Them Coulee Boys

Soren Staff and Beau Janke—co-founders of folk/rock/Americana outfit Them Coulee Boys—met as camp counselors in northern Wisconsin in 2011. Their weekend workshopping of Avett Brothers and classic country tunes led to original songs and adding Soren’s brother Jens on mandolin. As the years grew, the band turned into a more rollicking outfit, adding Neil Krause on electric bass and Stas Hable on drums.

The band’s name is a nod to the glacial melt-carved river valleys they call home, known by early French fur trappers as coulees. Known for wild swings of emotion during sets, it is not unusual to see fans in tears and minutes later dancing with abandon. The honesty and ability to talk and sing about the feelings and emotions that shape them has endeared them to a growing group of fans and friends.

 

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, the band has garnered international attention and earned press in American Songwriter, Ditty TV, Folk Alley, and The Bluegrass Situation.

 

2025 marks the release of a new album, No Fun In The Chrysalis, an expansive new collection that finds the band picking up where their 2021 release, Namesake, left off. The band’s co-founder, Soren Staff, wrote about his ongoing struggles with self-worth and anxiety on “I Am Not Sad,” the first single from the album. The band is once again working with Grammy-winning producer Brian Joseph (Sufjan Stevens, Humbird, Bon Iver), whose production on Namesake shepherded the band beyond their folk-grass, Americana roots to “go electric.” No Fun In The Chrysalis was recorded at The Hive in the band’s hometown of Eau Claire. The album has a warm, comfortable sound that is both intimate, and celebratory. Them Coulee Boys have built a loyal live following through their own relentless touring and as support for Trampled by Turtles (Dave Simonett produced 2019’s Die Happy), Los Lobos, Old Crow Medicine Show and Band of Heathens.

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