Begin with a solid bluegrass instrumentation, then add a layer of Wurlitzer piano, stark electric guitar, and haunting female vocals and you have the gypsy-chamber sound of The Poor Nobodys. Easily typified as music from a film score, their original compositions weave unconventional melodies through rustic roots, all the while refining a carefully chaotic meter.

One of the real advantages to the Chicago music scene is that you never know what you’ll get, and there’s always something new and interesting right around the corner. Enter Half Coyote.

We can’t tell you too much about this Illinois-based band, mostly because their email address doesn’t seem to work, and they are not in a hurry to write about themselves anywhere. So, we’ll just share what we do know.

Half Coyote is not something you hear very often (those who have heard Devil in a Woodpile have a head start). Toy piano, banjo, ukelele…dogs–you’ll find it all here. But don’t think that it’s cartoonish hijinks. Rather, Half Coyote sounds about perfect for a back room, beer- and whiskey-soaked sway, maybe ending with a new friend or a black eye–either seems appropriate. (Hopefully, these guys are on The Hideout’s radar. If not, we’ll try to make that happen.)

We’ve heard a lot of half-baked folk music invade the scene over the last few years. This is not it. Half Coyote is all in. And the more we listen, so are we.