Water Liars create songs of novelesque visions. Straightforward, bucolic and romantic imagery of a breakfast-catering kitchen and a clean bed serve as the setting for "Linens."

There's a bird inside of my chest
He's fighting for breath
He's dying to leave...

As I am driving across the river into Illinois, on my way to this filming of Water Liars for Show Me Shows, and my head is full with memories of all the other hundreds of times I've made the same crossing.

Imagine yourself sitting on the porch of a multi-family home in rural Kentucky. Imagine a man and his aged guitar. The time might be right after dusk, and that's when all noise gets swept away by the darkness.

Greetings from Ryan at Show Me Shows! You may know me as the audio guy for this fine video series, but today I come to you as a storyteller.

Work hard, make music that you care about and hope that it finds and resonates with the people that need to hear it. From an artistic standpoint, that's all a young band like Santah can hope to do.

After Ryan Spearman's rooftop performance of "Time Machine," we descended the ladder again dangling the guitar from the brown extension cord, passing it down as we went.

Along with folk guitarist Ryan Spearman, we ascended the sawdust-strewn stairs up to the belfry of the Grandel Theatre.

In the green space of Strauss Park that looks out on the Fox Theatre, Funky Butt Brass Band set up for a rendition of the traditional song "Just a Closer Walk with Thee."

We met St. Louis' Funky Butt Brass Band in the Grandel Theatre and congregated in the upstairs chapel area.

Miss Jubilee and the Humdingers set up for an uptempo version of Ethel Waters's 1925 original that conjured an eclectic mix of hot jazz and swing.