Balthrop, Alabama

Brooklyn, New York

Balthrop, Alabama is a Brooklyn band spearheaded by Pascal and Lauren Balthrop, siblings from Mobile, Ala. Their group includes 10 or so folks who play instruments such as washboard, keys, banjo and guitar. In concert, they dress up as locals from the fictional town of Balthrop, and perform in character as the milkman, the rabbit farmer, the town drunk and so on. Those theatrical live performances showcase a penchant for songs that are equally wry, glib and melancholy. (Sample line: “Today is the day that the world is going to explode… This makes me smile to think about how / today is the day of our last goodbye.”)