Aint Dead Yet isn't just a macabre finger to the sky, it's also a promise. A plea to get back to it. At the time of his cancer diagnosis, Walker was on track to become one of the best and biggest voices in the independent Americana/country music scene. Indeed, his cancer didn't change that, he still is. But how to reconnect the dots? Enduring is only part of it. What comes next is sometimes even harder.

Alluringly anonymous Austin-based alt-country/indi-folk quartet Boomershack sounds somewhere between Buddy Holly and The Deslondes, crossed with a stop on the continuum between Houndmouth and The Band of Heathens.

The first time I crossed paths with Shane Smith & The Saints was nearing midnight at the Great Northern Bar & Grill on Central Avenue in Whitefish, Montana. The high-octane alt-country act jumped onstage during the late-night party for the 2023 Under the Big Sky music festival.