The Hotel Café served up an illuminating session on the power of good songwriting when it's delivered by a resourceful band — and when it’s not — with Tuesday night’s double bill in Hollywood featuring two rising talents: Texas singer-songwriter Sahara Smith and Irish multi-instrumentalist-songwriter Conor O’Brien, a.k.a. Villagers.

Both have new albums demonstrating their passion for literate lyric-writing. Smith,  21, has been honing her craft for nearly a decade despite her youth, and has come under the tutelage of T Bone Burnett, whose associate Emile Kelman has adroitly produced her debut album, “Myth of the Heart,” coming out Aug. 31 and featuring several members of Burnett’s stable of instrumental aces.

Dubliner O’Brien, 27, is a virtual one-man band on “Becoming a Jackal,” the Villagers album that’s just been nominated for the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize as one of the year’s best by a UK-based act.

Smith brought with her a sharp backing trio of fellow Texans consisting of guitarist-bassist Will Sexton, guitarist Jake Owen and drummer Mike Meadows; when O’Brien took the stage by himself, holding just his acoustic guitar, he offered a  sheepish introduction: “We are Villagers. Actually, I’m Conor from the Villagers. I usually play with a band, but I couldn’t afford to bring them with me.”

The nominees for this year's Barclay Mercury Prize, a sought-after British award bestowed upon left-of-center releases, contains a number of already familiar names to music fans on these shores. The concise electronic romance of the xx, the reflective neo-soul of Corinne Bailey Rae and veteran rock 'n' roller Paul Weller are among the crop of finalists, which in 2009 went to the jazzy acoustic hip-hop of Speech Debelle. 

Though the Mercury Prize takes a more expansive approach than most major U.S. awards, it's rarely simply a collection of unknowns. Past nominees have included the likes of Radiohead and Robert Plant, and this year singer/songwriter Laura Marling and rapper Dizzee Rascal make return appearances on the nominee list for their recent albums. 

Fast-rising folk rockers Mumford & Sons scored a 2010 nomination, as did Sub Pop indie rockers Foals. Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro, vocally adventurous rock experimentalists Wild Beasts, jazz act the Kit Downes Trio and Manchester nap rockers I Am Kloot help round out the nominees. 

Of the relatively unknown artists, worth keeping an eye on is Domino's the Villagers. Led by Conor J. O'Brien, the Irish act released its debut, "Becoming a Jackal," in the spring of this year, and it's an elegantly atmospheric effort, with spacious melodies, ghostly harmonies and dark poetics. The Villagers will be at Hollywood's Hotel Cafe next Tuesday (July 27), performing an early 8 p.m. set. Tickets are $14.50. 

Other recent winners have included Elbow, the Klaxons, the Arctic Monkeys and Antony and the Johnsons. Winning the award doesn't necessarily foretell industry success, though, and some of the bigger overseas breakouts in recent years, including La Roux and Amy Winehouse were runner-ups. The Mercury Prize is a cash award chosen by a panel of U.K. industry professionals. 

-- Todd Martens