I’m not much of a front man. I’ve fronted bands before but I don’t have a front person’s ‘X’ factor — that easy and often mildly crazy personality that connects with audiences and makes people pay attention to you, even when you’re not singing. I’m more of a utility infielder — a little bit of singing, a lot of harp, a little bit of percussion at a better level than people expect — and that’s my value in a band. But there is no substitute for a good front person.

I thought about that Thursday when I saw the Court Yard Hounds. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re the sisterly two-thirds of the Dixie Chicks. While the Chicks are on who-knows-when-it-will-end hiatus, with the lead singer (who has a front person’s personality and then some) taking a shot at motherhood or being petulant or whatever, this group serves to ease the music jones of the rest of the band.

The crowd should have been the first hint that something might not be right here. Washington is at least a decent place for alt-whatever music, and you’d think that two-thirds of an arena band could fill an 850-seat venue without breathing hard. But there were lots of empty seats when the Hounds hit the stage. I’d estimate the crowd at perhaps 450 to 500.

And what quickly became apparent is that this was a group without a front person. Martie Maguire and Emily Robison both have beautiful voices and are genuinely talented multi-instrumentalists. However, their voices don’t have the power of the ideal front person, and neither of them seem to have enough crazy in them to really lead a band. Robison took on most of the lead singing duties for the seven-piece band, and she wasn’t being helped any by the bad acoustics of the venue. Still, she seemed to disappear in songs that generally weren’t memorable. The band never did seem to find its footing, and all of the music took on a certain droning quality, and my wife and I did something that I would have considered unthinkable before the night began — we left early.

There’s still plenty of time for the band to get it right. Perhaps Maguire and Robison will develop as front people on stage, and the band probably will get better as a summer tour goes along (this was the first stop on the tour). And a better venue, more capable of handling a seven-piece amplified act, would have made a major difference. But this was one of the more disappointing concerts I’ve been to in recent years.