Chicago, IL · indie rock

Ratboys

1 upcoming festival

Chicago indie rock at its warmest — twangy, generous, quietly great, a band critics keep discovering all over again.

Ratboys is a Chicago indie rock band led by singer and guitarist Julia Steiner and guitarist Dave Sagan, who began playing together as a duo in the late 2000s before expanding into a full band. They have described their music as "post-country", a half-joking term for songs that combine indie rock arrangements with country and folk phrasing.

Steiner's writing tends toward specific, detailed storytelling, often drawn from family history, offbeat news items or remembered places, delivered in a clear, unaffected voice. The band's later records lean harder on guitars and longer, more expansive arrangements, and their 2023 album The Window drew the widest critical attention of their career.

indie rock