Jim Mikesell sits in the middle of a bar in downtown Wilmington, N.C. He and fellow bandmates from Brown Shoe are a long way from home - Folsom, Calif. Mikesell sits with a leg crossed, making room for strangers on the couch nearby. Behind him are pool tables and on a far wall a movie poster for The Eyes of Tammy Faye. The bizarre close-up of Faye's painted eyeliner becomes a murky glow behind his head. He talks about ways to solve problems in the world without making empty statements, by merely offering common-sense solutions that essentially boil down to hard work.

"See? Problem solved," he says. "Now that we've got that out of the way, how've you been? Let's drink."

The band is midway through a near two-month tour taking them to the East Coast and back. Mikesell plays the drums and three brothers - Ryan, Bryson and Aaron Baggaley - play a variety of instruments. But it's not hard for him to fit in. He might as well be adopted. "It feels like it," he says. "I'm an only child, so I was shocked the first time Bryson was wearing a pair of my pants."

Mikesell lives on a ranch with sheep and while that environment - that part of California - may lend something to the band's music, it's not inherently obvious. "I suppose that environment plays a certain role," says Aaron. "I wouldn't necessarily say we seek inspiration from our physical surroundings, but we're probably influenced by it subconsciously."

Save for the conjured images of foothills and rivers, there are traces of Americana in Brown Shoe's material. It's introspective, solemn and melodic. "I think some of the wide-open spaces found their way into our music," Mikesell adds. "We are far enough from any major city to stay away from 'scenes,' which contributes to our ability to write music without rules." The band's debut, Wheat Patch, set a template for their sound - large soundscapes of reflective, melodic and dreamlike rock. It distills enough styles to become something all its own: parts of '70s, laid-back rock, pop, blistering ambiance and cool harmonies. Wheat Patch is the band learning how to communicate with one another musically. Aaron says the band was established on the record, an album far more stripped down than those that would follow. Mikesell remembers the band wanting the best representation of what they could perform live to be on the record.

The band grew quickly while making the record - learning songwriting, organization and basic recording studio procedures without a guide. Jim was also still learning to play drums. "It was a very exciting process," Aaron says.

Construction sites may be an unlikely place for a band to form, but Ryan, the band's singer, and Mikesell met working on one. Ryan is an electrician and Mikesell delivered electrical parts to sites. They seemed to always talk about music and Mikesell was a bass player at the time. The band formed in 2004.

Working construction allows for touring, since you can pick up and leave your job and then and return to it. "One of the biggest struggles was trying to arrange our lives in a way flexible enough for us to leave at anytime," Aaron says.

Their sophomore effort, Vanity, was recorded in Kentucky and is different in feel and sound. The choice to travel was intentional, yet the album has little in the way of influence from their location. "After the first record we were in a place where we wanted to experiment and the songs reflected that," Aaron says. Jim adds, "We write based on where each member is, mentally and emotionally, at the time the writing process occurs. Vanity seems colder than the other two records. I think this can be mainly attributed to the fact that the studio in Kentucky didn't have heating and it was 45 degrees outside."

For Jackalope, the band's third album, they remained in Sacramento and worked with someone they're comfortable with, someone who understands their sound: Joe Johnston. He mixed Wheat Patch and produced Jackalope alongside the band. Johnston has been instrumental in getting the best out of the group. "The guy will work 10, 12 hours straight - no breaks - day after day and he expects the same from us," Aaron says. "At one point he almost made us consider quitting smoking just so we could keep up."

Jackalope took almost three weeks longer to record than their previous effort, but the band was more comfortable with the recording process and was becoming more detail oriented. The album was also more personal. "With each record we've gotten better at producing what we hear in our heads," Ryan says.

Jackalope is about a relationship gone bad, specifically one of Ryan's, and is Brown Shoe's most-focused and heaviest album yet. Though its centerpiece is Ryan's disintegrated relationship, the band shared the weight creatively. They also shared the pain. As Ryan wrote the album's lyrics, the rest of them watched a brother endure the torment of rehashing it. It was therapy in some ways, and a testament to the strong bond in the group. "Actually, it wasn't difficult at all for us," Bryson says. "We soak up his hardships for the sake of the records. I'm kind of hoping his life falls apart again soon. We've got another album to record." "We didn't talk much about it and we didn't need to - it was in the songs," Aaron says. "I think when you see someone close to you go through some shit, it definitely draws you in a bit more. And to speak for Ryan, he was the most focused I'd seen him."

The transient nature of construction work and a strong work ethic has paid off for Brown Shoe. They can tour - which they view as a working vacation - and have found success creatively and critically, recently landing songs on TV such as MTV's The Real World: Brooklyn. While utilizing television helps with gaining exposure, there's a certain level of apprehension. "They take a song and use it as they please," says Aaron. "It can be a little nerve-racking. But then they send you a check and you don't care anymore. It's one of the few ways that independent bands can make good money. And it's always nice to hear someone say they heard you on the boob tube."