At 21, after a failed attempt to begin a journalism career in Moscow and an overwhelming heartbreak, Dan Sheron’s life collapsed. Without so much as saying goodbye to his friends or bothering to pack a bag, Dan took a train bound for Siberia and headed east with a child’s guitar and journal that quickly filled with songs.

At some point in those manic months, Balto was born, in a third-class train car, singing and drinking among strangers, somewhere east of Novosibirsk.

Over time, Balto transformed from a songwriting vehicle into a rock n roll band – performing a boozy, swaggering style of American music rooted at the intersection of Motown, Big Star, Plastic Ono Band-era Lennon, and Jackson Browne.

Their interactive live performances have drawn comparisons to fiery indie rockers My Morning Jacket and Wilco, while Seattle-based curators Artist Home describe their most recent LP Strangers (2017) as “a tangle of beautiful, messy emotions, wrapped up in a sound that’s warmly familiar yet brimming with soul and tiny details that are touched by magic.”

They continue to describe Sheron as, “a roots-rock storyteller with the heart of an Edwardian poet—full of romance, sharp observation, knowing humor, and at least a slug or two of whiskey.”

Tom Conneely & Birds of Paradise are a country-tinged indie rock band from California. Pulling from strange dreams and games of chance, it’s all original all the time. Songs from the heart swirled with twang.