Have you heard of “word painting”? It’s the musical technique in which instrumental choices illustrate the lyrical ones — and vice versa — in a positive feedback loop. Synergy at its finest. Skilled word-painters create something unique, something a purist musician or lyricist couldn’t create when exclusively focusing on one or the other.
Iowa City’s Hambone and the Maple Babies’ Hootenanny kicks off with the one-two punch of “Good World Gone Bad” and “Something New.” I think of these two songs as a well-paired word painting.
The EP begins with an immediate, ’90s garage-rock sendup about the “cold-blooded,” the “blank emotions” and the desensitization of the narrator’s day-to-day. But eventually, the good world gone bad of the opener’s namesake gives way to something else. Distorted chords play with an off-kilter syncopation, the bass and cymbals hush to a whisper. Prickly, delayed lead lines emerge through the haze like little rays of sunshine. It seems to suggest that something is fighting to get out. “Something New,” maybe.
With that, the tracklist is off to the races. Michael Hamlett, Hambone’s singer, songwriter and guitarist, has been mastering his proverbial brushstroke technique for years now. After living with a kidney disease, dialysis and transplant surgery struggles for the better part of his adult life, he mused, “I’ve never felt like I could have control over my life… I was just cruising-and-bruising through life. One thing that kept me sane all those years was music.”
Hamlett’s songs materialize through a back-and-forth with bandmates Connor Woods (drums) and Aaron Moseley (bass), rehearsing out of Solon. Hamlett serves them the songs, they spike back impromptu grooves. It’s a process that keeps its members on its toes. Moseley shared that Hamlett “often tries to trick the band.” But ultimately it’s the trio’s method for “creating asymmetrical songs that blend into one another.”
This back-and-forth repeats until the final volleys at their live shows. If you ever get the opportunity to see this group in-person, jump at the chance. Hambone is a trifecta that understands theatricality, showmanship and how live chemistry can radically alter studio work. Tracks on the album, like “Faded Moments,” which toys with the trading of phrases and a highlighting of each player at its bookends, seem primed for live shows.
Hootenanny’s “genre-flexible breakfast rock” is best heard in a song like “Oregon.” In less than four minutes, we tour our way through twang-tinged lyrics, a speedwalking bassline and some barn-burner flatpicking for its guitar solo. For a fleeting moment in its coda, the drums and bass line flirt with a latinesque syncopation akin to reggaeton.
“Filthy Dog,” the EP’s closer, is probably the best example of how Hambone subverts audience expectation. It’s their biggest riff-rock crowd pleaser. And yet, the way in which the riff teases and fakes itself out (before going all in) seems sprung from performances at Gabe’s and the Alley Cat in Iowa City.
As with any debut project, Hootenanny is the culmination of years of life experiences and musical knowhow. The EP features some seriously rip-roaring vocal delivery, spiky riffage, splashy drums and a firm grasp on songcraft and sequencing.
Here’s hoping that paints a pretty picture.
This article was originally published in Little Village’s April 2026 issue.
