The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page W21

nightlife Aimee Mann and Ted Leo as the Both. Contemplative and raucous, together Nickel Creek Nickel Creek went on hiatus after 2005's Why Should the Fire but the trio have reconvened to commemorate their 25th anniversary with a new album, the excellent A Dotted Line, and a tour that comes Friday to the Tower Theater. The band released only three albums between 2000 and 2005, but they got together as kids in 1989. Guitarist Sean Watkins was 12; his little sister Sara, on fiddle, was as was mandolin player Chris Thile. They grew up playing and singing bluegrass, but they are by no means traditionalists, and part of the joy of their work is their genre-crossing unpredictability, from the electro-leaning cover of Mother Mother's "Haywire" to the fleet-fingered instrumental showcase "Elephant in the Corn" to the gospel harmonies of "21st of May." Joining Nickel Creek at the Tower: the Secret Sisters, with their own wide-ranging mix of rootsy harmony singing.

Steve Klinge 011 t' 1- I 1 4 rk ei 0 I 4 1 I i 1 I --il 1 Aimee Mann and Ted Leo have teamed up as the Both. They'll play at Union Transfer. CHRISTIAN LANTRY Nickel Creek and the Secret Sisters play 8 p.m. Friday at the Tower Theater, 69th and Ludlow Upper Darby. Tickets: Information: 215-922-1011, www.thetowerphilly.com.

By Dan DeLuca INQUIRER MUSIC CRITIC What makes a collaboration work? In the case of the unexpected and seemingly unlikely one between solo acts Aimee Mann and Ted Leo, more factors are in their favor than you might think. When the duo who headline Union Transfer as the Both on Saturday toured together in 2012, "I started watching Ted's shows," says Mann, talking on the phone over a shared line with Leo from Brooklyn. "There was a new song of his that I really wanted to play bass on," she says. That song was "The Gambler," the first track on their new album, The Both. "So I asked to sit in.

It's really interesting to hear the sound he gets with just one guitar. I also thought he was really funny. I thought, 'I'd love to be on stage with It's great to have somebody to joke around with and share the vocals with and sing the harmonies with." Word of Mann and Leo's teaming surprised the indie world, as Mann is seen as a contemplative singer-songwriter, and Leo a raucous rocker with punk roots. "There's much more overlap than that broad brush of differences," Leo chimes in. "We both tend to have a considered approach to our lyrics.

We genuinely want to say something. And our love for melodies and harmonies, I think, also overlaps. At the same time, Aimee operates at a level with those things that's like a higher tide that raises my ship." "Ted puts across a certain attitude that I feel like I'm writing in my says Mann. "I guess for me, there's a little of: 'Nobody buys records, so, really, what's the Which can translate into, 'Nobody "Writing music is a compulsion. We'd probably do it no matter what," says Leo.

"But in terms of continuing with this model, making records and touring, you do get these existential crises a couple of times a year, when you're just writing alone." "You need to feel that somebody cares somewhere," says Mann. "And when you're working with another person, you do. It's, 'We Both songwriters have lived on the road. Mann's band "III Tuesday scored its hit "Voices Carry" in 1985; Leo, 43, played in a succession of punk bands in the early 1990s. "The love of playing and performing doesn't decrease," says Leo, "but the grind of the toil takes its toll." See BOTH on W22 songs but I can't really express because my voice can't do that," Mann says.

"Energetically, it doesn't come with that kind of force. So one of the fun things is to hear parts that I'm writing in my head in a way that I think I'm singing them, then I listen back, and it's like, 'Oh, I've turned this into a little folk song I like the more rock elements I'm able to put in there with Ted." The pair started writing songs together early in 2013, with initial plans to put out a six-song EP. Instead, they wound up with an 11-song set, whose single, "Milwaukee," features a video shot at the Boot Saddle in Philadelphia. "Recording the first batch of songs just felt so good," says Leo. "Why wouldn't we keep going?" The timing was right.

"There was an aspect of our solo careers where you feel like you're treading water," South St. Spring Festival On Saturday, there's much to do on South Street. It would certainly be enough if you focused on the German Maifest along the 700 block of South, with German beers and food (courtesy of Brauhaus Schmitz). But the South Street Headhouse District also has supersized its annual Spring Fest, closing South Street (between Front and Eighth), and the Second Street Plaza (between South and Lombard) for an expanded array of food vendors (restaurants such as the tony Serpico, and food trucks), artisan stands, and games for kids. The festival also has expanded its musical palette, from one stage to three, booked by the bosses of the blues-and-folkcentric Twisted Tail and the funkrock-focused Legendary Dobbs.

The Seventh Street stage will focus on German music (oompah rather than, say, Can or Kraftwerk), and the Fifth Street and Second Street stages will touch on everything from John the Conqueror's Mississippi-tinged blues to Cold Roses' alt-rock to Rowboat Casino's rap-rock. Don't miss the rockabilly of April Mae and the June Bugs at 11 a.m. and (about 4 p.m.) Johnny Popcorn, the jiving soul-funk ensemble founded by legendary local playerproducers Tone Whitfield and Hezekiah. Every venue on South Street will offer musical treats, so make sure to stick your head in as many juke joints as possible. The Street will be showing its best.

A.D. Amorosi ded the original members of the band to get back together, and they'll play this weekend along with beloved hard-core Phi lly band Pagan Babies and three other acts in a showcase sponsored by Philadelphia Brewing Co. Dan DeLuca Thorazine Reunited 1990s Philadelphia punk-rock band Thorazine tops a five-act bill Saturday night at the Fire. In 1995, the band, fronted by Jo-Ann Rogan, got a boatload of free publicity when SmithKline Beecham now GlaxoSmithKline sued it for naming itself (previously called Afterbirth) after a psychotropic drug. The suit was eventually dropped, and the band went on to record two albums for Hell Yeah records.

Documentarian Heather Gillespie prod Thorazine, with Pagan Babies, Wally, the Baptist Preachers, and Bushmaster, play at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Fire, 412 W. Girard Ave. Tickets: $10. Information: 267-671-9298, www.iourecords.comthefire.

The South Street Spring Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday between Front and Eighth on South, and the Second Street Plaza (between South and Lombard). Free. Information: www.southstreet.com.

INQUIRER.COM A FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014 THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER W21.