A delightful evening of local music took place at Falcon Bowl on Saturday evening featuring acts Sludge Hawking, Logan Scott, Ben Mulwana & the Village and Violet Wilder.

Sludge Hawking is a singer-songwriter who describes his style as “hard folk.” Formerly of the garage rock act Warden, Hawking began his project upon the band’s dissolution during COVID times. He played solo on Saturday with an acoustic guitar, backing tracks and drum machine, although he also plays with a band consisting of Alec Snyder on guitar, Sid Bickle on bass and Garrick Jannene on drums. Hawking cites a wide range of influences on his songwriting from Bob Dylan to Buck Owens to Swans.

“I really like finding the light side and dark side of music while trying to avoid the middle,” Hawking explains. “I love country but also like subversive stuff like drone and noise.”

Hawking’s debut full-length album “Throwaway Days” came out in December. He describes the writing and recording process, “A lot of the musical ideas are from Warden but never got fleshed out. The song “Circles” my brother and I made as a joke after listening to Johnny Cash a long time ago. I got laid off from a job last July and went hard to finish it. I slowly built a studio space around me and taught myself as best as I could how to mix and master.

Lately he has been writing material inspired by ongoing societal turmoil. “It definitely feels like the air is thick right now, especially with an election coming up and people hurting in this economy,” Hawking says. “If I’m not writing about that then I’m just writing a lot of sarcastic, goofy stuff (laughs).”

He also plans to incorporate some drone into future recordings. Sludge Hawking is at Quarters for their comedy hour this Friday, June 7. Then he’s at X-Ray Arcade on July 24.

Logan Scott is a singer-songwriter who plays intricate, finger-style guitar rhythms. He previously played organ and guitar plus sang backup vocals in rock band Lunde before departing in 2021 to focus on solo material. Scott cites Ty Segall, Leo Kottke, Billy Strings and Doc Watson as some of his biggest influences.

He released his first few singles in 2023, starting with “Roll the Dice” in July. Scott shares about the song, “I had a very old friend who I grew up with where we fell off after they moved away, but then we ended up reconnecting, and in a sense they “rolled the dice” by moving back here. Around the same time I was in a relationship that fell apart, and that same week my family dog had died so it really felt like life cleared my deck of cards and I had to sort things out and take some chances.”

Then he dropped “When I Get Back From Colorado” in September. “That song came from me having tickets to King Gizzard and taking a solo trip out to Colorado, and it’s kind of an ode to my grandparents too,” Scott shares.

His most recent single “Wild & Free” came two weeks later. “That one’s about people finding their own paths and journeys but also having gratitude…it’s influenced by the time my car blew out in Utah and a man was kind enough to drive me all the way back to Fort Collins to get a rental,” Scott elaborates.

Logan Scott is finishing up two singles, “Angel At Your Door” and “Twilight Zone.” Then he plans to release debut album “Technicolor Highway” which will include all the singles he’s released so far. Scott has been building a full band that he’s excited to play with this summer, including at Beachfront Arts Festival in Kenosha. In the meantime, catch him at Linneman’s this Thursday, June 6.

Violet Wilder comprises vocalist-pianist-guitarists Jayna Hagan and Kimberly Hetelle (who also plays flute), vocalist-violaist Melissa Hardtke, bassist Zach Wood and drummer Dave Williams. Formed in 2019, the indie folk band is known for their lush three-part harmonies and immersive, captivating storytelling.

“We (Hagan, Hetelle and Hardtke) met as music majors in college and had a different band for a while called The Oscillators,” Hetelle recalls about their origins.

After that band dissolved, the three wanted to continue playing as a trio but with added instrumental layers, and thus Violet Wilder was born. Hardtke explains their name, “The two words just sounded really nice together. Violets are the Wisconsin state flower…the color violet represents creativity, and the word “wilder” means “someone off the beaten path” – plus Laura Ingalls Wilder is from Wisconsin and she’s a distant relative of mine.”

Wood is the most recent addition to Violet Wilder; Saturday was his first show with them.

Violet Wilder’s debut album “For the Record” came out in March 2023. Hetelle shares about what went into it, “We recorded it at my home studio that my husband (Andy Warren Jepson) is the brains behind. He produced, tracked, mixed and mastered the whole thing and it was kind of daunting task I fear (laughs) but I think it turned out great. It took us a few years since we all have jobs and did a lot of moving, so we could only record a couple hours here and there when we could and just kind of chipped away at it for a while.”

Hagan, Hetelle and Hardtke all write songs and have their own lyrical styles. “This record has a breakup song, as well as a song that I wrote but completely changed the words because it was too depressing and I wanted to make it a little less depressing,” Hagan adds. “There’s also songs about stuff like anxiety and death. We at that time were going through a lot of crazy life shit and turmoil, so you can really feel the angst of a lot of the songs. “

“I usually write chords before lyrics,” Hetelle says about her process. “My lyrics can be more abstract; sometimes I come at it from an angle of poetry where I couldn’t exactly tell you what they mean and that’s why it’s a song now.”

“It’s a really cool thing to see as a new person in the band how everybody works together so well,” Wood notes.

Violet Wilder are currently working on new songs. “We’re taking our time figuring out how we want to record them because the at-home process takes a long time,” Hagen contends. “We don’t want to wait another three years (laughs).”

They play Linneman’s on June 10, Homegrown Music Fest in West Bend on July 14 and then they’re at Chill on the Hill on July 16.