Michigan Rattlers at Mercury Lounge

Graham Young & Adam Reed

Guitarist Graham Young and bassist Adam Reed were childhood friends playing soccer together in Petoskey, Michigan. They started learning guitar about the same time, and while in high school performed as Orange Magic on nights and weekends in local coffeehouses and bars. After graduating high school in 2011, both enrolled in college for music; Young moved to Chicago, Illinois, and Reed moved to Gambier, Ohio. A few years later, Young persuaded Reed to move with him to Los Angeles, California, where they could form a band with professional aspirations. Michigan Rattlers was born during that four-day cross-country road trip. The duo began playing local clubs and in 2017 recruited their hometown friend, Christian Wilder, to join the group on piano. Drummer Tony Audia is the most recent addition. After two EPs, Michigan Rattlers released an album, Evergreen, in 2018. The band recently released a single, "Desert Heat." Between tour dates, the band is recording a second album.

The homespun music of Michigan Rattlers has evolved with the addition of each new member. Michigan Rattlers is now a quartet, and the band has moved beyond the folky sound started by the original duo. At Mercury Lounge tonight, the vocal harmonies and musical arrangements still hearkened to America's heartland, but the performance now cooked with warms rays of California sunshine. Thanks to the full band sound, the vocal phrasings and melodies bore a generous resemblance to Jackson Browne and the Eagles. Michigan Rattlers performed original songs and also covered Leonard Cohen, Hoyt Axton, and Warren Zevon. For the most part, the only lead instrument besides the vocals was the piano, which sometimes gave the songs a honky tonk cadence and other times a slightly Cajun twist. Michigan Rattlers' music could be described as alt-country with pop leanings, but more than ever before it now matches well with the Laurel Canyon breed of singer-songwriters.