During her concert Saturday at the Old Town School of Folk Music, Sam Phillips remarked that it had been an evening filled with “chick singers” (including opening act Samantha Crain). So she gave the audience a suggestion. “After this I would recommend seeing some manly men sing something, just to balance out the evening.”
As it happened, as soon as Phillips had finished playing, I did dash to another concert, but it was not one that featured manly men singing. It was time for yet another chick singer, but one quite different from Phillips. The Scottish rock band Sons and Daughters was playing at the Double Door. I arrived just as they were playing their first songs of the night, and singer Adele Bethel was already singing up storm onstage. She’s quite the lively frontwoman, and last night she was decked out with glittering coverings on her wrists and a short “dress” made out of a Leonard Cohen T-shirt.
Bassist Ailidh Lennon was not there (on a leave of absence, perhaps?), but that didn’t prevent the rest of the band from putting on a dynamite show that brought back memories of the two great sets I saw them do this spring at SXSW. The songs from their album The Gift as well as the songs like “Dance Me In” from their earlier record, The Repulsion Box, sounded so tense and alive.