Kevin Bronson on April 7th, 2016

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Music these days is so much like the menu at the restaurant that your insufferable foodie friend keeps touting — exotic flavors in strange combinations presented as if you should feel privileged to eat it. The repast Wednesday night at the Troubadour held no such pretension. It was hearty and filling and that was enough.

The main course was The Wild Feathers, a young Nashville band who remind those with long memories (or a grasp of history) of The Band. Their sophomore album “Lonely Is a Lifetime” arrived last month, and if a classic rock album can be described as “fearless,” it’s this one. Because the Wild Feathers blithely go where many have gone before.

||| Photos by Michelle Shiers

From the first volleys of their 14-song set — “Overnight,” the opening song on the new album, and “Backwoods Company,” the lead-off track from 2013’s self-titled debut — the Austin-bred sextet proved ferociously good at what they do. Precious few dads can do dad rock this well: three-part harmonies, organ-drenched build-ups, thundering rhythms and piercing guitar solos.

Speaking of the latter (and of getting drenched), guitarist Daniel Donato rather stole the show. Late of Nashville’s Don Kelley Band and recently annexed to the Wild Feathers’ lineup, Donato was celebrating his 21st birthday Wednesday. His pyrotechnics were spectacular without being indulgent — the over-the-top moment came when the band led the crowd in “Happy Birthday” and then doused the folks upfront with a spray of champagne.

The sold-out crowd reveled in sing-alongs and clap-alongs and shred-alongs, glasses and cups often raised. In all, the Wild Feathers played eight songs from the new album, including highlights “Goodbye Song,” “Don’t Ask Me to Change” and “Help Me Out.” During the latter, they harmonize about being “tired of running with the weight of the world on my back,” which not long ago must have been what it felt like to make classic rock in the millennial miasma. By the time they closed with their first big single “The Ceiling,” though, the distance between the 1970s and 2016 seemed a whole lot shorter.

In similar fashion, but with marked more seriousness, L.A.’s The Shelters stormed through 10 songs in 43 minutes in hang-on-to-your-denim fashion. Their Tom Petty-co-produced album comes out in June, and they proved every bit the aspiring young guitar gods as the headliners. The Shelters draw from garage-rock, metal and British psychedelia; the vaguely retro new single “Rebel Heart” kicked things off before the quartet covered all four songs from last year’s EP (highlighted by the sprawling “The Ghost Is Gone”). Their set-ender was a new stadium-ready jam titled “Lost Woman.” If you don’t like big finishes, you came to the wrong show.

L.A. quintet Bird Dog kicked off the night with a set of gang-chorus-filled folk-rock, including songs from their “Misty Shrub” EP. They were especially happy to be there — the band had been on tour supporting the Wild Feathers when, in March, frontman Max Helmerich’s wife went into labor. After a short paternity leave, Bird Dog returned to complete the final two days of the tour.

“Had a baby 10 days ago, and if anybody tells you it’s a great process, they’re f*cking lying,” Helmerich joked. “The reward is the greatest, but the process is crazy.” With that, he introduced a song about “knocking her up.” It was charming. Still smiling, Bird Dog followed that with the song “Chicken Fried Steak.”

Because if you don’t like comfort food, you came to the wrong show.