Them Coulee Boys and Barbaro at Turf Club

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.

Barbaro’s musical vision explores their collective life experiences through intricate instrumentation, creatively bending traditional music into a style that is all their own. The Minneapolis-Winona-based rising stars have created their eclectic sound through original songwriting craft, with inspiration derived from bluegrass, jazz, and chamber music. Their new album, Dressed in Roses, released in January 2020, “Stands as a true testament to their musical identity and the sound that has launched one of the Midwest’s most in-demand acoustic acts.”