THEM COULEE BOYS LIVE AT THE MASONIC TEMPLE
SATURDAY, MARCH 30TH
The Masonic Temple
616 Graham Ave, Eau Claire, WI 54701
General Admission | All Ages
Doors open at 7pm
$20 in advance | $25 at the door
****ONLINE SALES HAVE CLOSED. A VERY LIMITED NUMBER OF TICKETS ARE STILL AVAILABLE WHEN THE DOORS OPEN AT 7PM***
Them Coulee Boys craft a brand of Americana that blends folk, punk, bluegrass, and rock & roll. They sing their conversational songs in 4 part harmony, often with a banjo stomp and rhythm section punch that drives the audience onto the dance floor and into community. Their trusty van has propelled them thousands of miles across the country and into the hearts of strangers, who tend to leave each show as family. It's music that creates community through the shared experience of joy and giving a shit.
The story is true. Soren Staff and Beau Janke 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 (called coulees by French fur trappers), they were fast friends. At camp, another counselor took to teasing them saying them coulee boys are at it again. The name stuck. Spending their weeks playing songs with kids around a campfire led to weekends figuring out an Avett Brothers tune or classic country song. In 2013, they added Soren's brother Jens on mandolin, and a rough-around-the-edges, stomping 3-piece folk band played their first show as Them Coulee Boys. Four years later Neil Krause joined to play acoustic and electric bass, and in 2019 when Stas Hable joined on drums, TCB evolved into the full-on americana rock band they are today. The live band straddles the line between pure and genuine ballads and a sweaty, leaping take on countrified rock-n-roll.
With three full length albums and an EP behind them, including 2019's Die Happy (produced by Trampled By Turtles' Dave Simonett on Lo-Hi Records), the band has garnered international attention and earned press in American Songwriter and The Bluegrass Situation, as well as tours with TBT and a spot on the songwriter's Cayamo Cruise. In 2020, they were named Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Band to Watch, and were nominated for band of the year by the Wisconsin Area Music Industry. When the world stopped in early 2020, the band holed up in their practice space and began writing, and the result is their brand new effort entitled Namesake.
Namesake was recorded at The Hive in the band's hometown of Eau Claire, WI, a small Wisconsin city infamously blessed with a wealth of musical talent. The record was produced by Grammy-winner Brian Joseph, who has worked with the likes of Paul Simon, Sufjan Stevens, Ani Difranco, The Indigo Girls, and earned his Grammy producing and engineering Bon Iver's Bon Iver. The Hive itself is an intimate room, with ceilings draped with nautical rope, and bookshelves adorned with all manner of things antiquarian, living and dead. Joseph's fingerprints are everywhere on the record, and the warm feel of home left the band trusting further expansion of their sound. The result is a record that is equal parts bear hug, gut punch, and a steadying hand.
Taking inspiration from the intimate nature of the space after a long period of quarantine, Namesake feels familial, like old friends with no need for small talk. There are moments of power and punch, balanced with an intimacy only felt between the ones we love. The banjo stomp that personifies TCB is still there on the title track Namesake, but now it's paired with the raw power of electric guitar, mandolin, and banjo on Phil's Song and 1st Team All-American. The mood is dialed way back for Hallelujah and 4/1, to let the lyrics shine. There's a nod to Petty and Springsteen in the expanse of Given Up, and a Dylanesque troubadour's longing behind the sweet tale of Knuckleballer.
Namesake is Them Coulee Boys following a new trajectory, combining their take on a punched up version of folk-grass/americana with a comfort in electric instruments and rock & roll. The record lives and breathes, is both intimate and bombastic. It's your sweet aunt who makes delicious pies and your wiley uncle not afraid to hit a bit of the hooch. At bottom is the acceptance that comes with family and old friends: none of us are perfect, but there's enough love out there to make up for it.
ABOUT THE OPENING PERFORMER
With her infectious debut single Devices, released in May 2023, emerging singer and songwriter Clare Doyle showcases a modern blend of soulful country and rootsy rock alongside the bold lyricism that garnered immediate attention when she began performing in the spring of 2022.
Originally from Saint Paul, MN, Doyle grew up singing along with her mom's Johnny Cash CDs and her dad's Gibson acoustic, and dreaming of becoming a musician. She taught herself to play and write on a borrowed guitar in a college dorm room and began planning a move to Nashville, but found herself fighting brutal self-doubt and bad influences that kept her from embracing her talent.
Doyle had settled in New Orleans, LA until the global pandemic and consequent loss of work forced a move back to her hometown, where she began to rediscover the musical identity she'd neglected and for years. Armed with a decade of heartache, adventure, addiction, and life on the road, she began to alchemize raw emotions into a collection of songs that run the gamut from clever and rollicking, to gritty and gut-wrenching. Initially inspired to write by Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard, now Doyle incorporates both classic and contemporary sensibilities into her songs - she draws on a range of influences to write candidly about loving, losing, hurting, and making a hot mess of things. A lot of artists cite Jason Isbell or Ruston Kelly as...inspirations, but rarely do you hear the attention to detail and knack for describing emotions that prove they've really learned from those two master storytellers, writes Carol Roth of Adventures in Americana, With Doyle, you can tell.
As Doyle prepares two additional single releases over the summer of 2023, plans for additional recording and touring are taking shape, expanding the excitement she's built locally to a larger audience.
OTHER IMPORTANT DETAILS
-All online tickets are will-call, e-ticket, or print at home. No physical tickets will be printed or provided. Your name will appear on a list at the doors to assure your entry.
-Online sales close at 2pm the day of the show. If accessing this site after that time, tickets are not- we repeat, NOT SOLD OUT unless there is a separate announcement saying so. Please do not call the venue to inquire about tickets. Just show up at the doors when they open for your best chance at entry.
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