Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers

Chris Soucy sure keeps a packed schedule. Besides having played guitar for everyone from Aubrey Collins to Sally Taylor, the Longmont resident is currently a member of the Sixers, the backing band for Massachusetts-based songwriter Stephen Kellogg. Kellogg's not a big name yet, but that's not a surprise: His latest, self-titled album is almost a little too real and raw to rub up against all that James Blunt junk on the radio. After four self-released CDs throughout the early '00s, Kellogg assembled the Sixers and amped his songs into a bittersweet onslaught of heartworn melody very much in the spirit of Paul Westerberg and Ryan Adams (whose old Whiskeytown bandmate, Mike Daly, contributed to the disc). As for Soucy, surgery almost kept him on the sidelines for the Bluebird stop of the Kellogg/Pat McGee Band tour -- but this Saturday he'll replace his replacement, Canadian whiz kid Kyle Riabko, and jump on board for the rest of the trek. Long-distance relationships can be a bitch, but Kellogg and Soucy's six-string chemistry is well worth it.