Built on more than 15 years of “junkerdash” tradition, Hillfolk takes their acoustic guitar, double bass, and “anything you can find at a hardware store” sound and integrates driving drums and an electrified sound. From mountains of frontman Travis Ward’s ragged, spiral-bound notebooks, this Boise, Idaho-based band tells earnest stories about the lives of lovers, law-breakers, and the lion-hearted. “If John Steinbeck owned a speakeasy,” said John Doe (X, the Knitters), “Hillfolk Noir would be the house band.”