“We write a lot about what we feel it is to be an Alaskan and what it is to seek out a life worth living, and finding a lovely place to die,” the band says. “Everybody has a story worth telling, and we want to create music that resonates with the highs and lows, the celebration and joy, but also the complexities.”

Blackwater Railroad Company began as a community band in Seward, Alaska, a deep-water harbor, port city and gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park. Over the past decade, the band honed folk-style songwriting and a raucous live show into a singular Alaskan voice that's grounded in storytelling and foot-stomping good times. Their new album, A Lovely Place to Die, out on July 12, finds them poised on the precipice of their next chapter.