This bill at the WOW Hall is perfect musical marriage.

Byline: Serena Markstrom The Register-Guard

Tonight's expertly arranged bill at the WOW Hall parallels a long-term relationship: Alela Diane will court you, Hillstomp will excite you and the Avett Brothers will make you want to commit for life.

Alela Diane's mysterious, spare acoustic songs about nature and animals seem vaguely to be about something you've felt or experienced. They will spin a web to woo you.

She will make you feel curious emotions. Just when she has you wanting more, she will leave the stage.

Alas, the initial phase after meeting someone is far too brief.

Then Hillstomp will come on stage with its stomping, wild ride of a good time. The band represents that middle part on any relationship, when you are certain you like each other but are not sure where the rela- tionship is going.

The Mississippi blues duo from Portland is fresh off its live CD release, "After Two but Before Five." The album will remind you of all the late-night shenanigans that make us feel young - while aging our bodies.

And finally, the Avett Bro- thers will mimic the phase when you realize you are stuck with each other.

You start to see some flaws and blemishes, but you know the whole thing is worthwhile because it's so real.

When the Avett Brothers first performed in Eugene about a year ago, it was for a small crowd at Sam Bond's Garage. But by the time of their January show at the WOW Hall, fan interest had swelled.

More than a few people in the audience that night seemed to think they were the only people who had ever heard of this rare gift of a band from, of all places, North Carolina. Although the Avetts' secret long has been out on the East Coast, they are now drawing some of those big crowds in the West.

To help spread their gospel, the trio, two of whom are brothers, was interviewed on National Public Radio. They also performed "Paranoia in B-flat Major" on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien."

The Avett Brothers wear the committed stage well on their new disc, "Emotionalism."

They plead for forgiveness. They feel ashamed of themselves. They give thanks for the mistakes that led to love. And in a stroke of songwriting novelty, they express opposite emotions, exchanging letters in "The Ballad of Love and Hate."

The enthralling Alela Diane

In the past year, Ticket readers have gotten to know all these men, with cover stories on both the Avett Brothers and Hillstomp.

You can reread those stories on our Ticket Files blog.

But for now, we shall prime you for infatuation by introducing you to Alela Diane Menig, who for performance purposes has dropped her last name.

Consider Alela Diane's performances at Pickathon, staged this August on the woodsy Pendarvis Farm outside of Portland. Although not as plucky or ironic as some of the other artists at the indie roots festival, she captured the attention of many people new to her.

On opening night, a cluster of more than 100 gathered around her on the small, elevated outdoor stage. Many sat cross-legged on the ground, looking up as though she were spinning the most interesting tale they had ever heard.

Accompanied by her father, she performed one of her more arresting songs: "The Rifle," and created an almost mystical atmosphere under the black sky.

After Pickathon, Alela Diane went on tour in England. The difference in time zones limited her availability for phone interviews to 4 a.m. Pacific time, so she was kind enough to answer some questions via e-mail instead.

She says "The Rifle" is based on a true story.

"It was written directly out of a dream I had about the house I grew up in," she writes. "My parents had just sold the house (in real life), and I felt rather uprooted.

`All the imagery in the song is either directly out of the spooky dream, or about something that actually happened at the house."

Because of her friendship with fellow Nevada City, Calif., native Joanna Newsom, music writers often group the two in the "freak folk" category. Despite the obvious instrumental differences - Newsom plays her songs on a harp, not guitar - Alela Diane, 24, blends the literal and her own myth to, as Newsom is so good at doing, create her own world.

Charming as Newsom is, Alela Diane's unique sound matches her age while avoiding Newsom's affected squeaks.

Portland offers a bigger stage

A songwriter since she moved to San Francisco at age 19 to attend school, Alela Diane played her first live show opening for Newsom. Alela Diane moved to Portland two years ago.

"Nevada City was much too small to perform in front of anyone that I didn't already know," she writes.

Alela Diane recorded her debut, "Pirate's Gospel," in her father's Nevada City studio. She released it independently before the small Portland label Holocene Music picked it up last year for rerelease.

Alela Diane says she wrote most of the songs on "Pirate's Gospel" while traveling through Europe alone. And while she is not a religious person, she drew inspiration from the cathedrals where she found refuge during her travels.

Perhaps for this reason, some religious imagery seeped into the songs. The title track affects a gospel style that's easy to clap along with.

Her music also carries a repetitious, meditative trait common to some religious music. Alela Diane says that quality comes from her lack of skill on the guitar.

"The melodies I sing come straight from my head; the guitar provides a vessel for the melodies to circle around," she writes. "The repetition on the guitar is mostly due to my skills on the instrument not being very advanced.

`It is the sturdiness of the songs which the melodies may dance upon."

CONCERT PREVIEW

Alela Diane

With: The Avett Brothers, Hillstomp

What: Indie roots

When: 8 p.m. today

Where: WOW Hall, 291 W. Eighth Ave.

Tickets: $18 at the door