KEXP Audioasis Benefit for The Service Board

Considering it was, like, 1 a.m. on a Tuesday night, Seattleites are excused for leaving the Crocodile early and missing the raucous Whalebones/Oakley Hall jam session last September. That’s right, Seattle’s Whalebones, were invited to the stage for the Hall’s encore. And they didn’t all just stand there and slap tambourines either. Oakley Hall’s Pat Sullivan actually handed vocal duties over to Whalebones frontman Justin Deary for a rendition of the Hall’s “Having Fun Again.” The melding of these two mountainous, churning, American rock bands was, in a word, epic. Like Sullivan quipped to the slim crowd, “You guys are so lucky that you live in the same city as the mighty Whalebones.” Since they first started playing in 2005, Whalebones have improved exponentially. Their earliest shows were like Lou Reed in grass-stained jeans and cowboy boots, which was cool in itself. But now, with the addition of the razor-sharp guitarist Joram Young and clear-river vocals of Amy Blaschke, they’ve become a solid American band, capable of channeling the stoned stomp of Crazy Horse, the liquored-up strut of the Stones, and the complexity of The Band, with spacey glam jams and ‘70s roots riffs thrown in for good measure. This whole night is a sampling of Seattle’s most exciting American roots artists, with sets by countrypolitans Shane Tutmarc & The Traveling Mercies and singer-songwriter J. Tillman, this time backed by a full motley-crew, comprised of an all-star cast pulled from local acts Siberian, Fleet Foxes and Sera Cahoone. With Climber. High Dive, 513 N. 36th St., 632-5656. 9 p.m. $7. BRIAN J. BARR

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• Pat Sullivan
• Sera Cahoone
• Brian Barr
• Shane Tutmarc
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

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Listen to a sample of J. Tillman's "Crooked Roof."