Americana-roots band The Steel Wheels will be closing out the spring semester of the Maintenance Shop shows at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30.

The Steel Wheels are from Harrissonburg, Virginia and are known for their raw energy and chemistry. The four-piece ensemble, led by Trent Wagler, is memorable for their tendency to cluster tightly around a single microphone.

“Generally speaking, we’re an original Americana-roots band in our styling,” Wagler said. “We play all-acoustic and largely around one microphone. Even though we’re not playing in a traditional way, people picture that ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ movie when they see that large microphone that we all sing around.”

While Americana roots is how the band is primarily described, they have influence from other genres, as well as a wide array of country artists.

“Like I said before, we can fit ourselves in Americana roots,” Wagler said. “We do kind of delve into some old time and bluegrass styles, but our influences are pretty wide ranging.”

The Steel Wheels was started by Wagler and over the years, has gradually developed into a four-piece ensemble.

“It largely was built around songs that I was writing,” Wagler said. “I was the main songwriter to begin with, and I was looking for people to play with. We were all friends. We had all been friends in one way or another, whether we had met in college or at that time. We got together over the course of five or six years playing casually. We would play a few gigs here and there, but it wasn’t that serious.”

Though The Steel Wheels have been playing together off-and-on for several years, 2010 is when the group was collectively established.

“In 2010 we really congealed and went on the road full time,” Wagler said. “That’s when we truly became The Steel Wheels and really made it a band. It wasn’t just Trent Wagler, this front man with songs. It was definitely a band sound dedicated to the full band aspect.”

The group chose their name to evoke imagery of Americana culture, as well as to complement the members’ Mennonite family backgrounds.

“We got some of the first few shows before we had a name,” Wagler said. “We were in a pinch and talked about as many names as we could think of. We talked about The Steel Wheels just being a nice hearkening, giving you a vision of trains and Americana images. There’s also a slight tie-in to all four of us having Mennonite backgrounds. Even though none of us are, and we’re not talking about old-order amish Mennonite, we have that sort of background. The steel wheels, the buggies and the culture that is in that is a nod to that heritage.”

The Steel Wheels’ initial breakout album “Red Wing” was released in 2010.

“We released our first album as The Steel Wheels in 2010, but we recorded it in ’09,” Wagler said. “It was a great experience of recording in two locations. We recorded the first half of the album in a bed and breakfast that belonged to one of our members’ dad. We just created this studio out of this beautiful house and were able to draw from some of the natural acoustics of the room.”

The band just released a coupling of singles on April 1, available both physically and digitally.

“We just released a 7-inch vinyl single,” Wagler said. “It’s an A side and B side, a two-song record. We have videos online for both of those songs. We have brand new music released today, also on iTunes. The songs are called ‘We’ve Got a Fire’ and ‘Winter is Coming.'”

Even though they have a busy touring schedule playing up to 120 dates a year, The Steel Wheels are finding time to write new music for an album that they are looking to record in June.

“We’re writing a lot of songs right now,” Wagler said. “We just had a long rehearsal on the road, in a hotel room trying to sift through some of the new songs. We’ve got about 15 to 20 new songs that we’ve been working on. We’re trying to hone in on a great theme and a great direction for the next album, which we hope to be recording in June.”

After hearing strong word of mouth on the road for the Maintenance Shop, the April 30 show will mark the band’s first time playing in Ames.

“We’ve never played in Ames,” Wagler said. “We’re really glad because we’ve heard about the Maintenance Shop for years. There have been people that come to our shows in Iowa City who say ‘when are you going to be in the Maintenance Shop? We really want to see you guys there.’ We’ve kept telling them, ‘It’ll happen, we hope. We’d like to get there soon.’ It’ll be cool to finally get to see it for ourselves, to be there and meet people in Ames.”

Fans of Americana and music in general can expect a lively performance with plenty of variation.

“What you can expect from the show is variety,” Wagler said. “Although we kind of stick to an acoustic mold, within that we play everything from fast, upbeat instrumental fiddle tunes, to story-driven ballads. We will always do some stripped-down four-part a capella singing, and we bring a lot of passion and power to every song that we play. A lot of people at the live shows come to the merch table and tell us that the live show is where it’s at. I think people will really enjoy coming out and seeing us.”

The Steel Wheels, in the M-Shop’s last spring show, plays starting at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30 at the Maintenance Shop in the Memorial Union. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the M-Shop box office or midwestix.com at $15 to students, and $20 to the public, with a $2 increase the day of the show.