A+E

Iowa is one of our more overlooked states and as someone who has been in nearly all 50, I have a soft spot for this land of corn and Slipknot near the disputed zone of the Midwest. I have seen things there and the place has its own taste, one I prefer over say, Oklahoma, which is the Devil’s domain. Singer-songwriter William Elliott Whitmore grew up on a farm in the southernmost corner of Iowa and his music reflects a series of dispatches from another way of life than is immediately familiar to mainstream, metropolitan America. It’s good, hearty, no depression-style folk and country, written with purpose and played with sincerity. Check him out online, if you can. Fans of American roots music will lock in immediately and know what to do, which is head to Humbrews tonight at 8 p.m. ($18, $15 advance).