Exiting the Levis/Fader Fort, I heard a bluesy sound coming out of the Independent across the street. The Maldives out of Seattle were rocking the stage with a honky-tonk, roots rock sound that recalled Neil Young and maybe Ryan Adams & the Cardinals. There were three guitars, pedal steel, banjo and fiddle along with the rhythm section and free Pyramid Hefeweizen on tap, which really hit the spot since it was rather steamy inside.

(Editor’s note: we went to add a picture from the band’s MySpace page to this entry, but received one of those fake anti-malware messages, so no picture. Sorry, Maldives.)