Murder By Death / Samantha Crain / Ninja Gun

They may call Bloomington, Indiana, home, but since their 2000 formation, Murder by Death have been a band without musical borders. Theirs is a world where Old West murder ballads mingle with rock-injected Western classicism; where an album's sequencing can take listeners from a haunted back alley in rural Mexico to a raucous Irish pub. All of which is to say, Murder by Death albums don't just string together songs; they create experiences. With their fifth album (and second for Vagrant), "Good Morning, Magpie", Murder by Death continue the tradition of border expansion that drove career standouts like 2006's "In Bocca al Lupo" and 2008's "Red of Tooth and Claw". The difference, however, is that this time, the band literally went off the map to get there. The fiery folk stylings of Samantha Crain and powerful rural roots rockers Ninja Gun open.