The Ames is a three-piece collective of drummer Michael Lanz, bassist Dan Swan, and multi-instrumentalist Sam Carlton, who contributes lead vocals, keys, banjo, guitar, harmonica, and the occasional kazoo. They make a type of music that fits with their hometown of Bellingham–quaint, charming, and a little off-kilter. The band’s only been together since August, but the three songs on their self-titled EP already offer a good lesson on how folk can be fun–theatrically woeful vocals, loose, freewheeling melodies, backed by plinking strings and a pounding ragtime piano. It’s foot-stomping, saloon-style folk music, with its mischievousness enhanced by snarky, devil-may-care lyrics like, “You may cry, tattle, and stomp/And honestly, honey, ain’t nothing else wrong/Except for I/really think that you’re ugly.” With Magoozler, Bear Cove. ERIN K. THOMPSON

Tue., Dec. 20, 8 p.m., 2011