By Martin Locraft

Fortunately for the enthusiastic (albeit small) crowd at Jammin' Java, last Thursday's show featured no mediocrity. The Alternate Routes – an extremely talented quintet from Bridgeport, Connecticut – left me filled with pure appreciation. Headlining the coffee-shop-slash-music-venue in Northern Virginia, the band that released Good And Reckless And True in 2005 treated the audience to the kind of passionate performance that is rarely seen on such a small scale.

Seamlessly blending songs from this year's The Watershed EP with selections from their debut album – including staples "Ordinary," "Please Don't Let It Be" and "Aftermath" – Tim Warren & Co. left me wondering how they are still able to fly relatively under the radar. With blues-driven tracks like "Louisiana," straight-forward acoustic rock like "Love Me For Nothing" and crowd-pleasing songs like "My Old Lady" and "Going Home With You," it's difficult to see the future of The Alternate Routes without a significant level of success.

The Alternate Routes, continuously maturing and playing more cohesively with each show, have the ability to take their act well beyond the tiny coffee shops of suburban America. When they headline the 9:30 Club in the next couple of years, it would be easy to sit there and say "I told you so." I think it would be more worthwhile, however, to admire the fact that their music has finally reached the audience it deserves.

(Martin Locraft for DCist)

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