Live Video: Ben Watt and Bernard Butler

They met, not exactly incongruously, at a sopping wet backyard gathering of a mutual friend in London, sharing shelter and cradling warm beers. The fact it took so long for the fortuitous occasion to take place is what makes it so surprising. Ben Watt (one half of Everything But The Girl with wife Tracey Thorn, DJ, producer, former head of Buzzin' Fly Records and sister label Strange Feeling, host on BBC Radio 6, and critically-acclaimed author of Patient and Romany and Tom) and Bernard Butler (founding guitarist of Suede, lauded by some critics as "the greatest guitarist of his generation," and collaborator/producer for artists including Tricky, The Veils, Aimee Mann, Edwyn Collins, The Libertines, and Kate Nash) are indisputable titans in the British music scene — each with esteemed careers spanning 34 and 26 years respectively — yet they were only properly introduced in 2012. Says Watt of the time, "We tiptoed round each other. We seemed, however, to be in a similar space. Each of us had spent ten years away from guitar-playing — me as a DJ and label boss, him as producer and songwriter. We each seemed to want to play guitar again, in a simple uncomplicated way. We then met at my place and jammed one afternoon but it didn’t quite gel." But as Ben Watt was recording his 2014 release, Hendra, his first solo effort since 1983's North Marine Drive, he turned to Butler: "We met again last spring and this time I had a strong idea of how it could work. My open suspended folk tunings against his bluesy overdriven guitar — and that was when it really clicked." True enough, the pair took the show on the road, making a few stunning promotional appearances between bookstore readings for Watt's Romany and Tom, including a stop in Seattle. Live in the KEXP studio, Watt and the affable and equally humble Butler thrilled fans of both with a shiveringly gorgeous and truly tender set of songs from Hendra, plus the title track to Watt's '83 classic. All thanks to a crummy barbecue in the rain.