Don't look for members of The Bridge to join the chorus disparaging the Baltimore indy music scene.

Last month, as the sixth anniversary of the band's first gig approached, the members signed a contract with Hyena Records which has re-released the group's self-titled debut album.

"We are all very excited about it," said co-founder Kenny Liner, "We just completed a national tour and now this happened."

The Bridge developed almost by happenstance when Liner returned to Baltimore after living in Hawaii and reconnected with his childhood friend Cris Jacobs. The two started jamming and discovered they had almost instant musical chemistry.  Several phone calls, meetings and jams later, a band was born.

The Bridge follows somewhat in the musical path of Little Feat, The Grateful Dead, and Los Lobos but adds flourishes of modern soul and New Orleans funk.

"I always thought, even at the beginning, that we had a real band," said Liner. "But the first time I really felt that it was possible [to be a major success] was two years ago when we played before and after The String Cheese Incident."

Videos of that performance at All Good Festival in Masontown, W.Va., shows the crowd of more than 15,000 cheering long and loud for The Bridge.  Finally, after years of playing myriad local and regional shows, the festival was the perfect storm of music lovers who felt a kinship with The Bridge's musical offerings.

"Just listen and you will love," wrote a woman identified only as "Lisa" on one of the sites about that performance.

By that time Jacobs and Liner, the remaining original members, had developed a tighter focus for the band and moved its sound away from the Phish influences other members' had fancied toward a more targeted signature sound.

"When we were choosing the new members of the band we really focused on indiviual talent that would help us achieve our musical vision," said Liner. "I'm not syaing we accomplished that, but it is right in front of us."