No microphones. No instruments. No amplification. No sound checks. Just some of Seattle’s best bands bare.

That’s the plan this Friday at the Fremont Abbey in what is certain to be a stunning evening of song. Organized by Kevin Barrans (banjo and accordion player for The Maldives), the event is a collection of friends singing covers of old American songs (like 1800s’ old)  as well as original tunes entirely a capella.

I asked Barrans about Bare when I happened to bump into him at a Ballard bar sipping on a whiskey this weekend. He joked about how easy the load-in and load-out will be in comparison to the rest of the shows he plays with the massive Maldives, “no instruments, no microphones, no amps.” He even hesitated, with a slight smile, when a musician scheduled to play asked if he could clap, stomp or use the floor for a drum as he sang. “Well …  it’s not an instrument and it’s not amplified, so … yes.” Barrans himself will be performing a couple of sacred harp songs with his family, as will Caleb Quick of The Moondoggies.  If the evening is successful, Barrans hopes to make it an annual event.

With a line-up made up of some of Seattle’s most skillful harmonizers and song-smiths, it is a night that promises goosebumps and all but certain success. I suggest you make your plans for Bare this Friday and the second annual one about a year from now.