Will Hoge/The Steepwater Band

Singer-songwriter Will Hoge has spent the last decade playing to alt-country audiences. But he might have found his true calling last year when he hit the road opening for country star Dierks Bentley, who was on an arena tour. Audiences welcomed Hoge, even though he’s hardly what you would call traditional country. His newest album, Modern American Protest Music, is such an indictment of the current state of the union, it would be tough to sell it to the patriotic country fan. So Hoge, who sneers “Wall Street don’t concern themselves with the middle class” on the album’s John Mellencamp-like opener, “Founding Fathers,” is back making the rounds in the small indie rock clubs, not that that diminishes his talent. He’s a road warrior who puts on a helluva show. (Jeff Niesel)