Last Tuesday was one of the best nights in recent memory to enjoy some supreme vocalizing. Paul Jacobsen and the Madison Arms, Oh My God and Cotton Jones all sang their souls out to a warm crowd at Salt Lake City Utah’s Kilby Court.


Paul Jacobsen & The Madison Arms


Jacobsen played some great tracks from his latest self titled album on Groundloop Records . Jacobsen’s voice perfectly meshed with those of his backing band, including producer Scott Wiley. The Madison Arms reached their tentacles of harmony into even the coldest heart on this nippy fall night and made me happily welcome great concerts from these groups yet to come.
Chicago’s Oh My God

Chicago’s Oh My God blew it the fuck up. This was their second time coming to Utah and it went much better than their last go round. Whatever venue they were at their last tour had an MC who referred to them as “Oh My Gosh.” I would hope he was joking but lead singer Billy O’Neil was being serious when he recounted the tale. The Oh My God crew had much better reception this time to a slightly miffed, but overall welcoming, Salt Lake City audience.


Oh My Gosh

O’Neil’s vocals are a great match for the energetic, hard–to–experimental music this group is known for. 10 years together and several albums later brings their latest release The Night Undoes The Work of The Day out September 29th on Split Red Records. This band is pretty hard to describe, listen to some of their myspace tracks to hear what I mean. I haven’t seen a stage show this lively at Kilby since I saw Electric Eel Shock (the Japanese metal band) in the early 2000s—one of my all time favorite performances at Kilby.
Oh My God Setlist

Cotton Jones played a great set coming off their set at Mammoth Fest last week. Michal Nau’s voice along with some great harmonizing friends did a really stellar job of recalling the South in our ears. Songs about West Virginia (right next to my home state of Virginia) like one Cotton Jones played Tuesday, always touch my partly southern heart and Nau’s and Whitney McGraw’s vocals conjured alt-country with real feeling not that trite bullshit we’re mostly tired of hearing by now.


Cotton Jones

Nau speaks it and lives it through his words—he appeared to have just finished up at the lumber mill and happened to mosey on into Kilby for a random set. A very unpretentious guy and gal playing genuinely earnest music made for a great nightcap. McGraw is very cute, so that doesn’t hurt either.


As a side note: O’Neil slipped me his latest solo work called Brave Last Days and it is really good stuff. The album deals with themes ranging from the death of a close friend of O’Neil’s to some really uplifting stuff like track two’s “Can’t Knock Me Down.” It will be available November 21st on the website.