Balto

Yes, like the dog. Balto is also a psychedelic Americana band from Portland. Following an ill-fated, six-month stint as a copy editor and telemarketer in Moscow, Russia, guitarist and songwriter Dan Sheron lost his marbles and went to Siberia where he wrote a cycle of songs describing the life he’d decided to leave behind. That winter (2010), Balto laid those songs on its first record, October’s Road, in a single blustery day in a Brooklyn basement and went on to tour the United States for the first time. Following a move to Portland, the band released 2012’s follow-up, Monuments, and hit the road again, touring up and down the East and West Coasts and doing a couple of one-off performances in Central Asia. Balto solidified its lineup in 2014 as a ragtag five-piece rock and roll band—electric guitars and Hammond organs, chiming acoustic guitars and the occasional Bonzo flourish, all held down by a retired fighter with a deep admiration for James Jamerson. Balto: Throwing TVs out of motel windows since 2010. Balto