BY ZACHARY HERRMANN

It's easy to look (and sound) like the professional outfit of the night when the band before yours calls themselves "Tough Shits". Not to the rag on that raucous Philly opener too hard. The guys understand the pop hook and showed a flicker of the New York Dolls here and there, sloppy though they may have been. But seeing the completely ego-less, swagger-less Holly Golightly take the stage afterwards...well, it was just night and day.

Lately, the British musician has been harping pretty heavy on the American roots thing, appearing as Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, the latter half being her longtime associate, Lawyer Dave. On stage, the two come off like a psychedelic reimagining of American Gothic, grasping guitars in place of the pitchfork. Aside from the occasional playful bit of banter (a lot of hate for Hoboken, NJ, home to Maxwell's, the previous venue the duo played), the two of them are all about business. In a subdued sort of trance during songs, Ms. Golightly and her Lawyer friend plowed through 17 tunes in just under an hour, about all you could ask for in the cramped M-Room between the hours of 12:30 and 1:30 am.

Aided by a tricky little kick drum and cymbal setup, Dave simultaneously handles percussion and slide duties, providing a simple little stomp to go along with the buzzin' and a-strummin'. Given the lousy sound during the two preceding bands, it was pretty shocking to hear just how clear and full Holly and Dave's dirty electrics came across in a venue that resembles something of a large, packed hallway.  Most of the time, they kept a pretty steady mid-tempo going through a large portion of 2008's fantastic Dirt Don't Hurt.

"Indeed You Do" got kicked up a notch from the studio version, a bit nasty even as Holly let out a snarl or two. As on album, Holly and Dave's original songwriting mixes in seamlessly with traditionally arranged numbers like "Boat's Up The River" or Buddy Griffin and Claudia Swann's "I Wanna Hug Ya, Kiss Ya, Squeeze Ya".

With Dave seated throughout (due to the constraints of drumming, playing guitar and singing all at once) and Holly swinging along, eyes-closed, their show is a pretty laid back affair, though no less passionate for the approach. It's part of the appeal of the music - they could just as easily be playing on your back porch, singing "Crow Jane" and "My 45". Brits (Dave clearly isn't one) like Holly have had a great tradition of appreciating traditional American music forms just well if not better than anyone else stateside, and in that sense, she's doing more than just writing and performing great songs: It's a public service of sorts.

The two of them look, speak and play like storyteller relics from a bygone era. Trying to paint a picture doesn't really do them justice. A fake Lawyer and a British singer dressed like a woman straight of something written by The Band - seems disingenuous, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs are the real deal, two excellent musicians doing the work of many, many more.

Read the BLURT review of Dirt Don't Hurt here.