Built on more than 15 years of tradition, today’s 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, kicking down limitations to create a vibe that goes beyond their Americana “junkerdash” roots. Want to call it bluegrass’s trouble-making cousin? Fine by us. A bit of string-band blues? Sure ‘nuff. A concoction of electrified rockin’ soulful folksy witchcraft mayhem? Now you’re talking, mama.
The indelible through-line is rooted in the band’s song craftsmanship. From mountains of frontman Travis Ward’s ragged, spiral-bound notebooks comes the hard and tender. They can blow the roof off the place or draw you around the fire with their earnest musical narratives of the back alleys, the open range, and the front porch. They paint with sound the earnest stories about the lives of lovers, law-breakers, and the lion-hearted. Heroes and outcasts alike.
Hailing from Boise, Idaho, the always young-at-heart Hillfolk Noir has been carving their own musical path for 15 years. Grab a cup of juice and ease on down to enjoy these newfound Hillfolk vibes. “If John Steinbeck owned a speakeasy,” said John Doe (X, the Knitters), “Hillfolk Noir would be the house band.”
SHORTER BIO
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.”
Grab a drink, sit down, take a breath, have a listen for a
moment, an hour, a night, because here they come with their
earnest musical narratives of the back alleys, the open range,
the hollow, the front porch, the lives behind the love, want,
fear and fracture of a world that despite all adversity remains,
within their songs, hopeful, thoughtful, jubilant.
The band deems their sound Junkerdash – part folk, part
bluegrass, part string-band blues, part punk, and most certainly
wholly kickass. Bourbon and the Western Swing are a recommended
pairing with Hillfolk’s Junkerdash, we’re told, which seems
spot-on.
Fronted by multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, Travis
Ward, this trio of neo-traditionalists includes Alison Ward on
musical saw, washboard, banjo, and purely gorgeous vocals, as
well as Mike Waite keeping the heartbeat, rhythm and flow alive
on double bass.
John Doe (X, the Knitters), patron saint of the American Dream,
once said, “If John Steinbeck owned a speakeasy, Hillfolk Noir
would be the house band.”
Amen.
See you at the show, on the dance floor, in the throes of
another broke-down and beautiful Saturday night.
– CW, 2018
Hillfolk Noir’s touring line up consists of:
Hillfolk Noir has performed with Built to Spill, Neko Case, Justin Townes Earle, James McMurtry, Deer Tick, Gourds, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, The Devil Makes Three, Charlie Parr, Dark Dark Dark, Pert Near Sandstone, Horse Feathers, Finn Riggins, Gerald Collier, Caleb Klauder, Train, Glen Phillips, Mike Coykendall, Jesse Dayton, Loudon Wainright III, Rosalie Sorrels, Trampled By Turtles, Elephant Revival, Eilen Jewel, and tons of other great acts that you may or may not have heard of.
For music, complete bio, discography and archival miscellany, visit Hillfolk Noir at hillfolknoir.com. Interact with the band at facebook.com/hillfolknoir, twitter.com/hillfolknoir, and instagram.com/hillfolknoir
hillfolknoir@gmail.com
A sampling of accolades for Hillfolk Noir:
“Brilliant, edgy punked-up acoustic hillbilly blues.” — American Roots UK
“Hillfolk Noir have fine-tuned their dark, Depression-era jangly blues to become one of the most incredible bands in [Boise]. They are as honest as they come.” — Seattle Weekly
“I love this.” — Ricky Ross, BBC Radio Scotland
“Too authentic to be considered alt anything. Ward is an evocative, charismatic singer-songwriter who embraces diverse shards of Americana. Time-warped kaleidoscopes —sparse, historically reverent and pretty terrific.” — Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman
“You guys sound like Johnny Cash on Robitussin.” — Ryan Wissinger, ex-Pengilly’s Saloon bartender and musician.
2012 PRESS RELEASE
Fronted by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Travis Ward, Hillfolk Noir’s peculiar take on traditional acoustic mountain music is filtered through a half-century of folk, country and rock ‘n’ roll and fed by an affinity for medicine show culture and Depression-era string-band blues. The band calls it Junkerdash, which has multiple definitions up to and including “psychedelic swamp-shack rags.” However, if you’re looking for something neat and tidy to place in print or casual conversation, feel free to use current music-journalism parlance and call it “indie folk.”
Hillfolk Noir’s touring lineup usually but not always consists of:
Travis Ward: resonator guitar, vocals, suitcase, harmonica, kazoo, words
Mike Waite: stand-up bass
Alison Ward: singing saw, washboard, banjo, harmonies
Hillfolk Noir is touring behind its latest album, Hillfolk Noir Radio Hour (March 2012). The full-length studio recording is sequenced like an old-timey radio program straight out of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, complete with commercial breaks plugging a bunch of fake products they made up. The album is available on CD, MP3 and limited-edition 10-inch vinyl packaged to resemble a 1920s-era 78 (but sounding much better).
Hillfolk Noir has performed with Built to Spill, James McMurtry, Neko Case, Justin Townes Earle, Deer Tick, Gourds, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Gerald Collier, Heroes and Villains, Train, Jesse Dayton, The Dusty 45s, Neva Dinova and tons of other great acts that you may or may not have heard of. The good Junkerdash word also has been spread on countless American street corners because the Hillfolkers hold the busking tradition in high regard and, well, sometimes they need the gas money…
A sampling of accolades for Hillfolk Noir:
“Hillfolk Noir have made a classic roots record using old style, one mic, low-fi technology, the music is fantastic but the feel of the record “Skinny Mammy’s Revenge” has captured the passion and love of this genre absolutely perfectly. As soon as you hear it, you are there with them, in that circle of musicians, hearing up-close their great songs, the heartfelt stories and you are next to them for every note… a roots classic without a doubt.”
~ Barry Marshall-Everitt, House of Mercy Radio
“Hillfolk Noir – modern day old time wonderment.”
~ Rick Stuart, Roots and Fusion Radio of Pure Radio, UK
“If John Steinbeck had a Speakeasy, Hillfolk Noir would be the house band.”
~ John Doe, of John Doe, X, The Sadies, and The Knitters
Bio to be continued….
2011 PRESS RELEASE
5 QUESTIONS WITH HILLFOLK NOIR
1. Are you really “hillfolk”?
We’re reasonably normal 21st-century urban dwellers with cell phones and city-people jobs. Yet our Idaho roots reach into shadowy corners of the state where the echoes of settlers still reverberate off the walls of the valleys. We sing happy and sad songs of our ancestors and happy and sad songs of our own — sometimes they’re one and the same. It’s like Guy Clark says: “Somedays the songs write you.”
2. Are you a quartet? A trio? A duo? A dude?
Depends on the day. The possible mathematical combinations are too many to list here (and we’re only confounding people more by playing SXSW as a quintet for the first time). The one constant is our main man Travis Ward, Hillfolk’s lead singer, guitarist, chief songwriter and visionary. Our performance lineup typically looks like this:
Travis Ward: National guitar, vocals, harmonica, kazoo, suitcase, words
Mike Waite: Stand-up bass
Alison Ward: Singing saw, washboard, banjo, harmonies
3. What the heck is Junkerdash?
Junkerdash is a term we applied to our peculiar take on traditional acoustic mountain music, which is filtered through a half-century of folk, country and rock ‘n’ roll and fed by our affinity for medicine show culture and Depression-era string-band blues. If Junkerdash were in the dictionary, there would be multiple definitions up to and including “psychedelic swamp-shack rags.” However, if you’re looking for something neat and tidy to place in print or casual conversation, feel free to use current music-journalism parlance and call it “indie folk.”
4. What’s the Hillfolk Noir Radio Hour?
The Hillfolk Noir Radio Hour is our new album. The full-length studio recording is sequenced like an old-timey radio program straight out of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, complete with commercials breaks plugging a bunch of fake products we made up. The album is available in the uber-modern digital and CD forms, but we prefer the limited-edition 10-inch vinyl that resembles a 1920s 78 (but sounds much better).
5. Hillfolk has traversed the country north to south and east to west spreading the Junkerdash gospel. Whose musical paths have you crossed?
We’ve played with Built to Spill, James McMurtry, Neko Case, Justin Townes Earle, Deer Tick, Gourds, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Gerald Collier, Heroes and Villains, Train, Jesse Dayton, The Dusty 45s, Neva Dinova and tons of other great acts that you may or may not have heard of. We’ve also performed on countless American street corners because we hold the busking tradition in high regard and, well, sometimes we need the gas money.
