Hanson is the only teen band that matters.

In a pop-music world dominated by acts like 'N Sync, Christina Aguilera and the Backstreet Boys, Hanson is the one most likely to last. That's because these three blond boys from Tulsa, Oklahoma, are not puppets dangling from the strings of some adult svengali. Isaac, Taylor and Zac(h) Hanson play their own instruments, write their own songs, sing their own harmonies and co-produce their own albums.

Just as importantly, the music they make expresses who they are. This is not Lee Ann Rimes trying to pass as a 30-year-old torch singer without ever having loved and lost. This is not Britney Spears, perhaps the most jealously guarded teenage girl on the planet, trying to act like a worldly-wise femme fatale.

These are three small-town kids in a garage band who sound like three small-town kids in a garage band. They bash out their chords in a burst of youthful enthusiasm; they join their genetically matched voices in giddy harmonies. They sing about every teenager's eager hunger for romance and experience and about every teenager's impatience that these things never come quickly enough.

When the Hanson brothers sing about "Dying To Be Alive" (with backing vocals from Rose Stone of Sly & the Family Stone and guitar chords borrowed from Keith Richards), the adolescent rush to adulthood comes through loud and clear.

Two things separate Hanson from the world's million other teenage garage bands: hooks to die for and voices to melt the stoniest hearts. From their number-one single, "MMMBop," to the title song of their new album, This Time Around, the brothers Hanson have a knack for coming up with jumpy, catchy verses that release their tension in three-part vocal harmonies on the chorus melodies. And those harmonies create the illusion of spinning out of control even as they align in precise intervals.

And Hanson aren’t a confectionary pop creation dependant on studio trickery. When the band came to Baltimore's Pier Six Concert Pavilion in June, they proved as infectious on stage as they had on disc. Backed by a bassist, second guitarist and second keyboardist, the three brothers sent the squealing, homemade-sign-waving teenage girls into a frenzy and even had the girls' skeptical parents bouncing along. The Hanson boys aren't going to make anyone forget Phish or the Meters, but they played their simple power-pop-bubble-gum-soul hooks with respectable competence and irresistible exuberance.

Zach Hanson, the youngest at 14, sat behind the drum set with a long, sandy ponytail trailing down his back and smacked out the punchy beat. Taylor Hanson, 17, lifted his bushy eyebrows every time he shifted from verse to chorus and often jumped out from behind his keyboards to run up to the stage edge and urge the crowd to sing along with his sexily soulful vocals. Isaac Hanson, the oldest at 19, planted a maroon Les Paul against his right hip and bashed out the signature riffs.

The highlight of the evening was "Runaway Run," which Taylor kicked off with a cry of "Let's rock!" That's just what the band did, generating a galloping beat that reinforced the lyrics about a girl who is always sprinting away, just out of reach. On the chorus, the circling harmonies created the dizzying sensation of being spun around by an elusive lover. As the song came out of the bridge, Isaac played a guitar solo that upped the anxiety another notch. It wasn't technically challenging, but it was smartly conceived, extending the melody along a new path without wasting a note. And on stage it was even bolder and surer than it had been on disc.

This is what's most encouraging about Hanson. This Time Around reflects conspicuous growth since their debut album, 1997's Middle of Nowhere (which was followed by a Christmas album, a live disc and a compilation of early demos). And their live show already shows further growth since the new album was recorded. If Hanson can keep evolving at this rate, they could be an important rock force for some time. And they have the necessary ambition. Already the three teenagers have gone out of their way to jam with Bob Weir, Jonny Lang and Blues Traveler. When we spoke to Isaac Hanson, he was glad to talk for once about his music.

Guitar.com: Why did you want to play with Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman at Wetlands?
Isaac Hanson: We're musicians. If you're a musician and you get the opportunity to do something interesting, you do it; it doesn't matter what anyone else says. It was nerve-wracking, because when you don't know a song that well, you have a tendency to make more errors. But you have to take chances like that. Half the songs we did that night we learned that afternoon -- "All Along the Watchtower," "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad," "Wang Dang Doodle" and "Gloria."

Guitar.com: What was the actual show like?
Hanson: It was a different kind of crowd for us, because the fans who show up to hear the Dead are there for the music. They come not knowing what the band is going to play. And even though we rehearsed the songs that afternoon, we weren't sure what form they would take, because this solo may go a little longer and that tag may go in a different direction. I got to play a solo on "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad," which was fun.

Guitar.com: John Popper of Blues Traveler plays harmonica on your new album; how did that come about?
Hanson: We showed up at a Blues Traveler concert, because we're fans of theirs. This was before Bobby Sheehan passed away. We stopped by to say hello, and John said, "Hey, would you guys like to play 'MMMBop' with us?" We said, "Sure." It was kind of a competition thing with the Barenaked Ladies, because they had played "MMMBop" in their set, and Blues Traveler wanted to one-up them. We bashed it out backstage, and went up there and did it. John even played a solo. I like them because they're such a unique band and John is such a great player. We asked him to be on the album and he agreed.

Guitar.com: The new album seems a lot more aggressive than the first one.
Hanson: The evolution has been totally natural. The new songs determined where the record was going. They were a little bit less pop with more of a rock leaning to them. Because of the natural tendencies of our band, it became more of a rock 'n' roll album. Our voices changing also made a difference.

Guitar.com: When you say the changes in your songwriting changed the sound of your music, what do you mean?
Hanson: Every single day you write a song, your writing changes. You get better on your instrument. I know I'm a much better guitarist than I was three years ago. Of course, that's all relative; I would never say I'm a great guitarist. But you know more chords and you're smoother on your blues scale, so that changes how you write. You try out heavier stuff and softer stuff, even if it's stuff people would never expect from Hanson.

Guitar.com: How has your songwriting process changed over the years?
Hanson: With every record you do, you're more confident, you have a stronger vision. Even when you experiment and you don't know where it's going, you have more confidence that when you get it, you'll know it. You choose the stuff that you feel most closely expresses who you are.

Guitar.com: Well, how autobiographical are your songs?
Hanson: People take our lyrics too literally. They think we're writing from our own experiences, and usually we're not. Our concept this time around was to write about a young man in war. He's saying, "I'm feeling older," because he's seen people die.

Guitar.com: But you sound so emotionally invested in the songs.
Hanson: Well, yes, the songs do reflect our feelings. But if we wrote literally, all the songs would be, "I'm in a hotel room and I'm all alone and feeling sad," and that wouldn't be very interesting. So you have to come from somewhere else, from the perspective of another character. It's like writing a story.