Frog Holler

Sat., March 21, 9 p.m., $10, with Hezekiah Jones, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 866-468-7619, johnnybrendas.com.

by Brian Howard

roots/rock

In the three years since pride of Berks County Frog Holler released their last album, a lot's happened — not just to the country, but to Frog Holler. Frontman Darren Schlappich endured a fairly hellacious stretch during which he lost his father to lung cancer, had his own personal health crisis and his son, Eli, was born two months premature. So there's a cautious optimism at the root of their brand-new Believe it or Not (ZoBird). "I spent a lot of time for a couple years going back and forth to the Reading Hospital and just dealing with things," says Schlappich. "In quiet times at night when the days were winding down I would sit at my desk and write. Once Eli was home and things started to normalize, I realized I had a bunch of songs and that it was OK to get back to doing Frog Holler." From the knifing "Whiskey Ditch" to the playful "Control Freak (I Know, I Know)," Schlappich certainly hasn't lost his way with a hook. But it's the album's closer, "New Year's Day," with its incorporation of the old New Year's trope "pigs root forward, chickens scratch back," that is the record's soul. Because sometimes you've just got to put your snout down and plow through the mire. Which is solid wisdom for times like these.

Sat., March 21, 9 p.m., $10, with Hezekiah Jones, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 866-468-7619, johnnybrendas.com.