I’d missed the last two Americana Revues at the Station, their second Thursday of the month residencies for bands — Sinful Savage Tigers took over for the Magnolia Collective last November, and in both December and January I had elsewhere jobs that kept me from being there. Last night’s Cradle show, however, started early and ran on time, so I was perfectly on time to see most of Steph Stewart and the Boyfriends’ set — Steph has a gorgeous voice and her collaborators are fantastic musicians, and the last time I’d seen her I’d been freezing to death in the Nightlight for a Gambling the Muse show, so I got to appreciate her in relative warmth this time, and I dug her set.

I haven’t seen SST in a few months, since they’ve been hibernating and working on their follow-up to The Last Night Of The Revels, and they sound as great as always. A nice mix of older and newer stuff, and last summer’s addition of Omar Ruiz — TACKLE OMAR — on fiddle really fleshes out their sound. Their music just flat-out makes me happy, even the sad songs, and it’s always a pleasure to take photos of them.

And not to get all sentimental, but the Thursday night shows at the Station were the first place in the Triangle scene I really felt like a part of something, instead of someone looking in at the cool kids, and it’s always nice to have that feeling, to see people I love and hug them and catch up. It was good.