Judging Milwaukee Downtown's Battle of the Bands at River Rhythms in Pere Marquette Park Wednesday night wasn't as easy as I expected. That's because while I was primed for a slate of cover bands, instead I got a slate of bands working primarily on their own music.

The first, MI5, was cover-heavy, but did play one original that showed some promise and made me wish it had ditched a cover of The Police's "Driven to Tears" and replaced it with another of its own tunes.

Next up was Signalfire, a hard rockin' quartet that looked and sounded like a band. The music was all original, I think, and the band was tight and on task.

Then came Burlington 16-year-old Eric McKinney, who performed on acoustic guitar and with a drummer for support. McKinney's well-written songs were bolstered by his unassuming charm and once he gets more gigs under his belt, he'll be unstoppable. His Dropkick Murphys T-shirt impressed my fellow judges Kevin Brandt and Banshee Music's Jef Horrigan, a Dropkicks collaborator.

Rapper Melissa Czarnik impressed with her R&B, hip-hop blend build on the sound of Eric Mire's crackin' live band before The Katz Sass arrived to play a set of electric blues.

Honky Tonk-itis -- in full western swing gear -- closed out the night of 15-minute sets with a slate of songs laced with good humor.

We judges picked McKinney as the winner and Czarnik and Signalfire rounded out the top three.

Seeing so much original music on tap was the evening's most pleasant surprise.

Kudos Milwaukee Downtown and Westown.