The Owl Acoustic Lounge was rocking Thursday, Aug. 25 for Rock the Nation II featuring bluesman Curt Young and some of his 
talented friends.
Dalliance Elixir opened the show with a set of mostly covers from bands like Fleetwood Mac, as well as a solid cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” and more obscure covers like Bonnie Raitt’s “I Will Not Be Broken.” Lead singer Jolene Draper continued showing improvement and charisma and stage, dancing in place as she belted out jazzy/ blues tinged originals like “My Shadow” as well as quirky covers like Ida Marie’s “Stella.”
They welcomed special guest Jamie Medicine Crane of Stage to add native flute to another original, “Deal Breakin’ Shake.”
Of course Murray Nelson played tasteful leads as per usual and Bruce Roome kept the steady bass groove going.
Andrea Nickorick made a long awaited return to the stage for a bright set of upbeat folk/ pop music. She, backed by a drummer, showed a lot of improvement from the last time I saw her.
She Lives turned up the volume tenfold after that with a tight set of ear-bleeding garage-rock/ punk which had a few searing solos and a lot of blistered eardrums. Good though. Their music was catchy and upbeat.
