Robert’s Western World is a legendary honky tonk, but this event featured several Americana artists. Grace Adele and The Grand Band is a 4-piece female-fronted string band based in Nashville. On acoustic guitar, Grace Adele fronts Keenan Wade on mandolin, Josh Huber on upright bass, and Kristen Weber joined in beautifully on fiddle in Chase Potter’s absence. They were showcasing their Nashville debut, The Grand Sessions, a 10-cut recording of original material. My basic metric measuring how good a band really is contrasts live performance with recorded material. No one will be disappointed in the live interactive performance. These folks had more than 100 dates on their 2011 touring calendar and their polished show scales very well against their studio work. The difference, of course, is the energy in the room when four acoustic musicians are there to entertain you.

Grace Adele has a natural charm as she invites the audience to participate rather than spectate. No room for dancing on this occasion, I’m sure people often enjoy western swing to tunes like “Town’s Too Small.” Lively and engaging it got people’s attention from the first waltzing measures. Other tunes from the CD included ” Never Lost,” “Over You,” Sweet and Lonesome” “Brown Eyes” and “Something to Say,” highlighting western swing, bluegrass, country, folk, and a touch of indie rock. They covered Ernest Tubb’s “Thanks a Lot” to great affect in the 45-minute set.

If there is one critical point to make about this show, slower tunes don’t translate well in a room like Robert’s. The impassioned ballad, “Over You” is arguably the best cut on the CD. This tune is best left for a listening room in order to feel every tear-stained note. Conversely, another great album cut is “Sweet and Lonesome” which has more color and depth live than the recorded version.

One of the more impressive characteristics of this band is how well relatively young players steep their talent in vintage music styles. Much like Carolina Chocolate Drops, there is genuine craftsmanship in the music The Grand Band makes. And at the tip of the iceberg is the sheer authenticity of Grace Adele’s voice. Whatever the “it” is found in music that works, Grace has “it” without artifice. For those who love the female pioneers of roots music, another is about to emerge, albeit in a totally different era. She’s a ray of sunshine beaming across a sea of female artists attempting to do what she does naturally.

Find Grace Adele on the web: www.graceadelemusic.com, and follow her on twitter: @graceadelemusic

Band in Heaven's 4 Song EP on HoZac Records

Properly applied, a thick layer of reverb can really set a mood. Dense, lethargic and psychedelic with a pulsating groove, like the part of a movie soundtrack where the protagonist visits an opium den and journeys to another perceptual realm. That’s the vibe of exactly half of the 4-song HoZac 7″ from The Band in Heaven. “If You Only Knew” and “Sludgy Dreams” are what you want to hear at the end of a long night of partying.

The other two songs (“Sleazy Dreams” and “Summer Bummer”) would be playing during the chase scenes of that same movie – our hero running on foot through some mardi-gras of bizarre faces. Fast-paced and feral, these tunes will get your blood pumping. Still coated in reverb, this half of the EP manages to be rousing yet somehow spooky and menacing.

“Sludgy Dreams” is a downtempo interpretation of “Sleazy Dreams”, turning it into a droning gem. I asked the band why they would mess with such a great song. “Reworking Sleazy Dreams into Sludgy Dreams was just for fun, but it also shows how one song in a certain style can so easily fall into a different genre just by changing the tempo.”

The band says, “The four songs on the HoZac 7″ take a step forward in our desire to bridge the gaps between shoegaze, dreampop and drone music.” Wherever that direction takes them, whatever they’re trying to accomplish, it will undoubtedly be great. One thing this EP certainly accomplishes is leaving you wanting more.

They’re playing with the incredible Sun O))) in September. You can buy their tunes on Bandcamp and watch their creative videos on Vimeo:

http://thebandinheaven.bandcamp.com
http://vimeo.com/27420833