Sat, July 17, The Shants

Louisiana-born Skip Allums used to call Sacramento home. Now, the singer-songwriter lives in Oakland, where he plays with his band the Shants. Using a small cache of simple instruments—guitar, harmonica, spare drums, pedal steel, et al.—the Shants take a simple approach to mining complicated emotions. On the band’s Russian River Songs EP, tracks such as “Tired of Everyone (The Yosemite Song),” “You Win” and “Oh, Oakland” merge gothic Southern folk with classic rock and slowcore pop to create a sound that’s equal parts relationship ennui, the picking of old wounds and California dreamin’. 1050 20th Street, www.myspace.com/theshantsmusic.