Who: Six nature-loving mountain men from Portland, Oregon, who play roots folk with a contemporary twist.

Sounds Like: Sunbaked lyrics about mountains and rivers merged with ramshackle guitar grooves and cheap keyboards.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. The band got their big break when the Hold Steady asked Blitzen to open for them in May.
2. Music runs in frontman Eric Earley's family. His grandfather was a traveling harmonica virtuoso from the Ozarks. "Family reunions were all about banjos and bluegrass," Earley recalls.
3. Earley recorded most of the band's third record, Wild Mountain Nation, himself in a makeshift studio that used to be a telegraph station using vintage Casios, an old piano and a four-track recorder.

Get It: They're always available on their official Web page, and you can check out "Wild Mountain Nation" right here.

››Watch every episode of our weekly New Breaking Artist video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click "Launch application"). Every Wednesday, an exclusive video profile of an emerging artist will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don't have iTunes, download it here.] Video produced by FOTG Films