Alex Amen

One Liner: Absolutely beautiful folk like a young John Denver
Wikipedia Genre: Folk
Home: California (via Texas)

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 25
Day: Sunday.  
Weekend Two Only.

12:15 pm on the AmEx Stage. (brutal time slot)

Thoughts: I want you to just hear this first song before my blathering ruins your first moments with this young man.  "This Love of Mine" with just barely over a million streams.

My goodness.  That is lovely.  Like an early John Denver got crossed with an early Townes Van Zandt after listening to some Jim Croce.  Where in the world did this come from?  Seriously sounds like a lost album from the 70's that never got its due.

For annoying reasons, his website is blocked at my office.  So dumb.  I promise I will not download a virus while looking up an indie musician's bio.  He is originally from Texas, and moved to California at 18 to study filmmaking.  After one semester of that, he dropped out and moved onto the "Dittman Family Commune, a historic commune with ties to the anti-war, civil rights, and psychedelic countercultural movements of the mid-60’s."  He later moved to an island in the Puget Sound, spending years in relative isolation taking up various interests.  He moved back to CA and self-produced some music and started touring.  Not a lot of other background on the guy, but I freaking love this music.

He apparently wrote "California Blues" when he was 14 years old.  I am in awe.  That was his first single, from 2024.  373k streams.

Weird to see a modern truck in that video - since it feels like the song was for sure released in 1969 and later placed on the Forest Gump soundtrack.  Freaking wild, man.  I wanna go camping with those dudes.  Really hearing the John Denver there.  One of my mom's best friends really really loved John Denver, and so I have a soft spot in my heart for him.  Obviously, Country Roads is a jam, and his Christmas album with the Muppets is a nostalgic love for me.  But cool to hear this today. "And Her Colors" has no rhymes and yet really works.

"This Love of Mine" up there was a 2015 single, but for some reason it did not make the 2025 EP called the Zorthian Tapes (while "California Blues" did?).  No real album available on Spotify - I guess he kept his initial self-produced disc to himself.  Jirayr Zorthian was an Armienian-American artist who had a fascinating background - born in 1911 in the Ottoman Empire, moved to America and earned a MFA at Yale, moved to Italy to study art, and then returned to the US in the Great Depression and painted many massive murals like 11 that still stand in the Tennessee State Capitol.  They sort of look like those murals in Pawnee in Parks & Rec.

Stupid weekend two only.  Also, this poor dude will be done before any other artist on the poster even steps on stage.  Did he piss someone off at the C3 headquarters?  That seems weird.

Hans Williams

One Liner: Yummy, vibey Noah Kahan-esque tunes
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie
Home: New Orleans (or maybe back home to Vermont?)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15
Day: Sunday
Weekend Two Only.

T-Mobile Stage at 12:45.

Thoughts:  "Eeeh! Sorry Hans, wrong guess. Would you like to go for Double Jeopardy where the scores can really change?"

My first thought when I saw the name wasn't actually Hans Gruber, it was that this was the guy who wrote the Star Wars and Indiana Jones theme songs.  But that was wrong.  I was conflating Hans Zimmer (Lion King, Dune, Gladiator, Pirates of the Carribean, Dark Knight trilogy, and many more) with John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, E.T. Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, and many more).  THEN, about halfway through his first song I had to look and make sure I hadn't accidentally played Noah Kahan instead of this fella.  

Dude is from Vermont.  Maybe everyone from Vermont sounds the same?  A bio I read said that he started making music in the third grade and would hand out CDs after school.  Which is hilarious.  I would have taken one and thrown it so hard at some kid waiting for his mom, I'd still be in trouble in middle age.  He got some tunes on Spotify and had more than a million streams before graduating high school.  He moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane and kept at it, writing his first hit about a student on his dorm floor who committed suicide.  Heavy shit.  Thankfully for my brain, that is not a top track.

No albums, just one 2024 EP called More Than One Way Home.  The hit from that one is also his second-most streamed track overall - "Skin" has 23.6 million streams.

Bro.  Is that the same field and house that Noah Kahan is standing in front of on his Stick Season album cover?  Vermont-ass weirdos.  Only one house in that state.  Anyway, very pleasant little indie bop right there.  Good vibe.

The bigger tune is a 2022 single called "All is Well," and you'll notice that he keeps the style rolling over time.  53.4 million streams.

Dude looks 14.  But another cute, little strummy nugget of pleasant indie.  Also, I want to go wander around that ferny little gully with him.  That looks nice.  Also, wonderful set of lyrics - the "if I get overwhelmed, I'm sure you'll never know, keep it to myself, all is well" bit of the chorus hits home.

I threw this on in the car just now, and the kiddo and wife agreed with my NK comparison.  But also, it helped to realize that some of the top songs are different for sure - like "93" has a drum machine beat going on in the background of the guitar.  I like the organic things better.

I'd go check this out - too bad it is weekend two only!

Gizmo Varillas

One Liner: Low-key Black Keys vibes for a Spanish/Welsh groover
Wikipedia Genre: Singer Songwriter, Indie, Funk, Latin, Tropical, Acoustic, Folk, Rock
Home: Wales (via Spain)

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 25
Day: Sunday.  1pm on the AmEx Stage.
Weekend One Only.

Thoughts: GIZMO KAKA!!!

Just to make sure I was getting that quote right, and there is no way I was getting it wrong because I have said that line from Gremlins about 300,000 times in my life, I googled it.  I would be embarrassed if it was actually "dudu" or something.  Anyway, the four "People also ask" items on Google, after a prompt of just "gizmo kaka", are as follows:   (1) What does Gizmo kaka mean?; (2) Why does Stripe hate Gizmo?; (3) What is Gizmo's full name?; (4) Does Gizmo have a gender?

Gizmo's full name?  Have human beings ever actually asked that dumbass question?  Really?  "Well, actually, his middle name of Terrence was given to him to honor Mr. Peltzer's great-grandfather, who was actually the first Peltzer to try his hand at the age-old pasttime of invention."  WTF google.

Anyhoo, sorry, I digress for sure.  But this is pretty sweet guitar rock action kind of like a lower key Black Keys, if they frequently lapsed into Spanish lyrics.  Guillermo Varillas Kortabarria was born in Spain but then raised in Wales.  His first single was in 2014, when he was 24 and looked like he was 11.  4 albums - 2017's El Dorado, 2018's Dreaming of Better Days, 2020's Out of the Darkness, and 2025's The World in Colour.  That last album is honestly great.  Top song on there is "End of the Line" with 1.3 million streams.

"No War," from his first album, sampled John Lennon with the permission of Yoko.  That disc still had his top five streaming songs - while his 2020 album is definitely the ignored little red-headed step-child with very few streams.  "Paraiso" from the debut disc is his top streamer at 47 million.

Reminds me of those brothers who were here last year.  Hermanos Gutierrez.  Their sound was cool as hell.  The second album sometimes has a Lord Huron flavor to it.  "The Truth Will Be Heard" very much sounds like a cover of some other song that I have heard before (but Google didn't help me figure it out).

I like it.  I'd go check it out, except that the 1pm Sunday show is a tough sell!

Briscoe

One Liner: Local boys making folky rock fun
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, this is folk-rock, Americana, Saxophone-aided boogie
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 11
Day: Friday
Weekend One Only.

Ladybird Stage at 5:30.

Thoughts:  I'm just going to claim credit for them being on the poster.  I keep saying their name each year after the Festival, when C3 asks for suggestions of who should be on the poster.  There is no way these dudes are commanding some huge fee to come and play, why not add them on here and make the world a better place?

I wrote up a show I saw from these guys a few years back.  "Briscoe is a neat little band - formed in part by two dudes who met at the same summer camp where I went approximately 3 million years ago.  Some friends got together a big group of people to go check out this show, part of a multi-week residency that the band did at C-Boys this summer.  We were legitimately the first people there, lined up outside of this little bar like we were Harry Styles fanboys lined up to get front row.  Someone bought a six pack of beer from the 7-11 across the street, and we waited for the doors to open.

I had never been to C-Boys before, but it is a cool venue (just very tight!).  The band was set up in the back corner, and some tables ran down the center of the room.  I wish we would have had the forethought to snag one of the booths on the far wall, would have made for a nice watching experience, but we just stood in the middle like goobers.

Anyway, they played a nice (although too short) set of originals and covers, with good backing and solid harmonies.  For a band that I had never even heard mentioned before, it really was a refreshingly wonderful thing to go to a new place and hear a really solid band with a bunch of friends.  Highly recommend the experience!"  

I've since seen them three more times - good times!  What I will say about their lives shows, in addition to that note above, is that the UT fraternity/sorority crowd is absolutely IN TO THE ACTION.  The Scoot Inn show I saw a year or two ago felt like a Fiji mixer.

And for good reason, as the dudes were UT students only a few years ago.  Truett Heintzelman and Philip Lupton, if I recall correctly from the anecdotes shared during those shows, were in the Christian fraternity BUX, and after cutting their teeth playing at camp, moved up to backyard parties at Texas, before opening for Caamp and Zach Bryan.  I have to provide this anecdote from their website:

It was during adolescence that Heintzelman and Lupton first met as teenagers at a summer camp on the outskirts of Kerrville, Texas. "I walked into camp as a 14 year-old redheaded kid who didn't know anybody at all, so I just kept my eyes on the ground," Lupton remembers. "A couple feet away from me was another person wearing the exact same pair of Chacos as me, and when we both looked up, it felt like we were looking in the mirror." Lupton and Heintzelman didn't just look alike; they were both drawn to similar music, too, from golden-era folk duos like Simon & Garfunkel to 21st century torchbearers like the Avett Brothers. They hit it off immediately, and at a talent show later that week, the two campers performed John Prine's "Paradise," laying the brickwork for the collaborative sound they'd eventually make as Briscoe."

They played "Paradise" at the Scoot Inn show for sure, and it was phenomenal.   I figured their big single would be "The Well," as that is the singalong king at the shows because of the chorus.  1.6 million streams and a spot on the 2023 album West of it All.

That is an absolutely beautiful property.  Thought maybe it was LLYC at first, but I don't think any of it was there.  Teh bigger streamers end up being two tracks from their 2020 EP - "She Burns Away" with 1.9 million and "Hooped Earrings" with 3.8 million streams.  Here is the latter.

Also imminently singalong able with that line about "some boy from L.A."  And you get a taste of that salty saxophone action in there as well.  Their most recent single on Spotify is a great cover of the Alabama Shakes song "Hold On."  Dig it.

Trust me - go check this one out and have a good time.

Vincent Lima

One Liner: Bombastically large indie rock songs about loss and grief and Greek myths
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is indie rock, folky pop
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 14
Day: Friday
Both Weekends.

Tito's Tent at 4:30.

Thoughts:  His voice sort of makes me think of some country guy, but I can't come up with who it is.  But his music is more of a The Fray - made for Gray's Anatomy - type bombastic, emotional indie rock pop stuff.  He got to open for Jonah Kagen, who was on last year's line-up.  Maybe they are both just managed by C3.

He says he wrote his first songs when he was six or seven, but never really considered that music could be his viable career until more recently.  Born in Chicago, raised in New Jersey, now in L.A.  He taught himself how to play the piano, and when a close friend died, he started writing songs as a way of processing his grief.

His top song, "Orpheus," is inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and about grief, memory, and holding on to lost loved ones.  Here is the story that inspired it all: "While walking among her people, the Cicones, in tall grass at her wedding, Eurydice was set upon by a satyr. In her efforts to escape the satyr, Eurydice fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus traveled to the underworld. His music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. Orpheus set off with Eurydice following; however, as soon as he had reached the upper world, he immediately turned to look at her, forgetting in his eagerness that both of them needed to be in the upper world for the condition to be met. As Eurydice had not yet crossed into the upper world, she vanished for the second time, this time forever."  11.3 million streams.

He also has another song called Eurydice, so he is really leaning into that Greek mythology angle to tell sad stories about love and loss.  Lotta singles and two EPs in his discography.  No full album yet.  Visions of Uncertainty is the 2024 EP that has those two songs I have mentioned, as well as his second-biggest streamer "The Fire."  10.1 million streams.

Oh, the little blurb I read about him says that the entire EP takes inspiration from the tales of Orpheus and Eurydice.  Seems odd to base your whole career off of one Greek myth, but these songs are pretty damn powerful sounding, so maybe he is on to something.  The next EP will be all about Jason and the Argonauts.  Well, maybe not.  His newest single is called "Something Sweet," so maybe it is about ambrosia and the Lotophagi.  Let's try that one on just in case - 357k streams.

Damn, he is still singing about not being allowed to look behind himself.  Chill on the looking back, homie.  But yeah, that is another pretty, sad song about loss and leaving.  I mean, these songs sound really good and feel important.  But what a bummer of a set to just hear massive sadness songs for an hour.  

I think I am likely good on this one, although it's not a hard no.  I just assume there are other things I'd rather see that hour.

Amble

One Liner: Fresh and lovely Irish folk
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is folk
Home: Dublin

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 14
Day: Friday
Both Weekends.

Tito's Tent at 2:45.

Thoughts:  Oh, sign me up.  Three Irish singer-songwriters in one band named after just about the best possible walking gait?  How can you resist?  

Did you know that Amble is a coastal town on the North Sea coast in Northumberland, England?  I did not.  Also, Alf Amble was an anti-Semite from Norway.  Michele Bachmann's maiden name, too.  But this trio - Robbie Cunningham, Oisin McCaffrey, and Ross McNerney - hail from the Midlands and West of Ireland and decided to join forces to make modern folk music fun.  They just got started in 2023, but are already selling out shows and crushing it despite only a few published songs.  When they first got started, they were doing day jobs - two school teachers and one data scientist - and then got a call from a label in L.A. looking to sign them up.  Gone were the pub shows and they got down to work of becoming a proper band.

No albums yet, just two EPs - 2024's Of Land and Sea and 2024's The Commons.  So far, each of the songs is pretty simple and pure - no drums, no odd instruments, just guitars and mandolins and harmonies.  Which is excellent to hear.  I want to be in a dank Galway pub right now, hearing these three wander their way through this catalog.  Top streamer is a 2024 single that didn't make the EP - "Lonely Island" with 12.2 million streams.

Please take me there immediately to frolic on that hillside.  Damn Texas heat blasting the world into dust outside while those folks can touch green grass and dance around a fire.  I played this for the wife last night as we puttered around the kitchen preparing to go out with some friends, and she loved it too.  Although she thinks one of the singers sounds like the Crash Test Dummies guy, which I find hilarious.  "The Commons" stands out to me because of the instrumentation and the soloing at the end, and "Mary's Pub" sounds classic.  But I'm going to give you the newer single called "Schoolyard Days."  3.9 million streams.

  

I've been to Ireland once, but it is fascinating how nostalgic these tunes are making me feel, for a place I really have no right to feel a longing for.  Almost an Appalachian feel to the guitar-work there, which I guess is how that works - our hayseeds took from their hayseeds and now they're taking it back.

I think this is great.  Not sure how it will feel in a huge dusty field in a crowd, versus how amazing it would be at the Cactus Cafe or something like that, but I'd absolutely give it a shot.

Jensen McRae

One Liner: Fantastic folky pop with clever lyrics
Wikipedia Genre: Folk, alternative folk, folk-pop, indie rock
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 13
Day: Friday
Both Weekends.

Miller Lite at 3:00.

Thoughts:  Pleasantly surprised.  That name made me think I was about to get some vapid teenybopper thing, and instead this is really pretty confessional pop indie type stuff that is well-written with strong vocals.  Draws me right in.  Oh, that is Tate McRae I was thinking of.  She sucks on toast.

Instead, this is wonderful.  Makes me think of boygenius and Maggie Rogers.  She claims early childhood influences of Carole King, James Taylor, and Alicia Keys, and has been singing and playing piano since age seven.  She attended something called Grammy Camp in high school, which helped her decide to pursue music.  Now I want to know about this camp.  A seven-day non-residential music industry program to help high school students interested in careers in music.  Three in 2025 - Miami, New York, and L.A.  You can choose a track - music production, songwriting, music business, vocal performance, etc.  Pretty rad.

Anyway, she graduated from USC's Thornton School of Music with a degree in music performance.  She has said that the music industry has tried to shove her into the R&B and soul categories because she is black, but her music is neither of those things.  At all.  She has had multiple great co-signs, with Phoebe Bridgers re-tweeting her, Joy Oladokun collaborating on a song, NPR naming one of her songs one of "16 Songs Public Radio Can't Stop Playing," she got to open for Noah Kahan, and was featured on a CBS morning show.

Two albums - 2022's Are You Happy Now? and 2025's I Don't Know How But They Found Me.  IDKHOW was a band on the poster last year!  It all comes full circle, y'all.  Her top streamer was a single that popped up in that first album.  "My Ego Dies in the End" has 20.5 million streams.

That little "Exodus" drum roll that pops up over and over in there made me laugh out loud the first time it fired out.  That video is brutal though - who knew that watching someone remove makeup and cry could be so affecting.  The top track from the second disc is also very good, confessional folky pop.  "Massachusetts" fires up 5.6 million streams.  And no, I cannot spell that state name without help.

Sort of like a Taylor Swift vibe in there for me too.  I love the idea of her knowing she could make some cash off of that chain, but also clearly knowing it ain't for sale.  Her videos are definitely pretty crappy and low-rent!  But her voice is liquid honey and her lyrics are clever and interesting.  I feel like maybe she should change her performing name so that it doesn't make me think of crappy Canadian pop singers, and then she'll be #1!  I'd go check her out for sure.

Crowe Boys

One Liner: Actual brothers making pretty fun folky rock
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie rock, Americana, folk rock
Home: New Orleans (via Baton Rouge)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15
Day: Friday
Weekend Two Only.

Beatbox Stage at 2:00.

Thoughts: My elementary school principal was named Mrs. Crowe.  She freaking ruled.  Well, you know how memories from childhood persist and morph and settle in, to fit what you think they were, but if my memory is correct, it was Mrs. Crowe who made it so that our hallways were like a miniature zoo full of animals we could look at during the school day.  If I remember correctly, good grades or attendance or something would earn you time with the animals.  I definitely remember the insanely soft, light grey chinchillas.  But my favorite of all of the animals in the school was, in part, because of my favorite place in the school.  The library (who knew, I was a nerd?) was my refuge to go read, and the left side wall of the library had windows looking out into a large aviary that had been built into a nook of the building.  There was a magical little spiral staircase that led up to a similarly small upstairs part of the library, and I would go hole up in that space with a book.  And the soundtrack to that space was the gently soothing cooing of the group of mourning doves that lived in that aviary.  I loved that space.  While in law school, I found that the sketchy bamboo thicket out back of our crappy duplex was the home to a pack of mourning doves, and so when I was stressed out I learned to go sit on the tiny back patio and just listen to them call.

You can see the spiral staircase there, and those windows in the bottom right corner led out to the aviary.  I think I had to spend extra time here after school while my mom did PTA stuff, and so I spent some nice, quiet time in these spaces.

Oh, I am so pleased.  Go to 17:20 in this video and you can see some of what I meant!  At 21:35 you can see the aviary!  I am literally tearing up right now.  God, I hope this band is actually good.  Haha.

Hooray for me!  A nice little Americana/folky sound with great harmonies and some tasty banjo licks.  Their Spotify bio says that they spent their childhood traveling around the American South with their family band until their mother passed away.  So, the boys put down roots in New Orleans as young teenagers and started to gravitate towards folk-influenced artists.  Ocie Crowe on acoustic guitar and Wes Crowe on mandolin.  According to their website bio, they originally tried to break through as an indie punk band, with Ocie on guitar, Wes on bass, and other brother Jacob on drums, but that was apparently a major flop.  "After one night of hustling to fill up a venue, the crowd completely emptied out after the opening act’s set."  That has to be a horrible feeling.  But as they evolved into something else, a friend played their tunes for one of the guys in the Revivalists, who jumped on it and helped the brothers get into the studio and record their sound.

They reluctantly started posting little clips to TikTok, and a rendition of "Where Did I Go Wrong" went viral while the two brothers were at their normal jobs, trying to keep track of it going crazy.  Within hours, several hundred thousand views, and by the next day they snagged more than a million views (with it finally topping out over 13 million streams).  That led to managers and labels and everyone else popping out to snatch them up, and they ended up signing with C3.  That is still their top track, with 6.8 million streams.

Good lyrics about just trying to figure out life as it keeps hurtling by.  No actual album yet, although their last several singles are released with the cover for a future album that will be called Made to Wander.  "Let Me Feel Alone" is the second biggest streamer so far with just over a million streams.

His voice sounds like someone else who I can't quite recall.  But the harmonies and the instruments and the vocals, all just spot on for me.  Good ass hootenanny song to boogie down to in an open field!  "Bootstraps" is also a good tune.  For all the people who wanted to hear Caamp last year, this ought to get them in the mood this time!

Sam Barber (2025)

One Liner: Funny to think that Zach Bryan has been around long enough to have artists following in his footsteps, but this guy is right there.
Wikipedia Genre: country, rock, folk, alternative (err, really tho?)
Home: Southeast Missouri

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 7
Day: Friday
Weekend Two Only.

Lady Bird Stage at 5:30.

Thoughts: He was at Two Step Inn in 2023, and to be completely honest, I thought I was about to hear Sam Fender.  I am sort of sad that this is not Sam Fender.  I was pumped that he might be trying to come back, since his last attempt to ACL was cancelled.  Alas, a country guy instead.  No offense intended to my man Barbs here, just wanted some of that Hypersonic Missiles action.

Back in 2023, Wikipedia was unhelpful, in that "Sam Barber" there was this: "Samuel Barber (September 17, 1919 – April 18, 1999) was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Barber played with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1940, and served in the US Army during World War II. He died in Birmingham in 1999 at age 79."

But by now, this Barber has begun to make a name for himself and has an actual Wikipedia entry.  Born in 2003 in Fronha, Missouri, he is just barely old enough to drink.  He was raised on his family's ancestral farm in far eastern Missouri, a population of 254 in the town.  He started learning to play guitar when he was 16 while messing around with his grandfather's guitar, and by 2021 he was enrolled in State Technical College of Missouri and releasing little music videos on TikTok.  He then auditioned for the 20th season of American Idol and received a Golden Ticket to head to Hollywood.  However, he was subsequently eliminated, and his performance did not air.  Booooooooo.

But his rise has been ridiculously fast - he played the Grand Ole Opry just three months after his first official headlining concert at The Basement, in Nashville, in 2023.  His big hit, which has already been certified as Platinum by the RIAA, is "Straight and Narrow", and that remains his top track by a lot.  313.7 million streams.

I love that location - can I please go there right now?  Super simple tune, but a powerful message about overcoming setbacks.  Wild to think he wrote that while still a teenager.  And by the way, in one interview, he admits that he first learned the guitar by playing Zach Bryan covers.  He gives a shout out to Tyler Childers, saying that Bottles and Bibles is his favorite album ever.  He also includes ZB and Stapleton as his other inspirations.  And the comparison to an early Zach Bryan is a quick and easy one to make.  Some of these songs have a touch of production going on, but most of them are super stripped-down tunes with this kid singing over his acoustic, and nothing else going on.  

One EP - 2023's Millon Eyes - and one ridiculously long album - 2024's Restless Mind.  In an interview, he said that his favorite track from the EP is "Save Me," which is funny because it is in the bottom three for streams for the disc.  His second-most streamed tune on the EP is a cover - "Dancing in the Sky," originally by something called Dani & Lizzy.  102.4 million streams.

Definitely the track on here with the most production - he leaves behind the stripped-down sound in favor of drums, bass, organ, etc. and it almost actually sounds like he might be somewhere other than his bedroom.

The new disc is an hour and thirty-four minutes and 28 songs, so he is taking another page out of the Bryan playbook by just shoveling everything into one bag and hoping it holds.  I actually like the direction he is going, with more production and a richer sound.  The top single that isn't a re-released track is "Indigo," featuring Avery Anna.  172 million streams.

Terrible blurry video.  But very nice little tune.  Her voice is leagues better than his, but it still works together.  The playcount on the album is honestly confusing.  I guess some songs have made it onto playlists and others have not, because it is literally like 1.7 million, 14 million, 1.6 million 29 million, 1.7 million 1.5 million, 1.8 million, 172 million.  For an old person trained to listen to entire albums at once, that is jarring to see.

I'd go see him play.  Too bad he is Weekend Two only.

Gigi Perez

One Liner: Excellent indie rock lyrics with a surprising voice
Wikipedia Genre: indie folk, indie pop
Home: West Palm Beach, FL (although maybe NYC now)

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 7
Day: Sunday
Both Weekends.

Ladybird Stage at 5:30.

Thoughts: She's got a track with over a billion streams?  What in the actual?  And, I'm not trying to be a rude ass boomer or something, but she definitely sounds like a dude?

It's a nice song, but why in the world does that have a billion streams?  "Sailor Song" and 1.021 billion, for those keeping track.  But if this was just called Perez, and I hadn't seen a video, I would definitely think this singer was male.  Fascinating.  Anne Hathaway look-alike getting her vape on.

Gianna Brielle Perez was born in New Jersey and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida.  In high school she was in a band called Wendy Lane, and then attended Berklee College of Music before the pandemic shut it down.  Her older sister Celene died in 2020, and to cope with her grief she started releasing videos on TikTok.  Her tracks "Celene" and "Sometimes (Backwoods)" went viral there, which got her signed with Interscope Records.  After a few singles and an EP, she was released from Interscope and then released that track above in July 2024, which went to #22 on the Billboard Top 100 after also going viral on the TikeddyTok.  Some Christian nerds got uptight about the line saying she doesn't believe in God, but either way it helped her get signed to Island Records.

I've just let it roll for a day, and this is honestly really good music.  She had a 2023 EP called How to Catch a Falling Knife and then a 2025 album called At the Beach, In Every Life.  Sometimes, she sort of sounds like Jeff Buckley.  Her second-most streamed track was her first single (well, at least what Spotify provides us).  "Sometimes (Backwoods)" has 158.4 million streams.

I like that too.  Got a great indie rock vibe going - in addition to Buckley, I'm hearing Death Cab.  She credits Troye Silvan as being an inspiration, but that is something that I don't know at all.  She is great - a fun surprise when I was expecting something different.  I'd go see her for sure.

Gregory Alan Isakov

One Liner: Perfect folky beauty

Wikipedia Genre: contemporary folk, indie folk, country folk
Home: Boulder, CO

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 8
Day: Sunday
Weekend Two Only.

Beatbox Stage at 7:30 (weekend two is lucky here)

Thoughts:  I was so pleased to see this guy on the poster.  Many years ago, when I was using Pandora quite a bit for my musical listening time, I had created a station I called Proper.  I also had similar themed offerings like Gangsta, Fury, Camaro, and Good Country (not sure how I couldn't figure a better name for that last one).  Anyway, at some point, this guy's song "The Stable Song" started popping up in my Proper playlist all the time.  And it is freaking beautiful.  137.2 million streams.

Like a perfect combination of Ryan Adams, Jose Gonzalez, Billy Bragg & Wilco, and the two chill Beck albums, all rolled into one lovely little banjo-fueled nugget.  And that isn't even his most popular tune!  Also, damn rude of them to make him Weekend Two only.  Hurtful, even.

Interestingly, he is originally from Johannesburg, South Africa.  His family immigrated to the Philadelphia area when he was around 7.  He began touring with a band at 16, and later moved to Boulder for college (although something called Naropa University, not CU Boulder).  He kept at the music thing, self-releasing a few albums before being named Best Male Songwriter by Colorado magazine Westword.  He was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in 2019, and his most streamed tune was used in a McDonald's commercial, of all things.  "Big Black Car," from 2009's This Empty Northern Hemisphere, with 330.5 million streams.

Fascinating.  Why in the world would McD's choose that chill ditty to sell their slop.  Well, I found it, and I guess it actually kinda works.

First apartment!  Christmas!  Candlelit dinner of dry and cold Big Macs that you apparently left out while you made a jenky shape on the wall in white lights!  But yeah, actually kind of cute and it works with the song.

He has a handful of singles with like-minded fellas.  Nathaniel Rateliff.  Noah Kahan.  Shovels & Rope.  The Rateliff tune is excellent.  HIs second-biggest streamer is off of 2013's Weatherman - "Amsterdam" has 193.5 million streams.

His voice sounds like magic.  Is that some sort of an effect he is putting on there, or is he just layering his own voice to make harmonies?  I don't know, but I like it.  Like all of this actually - I've pretty much just let it play for four days over the last weekend to keep enjoying these songs.  It's nothing revolutionary or out-of-the-ordinary, but if you are looking for beauty in folky goodness, this is the place.

Clover County

One Liner: Country that veers into a folky pop at times, but sounds great in either

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but country, Americana, folky pop
Home: Athens, GA (via Orlando and many other spots)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 20
Day: Saturday
Weekend One Only.

BMI Stage at 3:15.

Thoughts:  The first song kind of came at me like a Dayglow vibe, and then she kicks in the singing and it is alluring.  I've been through the whole catalog (not a huge feat, relatively limited) and that holds throughout.  Walks a fine line between country and folky pop, that sort of brings to mind people like Sierra Ferrell at times.

No Wikipedia, so I have to piece together a background from elsewhere.  Her website bio says she was raised in Central Florida.  According to Wikipedia, that is usually defined as Tampa to Orlando.  Sounds like a deliciously trashy section of the world.  She began songwriting at the age of 13, teaching herself to play on her dad's "collection of 1980's songbooks."  The idea of a songbook today is hilarious.  I had (maybe still have) one of Robert Earl Keen songs from when I thought I would play guitar.  Until I tried playing the dang F chord.  That one broke me.

A.G. Schiano is her real name.  The name Clover County is an homage to the places she has lived.  Orlando to Denver to Atlanta to Birmingham to Athens (to attend UGA).  Thats a fun string of towns to me.  But they don't seem especially prone to clovers?  Ah, no, this is metaphorical: "“Clover County'' represents a state of mind, no matter where you’re planted you have the choice to grow."  Are clovers especially hearty?  Feels like weeds would be the heartiest and able to grow no matter what.  I guess Weed County brings to mind a different vibe.

A couple of singles and then one 2024 EP called Porch Lights.  To track is "Ultraviolet" from the EP, with 383k streams.

That bright and sunny start is cool, and her voice comes in with a lilt of country but joins in on the bopping of the beat.  By the chorus, she just sounds like she's singing a pop song.  I like it.  "Under These Conditions" is also on the new EP, and is her second-most streamed with 268k.

A little more stripped down, but the steel on the chorus and that piano joining in makes the song for me.  That is a really nice song.  I am going to share it with the wife right now.

I'd go watch this for sure.  I don't know if she will be in the noon area of the schedule where I'll miss out on it, but I really enjoy what she has going on.

Wild Rivers

One Liner: Folky Canadians who have come around to a poppier, cleaner sound

Wikipedia Genre: Indie folk
Home: Toronto

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 11
Day: Sunday
Weekend One Only.

Beatbox Stage at 5:30.

Thoughts: I literally just said to myself - I just want to find something new that I can listen to for a while and enjoy as I get some work done.  No disrespect to the folks I just finished reviewing, but this is a welcome find here.  I also just needed to grind on something for like 4 straight hours, so I have definitely given them a fair amount of my time.  It's very nice!

And why wouldn't it be nice to listen to a band of Canadian people who have named their band after a lovely feature of their beautiful country?  The members met at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and formed the band in 2013.  At first, it was just two of them - Devan Glover on vocals and Khalid Yassein on vocals and guitar - that went into the studio to make some magic.  But later they hooked up with Andrew Oliver to add more guitar and some synths to the sound.  By 2023, they were opening for the Chicks for part of their world tour.

Four albums of nice little folky tunes that every once in a while can fire up.  2016's Wild Rivers, 2022's Sidelines, 2024's Never Better, and 2024's Better Now.  "Thinking 'Bout Love" is one of only two with more than 100 million streams, at 174.5 million.  Not even on one of the albums, on a 2020 EP called Songs to Break Up To.

That one feels less like indie folk and more like an R&B-ish pop thing.  I'm sure it was a TikTok tune.  Almost has a John Mayer vibe to it, but without any guitar fireworks in the middle.  One of their two 2024 albums received a Juno nomination for Adult Alternative Album of the Year.  Their second-biggest tune was on their debut - "Speak Too Soon" has 115.5 million streams.

Now that is a little more like the Indie Folk I was expecting.  Like that Caamp band, but with a lady cranking the harmonies.  The newest album has a more polished sound than either of those - the title track has an insistent beat to it that is a little bit jittery and forward, as opposed to the lazy feel of that first disc.  "Cave" could be like a Nashville duet.  Actually, same with "Anyways, I Love You."  I could easily see that being like a Maren Morris/Brothers Osborne tune.  Not a bad thing, just a definite shift.

I'd go watch this.

Paul Kelly

One Liner:  One of Australia's best songwriters, blasting folk and rock from the desert

Wikipedia Genre:  Australian rock, folk

Home: Adelaide, Australia

Poster Position: Late Addition.
Weekend Two Only.
Friday at 1:15.

AmEx Stage.

Thoughts:  My first impression after a few tracks is that this guy is bound to have been the lead singer for a Brit Pop band that I don't recall.  "Darling It Hurts" sounds like an Oasis B-Side with some doowop swagger.

Huh.  He is actually an Australian singer, who has worked with lots of groups (but none of them are familiar at all).  The Dots, The Coloured Girls, The Messengers, Professor Ratbaggy, and Stardust Five - he's 69, so he has been around the block for a long ass time.  First album was 1985.   David Fricke from Rolling Stone calls Kelly "one of the finest songwriters I have ever heard, Australian or otherwise".  He originally started in Melbourne, recording with the Dots, but then moved to Sydney and started up Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, which he changed to Messengers later because of the racist issues with that first name.  He claims to have written his first song after listening to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.  Classic disc.  Too many albums, but he has 14 ARIA awards and is in their hall of fame as well.  He even has a biopic that was in theaters in 2012!  His Wikipedia is literally too long to read.

Honestly, I am really enjoying this.  Makes me think of a movie, like this guy should be the character in a movie about a travelling troubadour who sings these rad, crusty songs.  To track is "To Her Door," with a surprising 74.7 million streams.

Sounds like a classic country song at first, with those piano riffs and the snare rim click keeping time.  But after the first chorus, it kicks in to a more standard rock rave-up.  A little Springsteen-esque, just needs some sax in there instead of the guitar solo.  That song was voted into the APRA Top 30 Australian Songs of All Time in 2001.  This was on 1987's Under the Sun album.  His second-biggest track apparently features the same protagonist as in that earlier song, this is "How to Make Gravy."  44.4 million streams.

That one starts out like a Counting Crows jam.  This was from the 1998 album of the same name, which he also used as the name for his memoir book.  I don't expect that I will be there for Friday of Weekend 2 at 1pm, but I honestly really have enjoyed letting this guy roll for a while.  Good stuff.

Dustin Kensrue

One Liner:  Ex-hardcore guy making country/Americana tunes now

Wikipedia Genre:  Post-hardcore, emo, alternative rock, CCM (???), experimental rock, folk

Home: Orange County, CA

Poster Position: 16
Weekend Two Only.
Saturday at 1:40.

Miller Lite Stage.

Thoughts:  Pronounced KENZ-roo.  He was (is?) the lead singer and rhythm guitarist in Thrice, a melodic hardcore punk band from southern California.  He has also been in a band called The Modern Post, and released worship music (that is not here on Spotify under his name).  I don't know Thrice at all, but it is interesting to have something hardcore under his belt when these tunes are most definitely not that at all.  And I say that even when the Wikipedia genre list above includes those genres - these tunes are much more like country and Americana than post-hardcore or emo.  Also, FYI, CCM stands for Contemporary Christian Music.

Wikipedia provides zero background, it is like he was born at the moment in 2006 when he signed with a label.  A different interview says he was still a teenager when he formed Thrice, and would frequently head to Palm Springs to visit his grandparents and wander for hours through the desert landscape.

What that leads to, in the music, is a pretty varied soundtrack.  The newest album, 2024's Desert Dreaming, is very much more country and Americana - almost sounding like something classic from the old days.  Marty Robbins and Son Volt joining forces.  2007's Please Come Home was the first disc, and "Pistol" sounds like he is trying to emulate Gold-era Ryan Adams, complete with the harmonica riffs and voice.  2015's Carry the Fire almost has a Mumford and Sons vibe to it, just no banjos in there.  "Gallows" is sort of sounding like a Bob Schneider rocker - you can hear the rock band guy in there.  But overall, the feeling I get is Ryan Bingham, that sort of rough and tumble guy singing from his heart.  The live album Thoughts that Float on a Different Blood is pretty solid acoustic stuff, but the main reason that it is of interest is that he covers a wide range of other bands - Miley Cyrus, Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Counting Crows - which is pretty fun.   

The top streamer is that cover of "Wrecking Ball," but I want you to hear the original stuff instead.  The top original track is that "Gallows" one.  5.4 million streams.

Pretty good - you can definitely groove on that one.  Danceable rock with a catchy singalong spirit.  "Blood and Wine," from that first album, is the second biggest streamer with 3.2 million.

There is that folky, Ryan Adams-ey sort of shuffle in there.  That "Pistol" one has even more of it in there.  Just because I think you need it, one more with one of the newest songs that really shows the country side - this is "High Scalers" with 120k streams.

Rolling on by the Joshua Tree before getting to grandpa's house.  Have you ever hit a tumbleweed on the highway?  Extremely exhilarating experience when you nail one just right and it disintegrates into a billion twigs.  Delicious.  Anyway, yeah, I kind of dig this dude.  I'd go check it out.

CMAT

One Liner:  Irish power pop gal with a strong voice

Wikipedia Genre:  Folk, pop, country

Home: Dublin

Poster Position: Late Addition.
Weekend Two Only.
Friday at 2:45.

Tito's Tent.

Thoughts:  Not the Common Management Admission Test taken in India to apply to a management programme.  Instead, this is an Irish musician named Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson whose first album - If My Wife Knew I'd Be Dead - was released in 2022 and debuted at number one on the Irish Chart.

This has nothing to do with anything, but I just tried making mayonnaise for the first time.  It is terrible.  I think the cookbook should have done more to detail the proper type of oil to use, as this goop now tastes like solidified olive oil.  And it is very yellow.  Not appetizing in the least.  I need to smear it on a bacon sandwich now and then see what's up.

Anyhoo, she left Ireland to move to Manchester, England to pursue music with her boyfriend, performing together as Bad Sea.  She has since described that relationship as toxic and so she quit music for a while, but Charlie XCX met her and advised her to get back on the horse.  That has worked out really well for her, as that debut album won the Choice Music Prize in Ireland for album of the year.  I think her voice reminds me of Neko Case, and a little like Kate Bush.  Or am I hearing the Lake Street Dive lady?  I like it.

Lotta singles, then that 2022 album followed up by 2023's Crazymad, For Me.  Her top track is from that debut album - "I Don't Really Care For You," with 9.9 million streams.

Her voice is really good - has a cool tone that is a little old-timey and fulsome.  I've been letting her roll for longer than I needed to, just enjoying the vibe.  The top track off of the newer album is "Stay for Something," with 5,999,935 streams.  So close to 6 million I'm just going to listen to it seventy times and get it there.

Sounds like a War on Drugs song there at the beginning.  Or Strand of Oaks?  Never can really remember which one of those to invoke when I hear their sound.  Whatevs.  Her aesthetic is whack with the huge red hair and a gold tooth.  But again, I think her voice is really choice.  It feels caged in for a lot of that song, like she would love to release it but keeps it in check for us until the chorus.  Wikipedia says she has been described as a bisexual icon.

I can see her really banging this show out inside of the Tito's Tent - feels like she'll rip the roof off of that sucker.

Bre Kennedy

One Liner:  Truly lovely poppy folky singer songwriter stuff

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, pop that leans towards folky country?

Home: Nashville

Poster Position: Recent addition
Weekend Two Only.
Friday at 3:10.

BMI Stage.

Thoughts:  No Wikipedia, so you have to take in the sort of Public Relations gobbledygook about who she is.  Apparently raised in a music household (name check Petty, Aretha, and Carole) and influenced by "mesmerizing talents" like Carlile, Fleetwood Mac, Feist, and Raitt, she spent some time in L.A. and then loaded up her Nissan and headed out to Nashville.  Another article notes that she grew up in California with a Blues and Rock musician for a father, who was a single dad and moved the family around a lot.  She says that a girl heard her singing in the middle school bathroom (who does that?) and the girl was like, you have to go audition for this showcase in Hollywood (who does that, outside of a Disney musical?) where she met her manager.

I think the best comparison I have in my head right now are the newer sounds from Maggie Rogers.  Fantastic voice over sweepingly large, pop-centric folky tunes.  I've run through the whole catalog and it is really just good music.  "Control" sort of bites the violins from "Bittersweet Symphony."  "The Hardest Part," a duet with Hadley Kennary is freaking beautiful.  "The Vase" is not only beautiful but also lyrically very clever.  But some of the new album definitely leans into harder guitars for bits, even though her voice stays pretty over the top.

Her first EP, 2019's Jealous of Birds, has her second biggest streamer.  The title track with 5.2 million streams.

Live version, couldn't locate a normal video for this one, but you definitely get the vibe there.  "I'm jealous of birds, 'cause down here it hurts, but I think I'll stay." That is rad.  And the harmonies going on in there are so tasty.  After that, she released 2020's Twenty Something, then 2021's Notes to Self, (a bunch of singles next) and finally 2023's Scream Over Everything.  That new album hasn't been getting the streams but it is really enjoyable.  But her top streamer overall is from that 2020 disc.  This is "Nothing Compares" with 6.2 million streams.

Slightly different than the album version, but you get the idea.  Almost has the feel of a contemporary Christian track, but even so, really a gorgeous song.  This is deeply enjoyable music.  Being at 3pm is kind of nice, actually, in this instance, in that it could make for a really nice little break in the action.  Music to lounge on the grass to for an hour.

Myles Smith

One Liner:  Vibey, folky soft rock that is lovely if not very sticky

Wikipedia Genre: singer-songwriter

Home: Luton, England

Poster Position: 16
Both Weekends.
Sunday at 3:45.

IHG Stage.

Thoughts:   Born to a British Jamaican family in 1998, about two weeks after I graduated from college.  Which makes me feel deeply old.  He grew up listening to all sorts of music, and while young he bought a guitar for himself and taught himself how to play.  He began performing covers at open mic nights by the time he was 12, apparently focusing on soft folk songwriters like Mumford, Sheeran, and Chris Martin.  He got his larger start by covering The Neighbourhood's "Sweater Weather," which went viral in 2022.

"Behind" sort of feels like someone is trying to make a Noah Kahan song after having heard only one or two Noah Kahan songs.  I can't put my finger on who the rest of this mostly reminds me of - "Wait For You" is really bugging me because it is the perfect example of whatever it is that is stuck in my mind, but I can't come up with the comp.  But his mega hit is 2024's "Stargazing," which he wrote with two other guys and released just this May.  There are now six version of it on Spotify, and so it is hard to listen to his discography without getting beaten over the head with it.

The chorus almost makes it sound like an EDM song, with those claps increasing as the guitar drives the tune harder, like you are waiting for the drop to come (but it never does).  Is it just me or does every song's comment section include someone talking about how the song helped them when they got their cancer diagnosis.  WTF man.  But, a lovely song that is really nice to bop along to.  Definitely sounds like something else I have heard before, but very nice.

No actual albums, just some singles and EPs, but his other top tune is a 2023 single called "Solo."  118 million streams.

Pretty good turn of phrase for the chorus there.  Another really nice sounding song - his voice is strong without overpowering, and lyrically I like it too.  Good heartbreak tune.  I've gone through the You Promised a Lifetime (Acoustic) EP from 2024 several times, and it is really nice.  If you want some gentle folky soft rock in your day, I heartily recommend it.  I may choose Bakar over this cat, but they both have a really nice vibe to them.

CAAMP (2024)

One Liner: Folksy Americana with a bunch o' banjo and several legit bangers.

Wikipedia Genre: Folk
Home: Athens, Ohio

Poster Position: 3 (?!?)

Both Weekends.

Saturday at 4:20.

AmEx Stage.

Thoughts: WTF.  The Honda stage is like a 2019 reunion.  Misterwives?  2019. Orville Peck?  2019.  Caamp?  2019.  What is the deal here? [EDIT, this was the case when they were still playing Sunday evening on the Honda stage, but now Chappel Roan owns that night]

Not a fan of the weird spellings for band names.  Chvches and Hovvdy and this.  Interestingly, back in 2019, if you tried searching for CAAMP in Wikipedia, you get the Canadian trade association for mortgage professionals.  Which seems like a mistake to pick a name that ends up directing people to a buncha nerdy lenders.  But now, they've finally stepped up and gotten a Wikipedia page...

Their website says that they are aficionados of both denim and light beer.  Which is not very helpful, but I will say that their music is damn fine.  Whichever one of the three guys plays the banjo is legit.  I read an interview saying that these guys have been opening for Rainbow Kitten Surprise, which would be a fun double-bill.  And in fact, some of this music has kind of a RKS tilt - looking at "Strawberries" or "Books."  Two of the guys met as middle school students at a summer camp, and after some time at Ohio University, they added the bass and keyboard players.

Back in 2019, they were showing up at ACL with just one album - 2016's Caamp - and then two 2018 EPs both named Boys (Side A and Side B).  The new stuff is a little more folk-rocky, and a little less bluegrassy.  But it's all very enjoyable.  The top song is from the debut album, "Vagabond" has 186.9 million streams.  

Got that Lumineers/The Head and the Heart start, all quiet build up with the quick banjo picking, and singing about sneaking whiskey sips by the river, before the action kicks in with a little "YIP!"  Oh, or Avett Brothers!  This has an Avett Bros. flavor as well, but with a much raspier voice.

Their other top song rules too - I think I thought that this was Lord Huron when I have heard it on the radio and whatnot, but "By and By," from their 2019 album of the same name, is a jam.  129 million streams.

Freaking love it.  Simple as can be (except for the rad banjo action) but just a purely lovely and happy tune to bop along to.  I need more happiness in my life and this delivers.

After that, one more album - 2022's Lavender Days.  WAIT, these guys have The OTTER!?!?!  My wife freaking loves "The Otter" and I had no clue that was this same band!  I literally just got goosebumps at this realization.  30.2 million streams.

I am so very happy right now.  I had no clue that all of these songs were this same band!  I knew they had that fun song from the last time they came, but I had not followed them to know that they kept putting out such fun stuff.  Not even lying, grinning at my desk like an idiot right now, just so pleased to have this song playing at me right now.

The band claims the extra "a" was added to the name to make for easier internet searches.  After reading four different interviews/articles about these guys, I feel like I don't know much more than I did before, so not much more for background.  Just know that they make solid banjo music.  I think I know what I want to do on Sunday night before Sturgill!

Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners

One Liner:  One monster, if short, hit, and then a pretty good set of indie rock tunes

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, this is indie folky rocky

Home: Colorado/Bozeman/Seattle

Poster Position: 18 (higher than I expected)
Both Weekends.
Sunday at 12:55.

Honda Stage.

Thoughts:  I am actually a little surprised at this - fully expected some sort of bluegrass freakout hootenanny with that band name.  Instead, this is kind of like the early Lumineers were trying to sound like the Fleet Foxes while practicing in their garage.  Also, they aren't even from West Virginia!  (yes, I understand that coal can come from many other places, but still, this would be like me naming my band Jack and the Redwoods and being from Florida).  Their bio says that three of them started the band in Colorado in high school, and recorded their first album in a "hot and cramped Harry Potter closet under the stairs at Nic's mom's house, and released it in May 2017 on graduation day."  They apparently currently reside in the Bozeman area (per their own website), but YouTube says they are in Seattle.

That first album is just called RMCM, and as mentioned was released in 2017.  The first song from it is their top track by a light year - "Evergreen" has 631.6 million streams.

It almost sounds like they get off the beat a few times.  There is some other ACL band from last year who this voice reminds me of, and I can't come up with it.  Also, WTF that a 1:27 minute song has 600 million streams.  Guaranteed this is TikTok's fault.

After that, 2018's Solstice has no song that breaks the 5 million stream mark.  Which is unfortunate.  Also, "Tide" sounds like they were trying for a Coldplay thing.  2019's Subliming sees a little more success, in that "WET SOCKS" has 14.2 million streams.

By the way, HUGE pet peeve to have wet socks.  If I am walking in the kitchen in my socks, which I frequently do because the wife likes a no shoe household, and I step in a puddle of ice melt or sink splash or whatever, I want to fight the sun.  I don't get angry much, but that one really gets the old proverbial goat.  I like that guitar tone they use halfway through in there to get a little wobbly and psychedelic.  Smart lyrics too.  I like it.

Since then, just singles (one with Mt. Joy), so that is a pretty big gap since their last album.  Maybe a triumphant new disc is just about to stick its landing.  I almost certainly will not be there at 12:55 on Sunday, but this is worth checking out.