Chicago country five-piece Tobacco City formed to cover Neil Young songs for a Halloween show, but thankfully they’ve since developed their own sound. Like Young, they have a way with plaintive melodies, but their music is rooted in bluesy honky-tonk and earthy, wistful country, with supple, pop-driven harmony vocals. Tobacco City’s surefire rhythm section—drummer Josh Condon and bassist Eliza Weber, both of whom also play in Glyders—guides the band steadily through the giddy, up-tempo “Aa Blues” and the lonesome, melancholy “Half in the Bag” and “Tobacco City Waltz.” Pedal-steel player Nick Usalis illuminates each song’s sentimental panache, while guitarists and singers Lexi Goddard and Chris Coleslaw frequently entangle their voices or intensify the tenor of a song with a few lilting inflections. Goddard handles the bulk of the vocals on the outstanding “Never on My Mind,” and her solitary sighs on the verses are as devastating as the song’s potent climax.
Country Westerns, Tobacco City, Wet Wallet DJs, Sun 9/5, 9 PM, Sleeping Village, 3734 W. Belmont, $15, $12 in advance, 21+