland. Band Of Annuals members Hadley and Timm leaned with their backs against each other at one point as Henderson and Hanson lifted yet another song to a triumphant melodic high; they were soaking in the glory of the moment, as well they should. A Saturday night, hundreds of miles from home, a packed audience, in the prime of life: If you play music, this is as good as it ever gets." -- PETER BLACKSTOCK Copyright c. 2008 by No Depression Inc. and/or Peter Blackstock