Offering a rugged hybrid of folk, country, and twangy rock, Portland outfit the Builders and the Butchers built a reputation around the Pacific Northwest as a rowdy and exciting live band. Their lively 2007 debut directly reflected their stage show, though they also experimented with a more polished approach on 2009's Salvation Is a Deep Dark Well. Tours of the U.S. and Europe further expanded their audience, and they soon found a home on the Badman imprint, which released a string of acclaimed albums including 2011's looser Dead Reckoning and 2017's The Spark. After a five-year gap, the band doubled down on their patent sound with 2022's Hell & High Water.