Them Coulee Boys

with Clare Doyle

Information | Tickets

Doors 7:00pm | Show 8:00pm

Enter for a chance to win passes to this show

The Current is pleased to offer a ticket giveaway to this concert.

Enter by 12noon (CDT) on Friday, October 11 for a chance to win a pair of passes to this concert. TWO (2) winners will receive a pair of tickets to see Them Coulee Boys with Clare Doyle on Friday, October 11.

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Them Coulee Boys

The story is true. Soren Staff and Beau Janke—co-founders of folk/rock/Americana outfit Them Coulee Boys—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, otherwise known by French fur trappers as coulees, they became fast friends. Camp counselors actually coined the name “them coulee boys” as a way to refer to the constant companions, more often than not with instruments in hand. Soren’s little brother Jens joined the crew on mandolin at camp in 2012, and since, both Neil Krause on bass and Staš Hable on drums have helped to grow the band into the rollicking outfit it is today.

2021 marks the release of their fourth record, Namesake, a ten-song collection that spans from pure and genuine ballads to a leaping, countrified take on rock and roll. Singles from the recording have premiered via The Bluegrass Situation, Ditty TV, and Live for Live. Twangville readers dubbed the record “Best New Release”.

Namesake was recorded at The Hive in the band’s hometown of Eau Claire, WI. The album was produced by Grammy-winner Brian Joseph who has worked with the likes of Paul Simon, Sufjan Stevens, Ani Difranco, and The Indigo Girls, and earned his Grammy producing and engineering Bon Iver’s Bon Iver. Taking inspiration from the intimate nature of The Hive 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 intimacy only felt between the ones we love.

Namesake finds Them Coulee Boys following a new trajectory, combining their signature take on folk-grass and Americana with comfort on electric instruments and playing rock and roll. The record lives and breathes. It’s both intimate and bombastic. It’s the sweet aunt who makes delicious pies and the wiley uncle who’s not afraid to hit a bit of the hooch. At the 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.

With four full-length albums and an EP behind them, including 2019’s Die Happy (produced by Trampled By Turtles’ Dave Simonett on Lo-Hi Records) and 2021’s Namesake (produced by Grammy winner Brian Joseph), the band has garnered international attention and earned press in American Songwriter, Ditty TV, Folk Alley, and The Bluegrass Situation, as well as tours with Trampled By Turtles and a spot on the songwriter’s Cayamo Cruise. In 2020, they were named Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Band to Watch. In 2021, they won Bluegrass / Americana Band of the Year by the Wisconsin Area Music Industry.

Clare Doyle

‘It was a hell of a year,’ says Americana artist-to-watch Clare Doyle, reflecting on a breakout year in which she was named one of First Avenue’s Best New Bands of 2023, an Emerging Artist of 2024 by Music in Minnesota, and released three debut singles which garnered immediate attention for their infectious blend of soulful country and rootsy rock, and a bold lyricism that’s hailed as “a fresh perspective in emotional storytelling” by Music in Minnesota.

Originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota, Doyle grew up singing along with her mom’s Johnny Cash CDs and her dad’s Gibson acoustic, and dreamt 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 influences that kept her from embracing her talent.

Doyle had settled in New Orleans until the pandemic forced a move back to her hometown, where she began to write and rediscover the musical identity she’d neglected 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 artists like 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.”

In a short span, Doyle has established a reputation for a mesmerizing live show that brings audiences along for a ride - from the electrifying heights of a cathartic anthem to pin-drop-quiet intensity in a breakup ballad - and has become a fixture on some of the region’s most legendary stages. She has been tapped to support artists such as The Cactus Blossoms, Turn Turn Turn, Them Coulee Boys, and Dallas Ugly and has toured regionally throughout the Midwest.

With exciting plans on the horizon, including new projects to release, expanded touring, and festival appearances, Doyle is poised for big moves in 2024.