Erica NomuraThe Patty Murray benefit concert at Neumos last night worked as a political rally, but like a lot of benefit concerts it kind of bumbled along as a concert. The musicians were universally awesome (curated by the great Lynn Resnick) and the theme of “folk” music sort of loosely held the thing together, but the crowd was a mixed bag of political junkies, concerned liberals, and bona fide music fans that talked through the early acts and then noticeably thinned as the night wore on. For the music fans who stuck around, great sets by Sera Cahoone, Eric from Say Hi, Tomo from Grand Hallway, and our own Presidents of the USA were worth sticking around for.But the treat for me was the lively backstage conversation with some young musicians I’ve just being exposed to recently. I was really engaged by the guys in White Center’s Let’s Get Lost, although their hair is much longer than in this adorably Big Pink-ish band photo (above).I also had a very cool exchange with Scribes, whose new full-length is scheduled to “drop” in FebruaryCanh Nguyen and Eric from Cataldo, both of whom had insightful things to say about maintaining personal integrity while also trying to make good business decisions.

These are all artists I look forward to hearing more from in the next few months.