Not sure if “junkerdash” is an industrial term, but it’s how Boise band Hillfolk Noir describes their band of honky-tonk. They play mountain music: the kind of stuff you ‘d surely have heard at a tavern off the beaten path and around the bend during the Grapes of Wrath era. Sometimes, it’s slow and filled with hurt — sparse stand-up bass and singer Travis Ward delivering aching songs of heartbreak. In fact, even when Hillfolk Noir is upbeat, the band is still restrained and always keeps its wits. And that’s what makes Hillfolk Noir refreshing: it’s tired, rootsy folk that feels like it comes out after long days of hard work on a chain gang. At the Republic Brewing Company.
THE HOP!: 20XX (all ages)
MUSEUM OF ARTS & CULTURE: BeGin! Feat. Hannah Reader (all ages)
We used to see a lot of the Shook Twins — Laurie and Katelyn Shook — around these parts. But the Sandpoint natives moved to Portland a few years ago, where they’ve taken the folkies there by storm with their strange, witty harmonies and out-of-the-box song. The word “quirky” gets thrown around a lot in articles about the pair, and it really is appropriate: the sisters strum banjos over looping pedals, all the while singing like Tori Amos/PJ Harvey protégés and, sometimes, even beatboxing. That sound has gained them opening slots for big-time acts: Ryan Adams, Laura Viers, Mason Jennings, and the Head and the Heart. At Bing Crosby Theater.
A CLUB: Truth Under Attack, Discourage the Curious, Storm Normandy (all ages)
THE HOP!: Holiday Havoc feat. Pest, Wurd One, Mutiny Inc., BenRay, So $icc Entertainment, OnOne, Epik, D-Logic, Enfeeble Ataxia, Jesse B. (all ages)
THE KNITTING FACTORY: Lamb of God, In Flames, HELLYEAH, Sylosis (all ages)
MOOTSY’S: Mirror Mirror, Garlands, Ramblechild