DC-based These United States are one of the best honest working bands alive, and they’re in California this week. After a gig at the Hemlock Tavern tonight in San Francisco and The Starry Plough tomorrow in Berkeley, they’ll make their way down to Los Angeles on July 9 at the Echoplex.

If you haven’t seen them yet, Angelenos, catch them next Thursday. Their last journeys through found them at Echo Curio and the popular Hunnypot Radio, and the Echoplex might be an ideal club to get cozied up inside their jangly railyard wordpop. The core of the band is lead singer and songwriter Jesse Elliott and utility instrumentationist Tom Hnatow, traveling together for years and assembling a colorful cast around them. When they played Echo Curio, for example, I played melodica and harmonica, shaking hands with guys I’d never met on bass and keys before launching into their repertoire.

The magic of TUS starts with the songs. The magic continues with how they play them. Vis a vis, “Honor Amongst Theieves”: