Last Sunday the Sunset Tavern hosted a really great three band bill featuring local favorites The Curious Mystery, Cosmic Panther Land Band consisting of members of The Maldives, The Moondoggies, and Widower, as well as headliner Maryland indie folk band Cotton Jones who is currently signed to Seattle label Suicide Squeeze. Cotton Jones is actually the most recent project of duo Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw, who were both members of now defunct indie folk band Page France. What started as a side project for Michael Nau has now grown into a full-time project with a full touring band. 
The band is currently on tour in support of their first full-length on Suicide Squeeze entitled “Paranoid Cocoon”, hitting much of the west coast including Portland’s MFNW and of course last Sunday’s Sunset gig. Think I said to my wife Sunday night that “there was a folk rock clinic going on at the Sunset”, and it was the truth. Cotton Jones plays a smooth and mellow brand of indie folk with sometimes comical but always heartfelt lyrics. The band were dressed head to toe just like a bunch of beard rock loving Seattleites, including of course flannel and scruffy beards…so they fit right in. The live show was great, and I believe captures Michael Nau’s sorrowful tales much better than on record, seeing the man in person paints a really solid picture. “Paranoid Cocoon” has quickly earned heavy rotation on my turntable. Though I am not familiar with Page France, but I am definitely going to heed the friendly Suicide Squeeze people's advice who were slinging merch for the band, as they highly recommended checking them out as well. 
Prior to Cotton Jones’ set, Seattle folk rock all-stars the Cosmic Panther Land Band played their I believe second set ever in Seattle in front of a relatively large crowd for a Sunday night. I hear that Maldives frontman Jason Dodson has quite a few Ballard friends who all showed up to support the Cosmic Panther Land Band’s totally awesome set. It’s not like they didn’t deserve an audience, the melding of Moondoggie boogie and Maldive country fried ballads created a pretty remarkable sound. I admit I have yet to jump on The Maldives band wagon, so please don’t lynch me. I have indeed seen them in concert twice but I am still unable to get past their ultra twangy sound. That’s not to say that Jason Dodson’s voice isn’t an act of some higher power, because it is and when Kevin Murphy of The Moondoggies plays second fiddle on the harmonies it’s a breath of fresh air. I was totally impressed to say the least. The word was that this performance was much better than the initial surprise performance at Connor Byrne back in June; they had actually practiced up for this gig, which leaves me to believe there might be something in the works as far as a record or definitely future shows like the one happening October 10th at the Tractor.
The Curious Mystery opened the night and always delivers with their psych infused country and blues. Singers Nick and Shana trade off vocal duties and both ably create smooth 60’s psych guitar soundscapes. They have a bizarre sound which totally invoked thoughts of my current favorite television show, “True Blood”. I hear The Curious Mystery as quite possibly an extended soundtrack to the fictional, eerie and totally fucked up Bon Temps, Louisiana. 
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