Turns out that gig was private and they felt bad that their other Denver fans wouldn’t be able to see them so they tacked on another gig after the fancy gig (thanks to Jay Bianchi of Owsley’s Golden Road for scheduling The O’s at the last minute).

I had listened to a couple of tracks on the website and they sounded decent but  the folks down in Dallas have been raving about them so I figured it was worth going out late on a Monday night to see them.  Well, it was.

The O’s are Taylor Young and John Pedigo. They both sing. Taylor has the guitar and the drum. John has the banjo.  It sounds like there are a lot more than two of them up there.  Takes coordination to do that.  And it’s not like they weren’t drinking or anything.

The two of them have been and continue to play  in several bands.  The O’s  website lists:  Polyphonic Spree, Young Heart Attack, Hi-fi Drowning, Slick 57, Young James Long, Rose County Fair, Boys Named Sue, P. W. Long, and The BAcksliders.  That’s a lot of bands – all well respected down there in Dallas.  They have something special here with The O’’s, though.

So, the music.  Mostly they played their own songs despite loud demands from a somewhat inebriated crowd to play anything from “Freebird” (really!) to Manilow (not kidding about this either).  One particularly persistent guy kept requesting  “Hotel California” and even offered to sing it for them if they would just play it.  The boys charmingly resisted – they had a lot of original stuff to play and play it they did.  And it was great!

The O’s mostly sound like The O’s but I was reminded somewhat of the Old 97’s.  Bucky was talking Avett Brothers.  We were both entranced.  I especially liked the way Pedigo would start screaming the chorus of a couple of the songs – also, I think songs written from a stalker’s point of view are funny.  Darling, I do.

They did play one cover – “Bowling Green.”   Good job on that one.

We bought the disc and ripped it open in the car on the way home.  I continued to play it in my car for the rest of the week.  Still haven’t decided which songs are my favorite but “I Still Wait” has already made it on my newest compilation.  And when I close my eyes, I can see them wailing out the chorus together.

After the parade is the big concert in a big fenced in parking lot and this year it featured  some of the best of Dallas’ alt-country-roots rock scene. The O’s, The Drams, Eleven Hundred Springs and The Old 97s.

The crowd was kind of thin but you could no doubt chalk that up to the weather- it was  cold, windy and the cloud cover was threatening drenching rain at any moment. Still, for the faithful that did show up, it was as fine a day of music as a drunken partier decked out in a spray painted fake beard, 2 lbs of beads and a big green hat could hope for. And I saw more than a few of those.

We arrived shortly after The O’s started their set. The O’s are Taylor Young on guitar and John Pedigo on guitar and banjo. They’re probably the best new band in these parts despite their just being two guys. They write great songs and play them very nicely- you can check out a few of them on their MySpace page. They also managed to play the very best song of the day-a cover of The Pogues’ "Body Of An American." It was the perfect song for the occasion and they nailed it.

The crowd had grown some by the time Slacker Country favorites The Drams kicked things off with a fine cover of Neil Young’s "Come On baby Let’s Go Downtown."

They played their best stuff from Jubilee Dive and a few new songs like "Man Of Note" and "Doesn’t Bother Me." They also did The Jayhawks’ "Real Light" and Chad Stockslager’s "Homemade Biscuits" and got a pretty good call and response from the crowd on that one.

Eleven Hundred Springs sounded as good or better than ever. They’re always in their element at these things as much as in a loud bar. I missed a good deal of their set but what I saw killed.

Matt Hillyer’s got to have the coolest guitars around.

By the time the Old 97s came on there was a pretty respectable sized and largely inebriated crowd.  They opened with "Won’t Go Home No More" and pretty much covered their entire span- from "Doreen" to "Dance With Me." They came out for an encore of Jimmy Dale Gilmore’s "Dallas" and closed with a stomping "Timebomb."

After that of course it was time to hit the bars. Weren’t The King Bucks playing at The Dubliner or something?

Thanks to Michelle for the pics!