Roaming a sonic trail blazed by country punks and folk poets immemorial, pre-Dylan on up through Tweedy and Lenderman, Max Niemann packs a punch that’s as heartfelt as it is biting. Following in the footsteps of the American troubadour lineage, he beckons it into the present with songs that are as likely to strike a chord with the modern metropolitan as they are the lonesome wanderer. With his ever-evolving band of Fellow Travelers at his side, the group provides rustic and rollicking backdrops for the hard-nosed yet intimate stories of joy, suffering and striving that occupy Niemann’s songs.