Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers
August 6th | 11:00pm | $3

As far as old-fashioned, roll-up-your-paisley-sleeves Americana goes, it doesn’t get any more enjoyable than Zoe Muth and The Lost High Rollers. From Ballard Washington, the fluttery-voiced Zoe Muth sounds earthly and earnest, poignant and romantic. And though it’s clear that she has a voice capable of belting her notes, she keeps her vocals gracefully restrained so her lyrics feel like more like the tendrils of an exhaled drag than words. As a six-piece band, Zoe Muth and The Lost High Rollers sound so fluid it’s almost paradoxical—even their fastest-paced songs feel featherweight and utterly graceful.

For fans of: Emmylou Harris, Kitty Wells

LISTEN:  “The Running Kind” :: Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers

The West Nile Ramblers
August 6th | 10:00pm | $3

On “Honkabilly Western Garage,” the self-released debut from The West Nile Ramblers, these Davis locals continue to romanticize the rolling landscapes of the American western front. They’re bluesy without being lugubrious and have true grit to their songs without denying their audience of any Americana-fused pop payoff gold.

For fans of: Mad Cow Stringband, Miss Lonely Hearts

Seth Augustus
August 7th | 10:00pm | $3

Though Boston transplant Seth Augustus seems to have cast off the traditional singer-songwriter vibe by touring with a full band, he keeps the instrumentation subtle, lean and second only to his thick and gravelly voice. He’s a multi-faceted musician who manages to sound serious and classy yet decidedly campy. Tracks like “Cherry Rose” perfectly captures his chilling, murder ballad-esque aesthetic: he sings with eerie sangfroid, kind of like a whiskey-soaked, drifting blues musician. But Augustus is the most engaging when he lets loose with paranoia-driven poetry (“Slim Sam”), backed by currents of wailing guitar scuzz from the netherworld.

For fans of: Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave

LISTEN:  “To The Pouring Rain” :: To The Pouring Rain

Zoe Boekbinder
August 7th | 9:00pm | $3

With her raspy voice and her child-innocence trope, it’s no wonder that Oakland-native Zoe Boekbinder sounds natural and relaxed. She has a staccato sing-song delivery that makes every song sound sweet, youthful, and exuberant. Even when singing about heartbreak, unrequited love, and her own imagined death (see “Funeral”), she sounds compelling and refined, without being heavy-handed and bleak.

For fans of: Cat Power, Camera Obscura

Roadside Graves
August 12th | 10:00pm | $3

“My Son’s Home,” the latest release by Roadside Graves is packed with mature and propulsive alt-country melodies. Singer John Gleason’s charismatic vocals breathe life into the group’s arresting and often macabre lyrics, backed by sweeps of guitar that perforate through their Americana melodies. Despite the gravity of their lyrical subject manner, Roadside Graves keeps their sound buoyant and with illustrious harmonies and carefully orchestrated instrumental arrangements.

For fans of: These United States, Heartless Bastards

LISTEN:  “Far & Wide” :: My Son's Home

John Heart Jackie
August 12th | 9:00pm | $3

John Heart Jackie is a two-piece outfit from Portland Oregon that seems to know their way around pretty, finger-plucked folk melodies. Murray’s gentle and husky voice adds warmth to their minimal instrumentation—which is often a percussive keyboard or lone guitar—while Wayne’s breathy vocals adds femininity with her soft sighs and coos. Their teamwork shines on tracks like “My Sweet Place” and “Get Back To Me” where they feel more like Bonnie Prince Billy by way of She & Him than The Handsome Family.

For fans of: Iron & Wine, Edith Frost

The Blank Tapes
August 13th | 11:30pm | $3

From the California Bay Area, The Blank Tapes hover over the lo-fi indie rock scene with their sunny and playful sound. This eight-piece group finesses their loaded but frustratingly upbeat swagger with elegantly arranged boy-pop harmonies with such reckless abandon it’s not even fair.

For fans of: The Yellow Dress, Holopaw

LISTEN:  “This Is What's Inside” :: Daydreams

Mariee Sioux
August 13th | 10:00pm | $3

Graceful and demure, Mariee Sioux comes off like a boreal gypsy with her acoustic charm. Her simple arrangements are steeped with hauntingly beautiful melodies that glide effortlessly and intuitively. The result is tracks like “Two Tongues” and “Loveskulls,” which demonstrate her skills as a naturalistic and earnest songwriter.

For fans of: Vashti Bunyan, Kate Wolf

Leslie Stevens & The Badgers
August 14th | 11:00pm | $5

Though it seems that Leslie Stevens is hesitant to bill herself as a solo artist, she is undeniably the driving auteur behind the group. Stevens has a sultry, smoky voice that billows with her melodies and her articulate lyrics drip with vigor. But this isn’t to dismiss the rest of the group— The Badgers are a fully-fledged backing band and an adept vehicle for delivering swooping blues-inflected alt-country pop melodies. Together, Leslie Stevens & The Badgers evoke a rolling, rural, American landscape, far from the urban sprawl of their Los Angeles hometown.

For fans of: Emmylou Harris, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside

LISTEN:  “Los Angeles” :: Roomful Of Smoke

Charlie Wadhams
August 14th | 10:00pm | $5

Rex Aquarium ex-frontman Charlie Wadhams is one of those musicians with an impeccable ear for swirling pop melody. As a solo artist, he employs fluid cadences that have a whimsical, jazzy influence to them and his nimble guitar playing give his voice plenty of room. And though Wadhams’ croon-worthy, cotton-soft vocals seem to float on their own, they’re grounded by his romantic and introspective songwriting.

Blue Cranes
August 20th | 11:30pm | $5

This Portland quintet has an expansive palette that moves beyond jazz to produce jagged, industrial-strength rhythms that pulse with every beat. On “Ritchie Bros,” Blue Cranes seize the opening bar with intensity and the horns rise and swell, before cascading into a cathartic finish.

LISTEN:  “Awesome Hawk” :: Homing Patterns

Emily Wells
August 20th | 10:00pm | $5

From Topanga California, Emily Wells proves to have an appetite for musical exploration. She’s a violinist by trade, which she makes clear on tracks like “Symphony 1 in the Barrel of a Gun” and “Whiskey and Rags.” But for all her virtuosic arrangements and instrumentation that layer her songs, it’s her exquisite experimental pop melodies and wavering vocals that really make her. She’s closer to Deerhoof by way of Joanna Newsom than Kate Bush and at her most monumental moments, she’s irresistibly wide-eyed and refreshing.

For fans of: Andrew Bird, Simple Citizens, Deerhoof

Elders
August 20th | 9:30pm | $5

Elders, Davis’ finest prog-rock band wears their love of cerebral but moody rock on their sleeves and stay true to prog-rock tradition by penning songs that span upward of ten minutes. But it’s on those tracks (see “Midlands”) that demonstrate the group’s penchant for coating everything with sludgy fuzz, in line with martial drum taps that keeps their sound elegantly controlled and restrained. But if you are anticipating the moment where their songs come to a thundering conclusion, it might never come: Elders keep themselves measured and contemplative, like an ocean tide that gently approaches and recedes, holding itself back for another day.

For fans of: Peaches