Jake La Botz taps into the spooky Americana undercurrents of Tom Waits and turns them into something cleaner and leaner, relying on weathered blues changes and a smokey after-hours atmosphere. La Botz is a simpler singer, too, lacking the gravelly growl of Waits, and his casual delivery can help camouflage the eccentric characters and stories on his albums, traits that came to a head on 2022's Hair on Fire.