Jenny Allen and  Pete Loughlin turned their Nov. 6 appearance at the Lethbridge Folk Club  into the Allen and Loughlin comedy hour for a smiling 25  or so audience members.
 Jokes, quips and humourous anecdotes were as much a part of their first set as was catchy acoustic folk music.

In between jokes, Allen sang heartfelt break-ups songs, then turned around and grinned at the audience while Loughlin added intricate bass and vocal harmonies. Allen told a story about the Shamrock Hotel and some of the characters associated with it before singing a highlight of it.

 But rather than just straight ahead folk,  she also added a touch of jazz as well.
“My Big Mouth” was a highlight of their set, which they wound down with a Gillian Welsh cover.

Jesse and a band of brand new Dandelions made a long awaited return to the Slice, Nov. 7 to give an appreciative audience a taste of  a new CD  they plan to release next year.

 They played plenty of pretty, ambient, dreamy, laid back indie rock with easygoing lyrics and peaceful melodies. 

Drummer Tasy Hudson and Keyboardist Cayley Thomas added ethereal  background vocals.
 Fellow Edmontonians the Hearts played their own brand of melodic, dreamy indie pop in support of their brand new CD “Equal Love.”

 They began their set slowly and built up on the intensity.
 They had lots of melodies and  lots of ’80s synth pop influence. But they turned things down for a couple of songs for a couple of slow dancers.

While frontman/ guitarist Jeff Stuart sang most of the lead vocals, Michelle Rempel- Sabourin sang  beautiful lead on a couple of songs to add a little variety.

Lethbridge bluesman Papa King Cole and a hot band entertained a standing room only crowd at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Nov. 7 for the CD release party for his new CD “ Gutted To The Studs.”

 His impressive band included Steve Keenan on lead guitar,  drummer Scott Mezei and Suite 33 bassist Doug Freeman, so the music was flawless as they backed  King's ragged Dr. John style baritone voice.

But the band members all got to shine. Steve Keenan sang one of his songs and King was content to sit back and let them show what  they could do.

 For the second set, Megan Brown took centre stage to add some beautiful violin playing for the first few songs before  King captivated the crowd with his take on traditional Delta blues and old rock and roll like “ Shake it All Over.”

This past Sunday, Nov. 8, Average Joes brought in two killer rockers which complemented each other perfectly.
I was tempted to take a night off until I heard Kelowna born rockers the Wild! were opening the show.

 They hit hard from the start like a set of brass knuckles to the ears as they gave Los Angeles rockers BuckCherry a run for their money right from the start with a solid version of their  first single “Roadhouse,” and tore things up from there like the bastard children of AC DC and Motley Crüe with a touch of  Sammy Hagar.

 That meant there were plenty of snarling Gibson guitars, blues tinged riffs, gritty solos,  gang vocals and lots of energy.

 The Wild!, who looked like an outlaw biker gang wielding guitars instead of guns, blasted their way through their  debut CD “GxDxWxB.”
 They crashed into “ Slow Burn,” another one of their singles which had a lot of the enthusiastic audience singing along, the new single “What about You,” and added a few new ones, while saving  some of the heavier tracks from their CD like “Banger” until the end of their hot set.

“If you don’t like the blues, you shouldn’t be at a rock and roll show,” Villain shouted, before launching into one of the band's more bluesy numbers.