Pert Near Sandstone w/ Them Coulee Boys & Humbird at First Avenue

As longtime stewards of the modern stringband revival, Pert Near’s songcraft is informed by the American folk tradition in a delivery of acoustic instrumentation. Their studio efforts have gradually strayed from the reliquary of common string band selections. Instead, Pert Near offers another full album of original songs that meditates on this exact present, rich with context and reference. There are songs that reach into a field that isn't always aglow with sunlight, while finding beauty in the tenderness of relationships. There are traveling songs sung by a band that has hit the pavement hard over their time, simultaneously creating a soundtrack for those all night drives that music festival devotees well know.

Soren Staff and Beau Janke—co-founders of folk/rock/Americana outfit Them Coulee Boys—met as counselors at a bible camp in northern Wisconsin in 2011. Having both grown up amidst a stretch of glacial melt-carved river valleys in the upper Midwest, otherwise known by French fur trappers as coulees, they became fast friends. Camp counselors coined the name “them coulee boys” as a way to refer to the constant companions, more often than not with instruments in hand. Soren’s little brother Jens joined the crew on mandolin at camp in 2012, and since, both Neil Krause on bass and Staš Hable on drums have helped to grow the band into the rollicking outfit it is today.

Inspired by the crystalline chill of the north country she calls home in Minnesota, Humbird combines a wintry longing with the warmth of a familiar folktale. Humbird’s music moves between experimental folk and environmental Americana to embrace the unexpected. The music invites a refreshing dissonance into the house. It leaves bread crumbs along the path and reflects light back at the stars.