Bill Patton, Mike Dumovich

Bill Patton claims that he is a “sad bastard singer-songwriter who lives in Seattle, as so many of them do.” True, the Emerald Shitty has produced a rather large and stinky pile of this particular brand of weepy white boy. But, as with all niche genres, some performers are better than others. Bill Patton is one of them. A classically trained composer and music teacher, Patton plays songs that are pensive, murky, and atmospherically akin to those early Iron & Wine demos. Yet his lyrics tell stories that are, for all their drizzly mystery, plainspoken and crystal clear. He also covers Black Sabbath’s “Fairies Wear Boots”, transforming the stoner anthem into a bit of Clarence Ashley-esque hillbilly surrealism. Joining Patton is Mike Dumovich, a Vashon Island native whose music I will forever champion. Like Patton, Dumovich sings pensive songs, delivering them in a matter-of-fact voice and radiant guitar plucking that can put you in a trance. His lyrics are weighted down with chilly imagery and a very Pacific Northwest gloominess. Dumovich is an idiosyncratic character whose music and personality cannot be neatly boxed up—which is to say, he's a true artist in a music scene full of phonies.
Fri., July 3, 10 p.m., 2009