Laughing all the way across the ‘Bible Belt’

Ha Ha Tonka brings their proud Missouri alt-country to Boston

Ha Ha Tonka hails from Springfield, Mo., which is one of the reasons they chose to name their debut album, “Buckle in the Bible Belt,” after the area’s memorable nickname.

“I guess you just try to write about what you know,” says singer/guitarist Brian Roberts, “and what we know best, by default, is the Ozarks.”

The hometown-loving boys are on tour with fellow Springfield band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, whose April release Roberts calls “the best pop album of 2008.”

Ha Ha Tonka has received similarly effusive praise for its smart, raucous hybrid of bluegrass and indie rock. Maybe that’s what landed the band on Chicago’s famed alt-country label Bloodshot.

“I know the people at the label try to fight the [term] ‘alt-country’ but it doesn’t bother us at all,” says Roberts. “We kind of straddle the fence. Bluegrass is a big influence. So is R.E.M. [We’re somewhere in between].”

Recorded in a former church in Missouri, “Bible Belt” includes noticeable flirtations with religion, from the true story of a churchgoing rabble-rouser in “Bully in the Pulpit” to the gospel-tinged a cappella rendition of the traditional Ozarkian folk song “Hangman.”

“I would say we’re observers,” demurs Roberts when asked about the band’s relationship with organized religion. He learned the song “Hangman” from musician Mark Bilyeau, who studies Ozarkian folk songs and compiles for an extensive online database.

“We wanted to have an a cappella song on the album but we didn’t want to write it.”

As for “Hangman” specifically, Roberts adds, “Led Zeppelin even does a version of it.”

Ha Ha Tonka
Monday, 9 p.m.
T.T. The Bears
10 Brookline St., Cambridge
MBTA: Red Line to Central
$10, 617-492-2327
www.ttthebears.com