The Posies and Brendan Benson (of The Raconteurs)

There’s no possible way that an indie singer-songwriter could be so infectiously catchy, so completely void of elitist pretensions and yet still the furthest thing from what could be considered pop. Michigan native Benson channels retro mod-chic with his signature smooth crooning, mixing in the technical intricacy of modern indie’s instrumentation while he’s at it. The perfect mix of old-meets-new-meets-awesome, Benson is as likeable as his music is catchy. Which is to say, a lot. While the two items are usually proportional to each other, the quantity of both is much lower among the rest of Benson’s scene. Give the man an acoustic guitar and a string section to back him up and he’ll do even better. Let him get in touch with his emotions, and Benson will make magic happen on stage. Seattle natives the Posies have much the same effect, pulling from the classic ’60s rock style and effortlessly modernizing it with indie artistry. As an added bonus though, they’ll give you a little musical taste of everything else that came in between then and now, just for good measure. - Brien Overly