On Sunday, March 17 New Orleans’ One Eyed Jacks hosted two female-fronted bands, Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside and Thao & the Get Down Stay Down.

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, a band that claims it’s merely just rock n’ roll, put on a show that matched perfectly with the party spirit of the St. Patty’s-celebrating crowd.

The Portland, Oreg. based band is currently touring their LP that dropped February 19^th, Untamed Beast. While they mostly focused on tracks from this sophomore release, they also played crowd favorites from their debut, Dirty Radio.

Their sound and performance were more than just the generic rock n’ roll show. Terms like Rockabilly, bayou grunge rock, and ‘60s beach-wave could also describe Sallie’s “Outside Sound.”

Sallie’s voice was stunning. It reached out to the audience, even with the low levels on her mic. Raspy yet clear, she belted while still managing to maintain a crisp beauty in her voice.

Also, her presence and interaction with the other band mates as well as her quirky dance moves were a delightful sight. She had no problem commanding the stage, whether she was plucking her mint julep Fender or jiving to the instrumental breaks.

Her interaction with the crowd added to the intimacy of the set. She talked and laughed with the crowd while enjoying a Miller High Life in between tracks, seeming as down to earth as you’d expect from her songs’ lyrics. She even invited a guest performer, Dirty Dan, to play the baritone saxophone on the last couple of tracks, including a Buddy Holly cover.

Overall, the performance was a great start to a night of powerful female musicians. The only complaint the audience could have had was the seemingly too-short length of the set.

As good as the set was, it was only the beginning. Read more for DJ Dirty Dave’s experience with Thao and the Get Down Stay Down.

Sunday night, St. Patrick’s Day in New Orleans, I wander past gutter-punks, bead-hungry tourists, passed out frat-stars and a French Quarter littered with green beer. My end goal? Get to One Eyed Jack’s to see Thao & the Get Down, Stay Down, a progressive Americana rock band from San Francisco.

Having taken a break after their 2009 release, Know Better Learn Faster, front woman and lead guitarist Thao Nguyen spent some time harnessing eclectic sounds with various solo projects before rejoining the band for their latest release, We The Common. And what a triumph it is, combining a southern delta blues aesthetic and mixing it with everything from Buddy Holly to Nirvana grunge to Hank Williams. This is your momma’s old school rock music, but innovated in a way similar to the music of Portugal, The Man and new-comers Foxygen. Thao remains apart from the trendiness of the typical Indie crowd, paying homage to traditional Americana and seeking to expand it in new and exciting ways.

Opener Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside left the crowd hungry for woman-led, soulful tunes, a hankering that was much fulfilled by Thao and her band’s stealing performance. Starting the night off with a blistering version of her last album’s title track “Know Better Learn Faster”, the crowd was immediately possessed by the band’s drawing energy and charm of the lovely Thao. Her vocals soared, but somehow remained intimate like a secret shared between the best of friends. Progressing on with her set list, Thao played several different instruments including a mandolin, banjo, and both lap-steel and electric guitars.

My favorite of the night was “Kindness Be Conceived” an acoustic and harmony laden track reminiscent of Alison Krauss or Emmy Lou Harris (distorted a bit, of course). She ended her first set with a great version of “We The Common” and returned to the stage for a special surprise. During sound check, both she and Sallie Ford had rehearsed a cover of the Buddy Holly song “Be My Baby”. The crowd went nuts and the bands nailed it, reminding me of the prom scene from the first Back To The Future