With a British-influenced timbre that emerged in many garage bands of the late '90s, the Greenhornes have an almost jam-like quality to their unperturbed tempo.

It’s easy to assume Dan Zanes' current musical output is that settled-down, solo-career sound that often seems to follow days of band-filled glory.

Ellis Paul is a voice that is both familiar and uncanny. Influential in the folk-pop rise of the ’90s, Paul is a conduit. His modern appeal is underscored by old-fashioned insight into human experience, an awareness that’s due to a deep respect for the folk balladists that have gone before him.

Rocky Votolato is not simply a boy from Dallas or a Seattle artist who cut his musical teeth in the mid ’90s. He is both. His frank folk sound combines sincere lyrics with deeply melodic motifs that reflect his Southern birth with his Northwestern upbringing.

Like a storyteller, eco-conscious guitarist Teddy Presberg likes to spin his effortless yarns, written in jazz and punctuated with funk, by calling for his listeners to follow him on his journey. Fresh and fluid yet rooted and evocative, his music simply tries to say what he feels must be said.