Like many of his favorite songwriters (John Hartford, Lucinda Williams, Jeff Tweedy), Izaak Opatz is an ungulate in life’s winter pasture, chewing on and metabolizing disappointment, heartbreak, and the other tough stuff into enjoyable musical carbohydrates. A compulsive metaphorager (and inveterate wordplayboy), Opatz breaks it all down with enzymes of wry humor, thoughtful simile and close observation - a therapeutic process of narrativizing his own life that, almost as a byproduct, turns out savory nuggets of literate, confessional pop. Where 2018’s Mariachi Static drew from Opatz’s fragmented love life as a seasonal Park Service employee and resonated especially with the sensitive dirtbag set, Extra Medium, his latest release, splits time between romantic Hindenburgs across his native Montana, up the East Coast, and in faraway Los Angeles. Montana and LA especially decorate the album, supplying wells of metaphor and scene-making, and as characters in their own right - LA’s alternately charming (“In the Light of a Love Affair”) and discomfiting (“East of Barstow”), and, in “Big Sandy”, Montana evolves from setting to subject as the girl’s feelings he traverses it to see prove less than his own feelings for the state. In LA, Opatz learned from and worked alongside Jonny Fritz at Dad Country Leather, and met bandmates and Extra Medium collaborators Malachi DeLorenzo (drums, producer, engineer) and Dylan Rodrigue (multi-instrumentalist, producer). He now lives in Missoula, Montana, where he runs his own custom leather shop, is writing the next album, and getting ready to pursue a Journalism degree at the U of M.

Shut the screen door on the back porch and throw another log on the fire of the barbecue. Then go inside, pull out your favorite Deltaz album and throw it on the turntable. Heavy blues, roots rock, classic country and the blood harmony of two brothers will pour out of your stereo. Brothers John and Ted Siegel spend many of their days perfecting new records at a handmade mobile Airstream studio behind their residence just outside of Nashville Tennessee. Before relocating they had become mainstays at a Southern Californian institution, The Old Place, regularly performing for patrons at the ever-packed restaurant in the Santa Monica Mountains where the boys grew up. There, they caught the ear of the late bassist Rick Rosas (Neil Young, Joe Walsh), who became a mentor to the group. They have spent their hours rigorously touring, headlining shows across the country, regularly touring in Europe, while attracting the attention of sonic peers such as alt-country act The White Buffalo and Mississippi Blues legend Watermelon Slim, playing with both on several occasions. The Deltaz have had their music placed on CMT and MTV television shows and most recently The Deltaz had their song "Wild Mustang" featured in a film directed by Edward James Olmos, "The Devil Has a Name", recorded as a duet with vocal rock legend Bonnie Bramlett (Eric Clapton, Leon Russell) The Deltaz were formed while the brothers were still in high school. The boys had already immersed themselves in roots American music by that point, and this passion led them both to quickly pick up their respective instruments of choice. Ted lays down a bluesy, searing reminiscent slide guitar on his 1950s Harmony Rocket he calls “Huck”, while commanding drummer John has expanded his role behind the drum set to include impressive harmonica work and vocal harmonies that leave audiences overwhelmed at his coordination. The two have clearly learned to work with each other, feeding off of each other's talents to bring ever-climactic performances to energized and extremely diverse audiences. In 2018 the brothers lost their home and studio in the mountains of Southern California to The Woolsey forest fire and decided to relocate to Nashville in 2020 for a fresh start. With The Deltaz mobile studio in tow the brothers have been crafting their most ambitious album to date, overflowing with all the heavy roots rock goodness their audiences have come to know.