Kuinka headlines free concert at farmers market

You won’t have to stay up late to hear this week’s Moab Free Concert Series performances at Swanny City Park.

Headliner Kuinka will be playing at the Moab Farmers Market series on Friday, July 14; the show is scheduled to kick off at 5 p.m. with opening act Slim Pickins, followed by Kuinka, which is touring in support of its new EP “Stay Up Late.”

Brothers Zach and Nathan Hamer, along with Miranda Zickler and Jillian Walker, came together in 2014 to form a unique breed of string band; one proudly defiant of preconceived notions of what fits under the label “Americana.”

Their 2014 debut “The Wild North,” which propelled the band out of the woods and on to stages across the country, was followed in 2016 by “The Heartland.” Both albums were recorded at the famed Bear Creek Studio in Woodinville, Washington, and led to featured performances at dozens of festivals and several national headlining tours.

“Each track on ‘Stay Up Late’ was written separately, but around the same time, so the undercurrents of the songs have the same sort of pulse and connecting fibers,” Zickler said. “At our first rehearsal they all came together in very natural and unexpected ways.”

The songs on “Stay Up Late” ring with the vibrancy of exploration and discovery.

“In our first year as a band, we spent many nights on the living room floor of Miranda’s closest childhood friend, who happens to be Finnish,” Nathan Hamer said. “Kuinka became an expression we used to consider and unravel the seemingly insurmountable obstacles life often throws at us. We’d love for our music to be a soundtrack to adventure. The name represents finding your way, for both us and our listeners.”

What: Moab Free Concert Series presents Kuinka

When: Friday, July 14; show begins at 5 p.m. with local opening act Slim Pickins

Where: Moab Farmers Market at Swanny City Park, 400 N. 100 West

Cost: Free

Locals Slim Pickins join July 14 show at Swanny City Park