(This is an updated version of the original article published August 10. The orginal version follows.)

The relevance of this past Saturday's Ames Straw Poll is nothing but a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If a candidate doesn't believe the straw poll important, there's no reason a poor showing matters. Just ask John McCain, whose apathy toward Iowa earned him 10th-place finishes in 1999 and 2007 but didn't stop him from earning his party's presidential nomination in 2008.

If a candidate believes the straw poll important, a performance below expectations can mean the end of a campaign. Just ask Tim Pawlenty, who finished third on Saturday and withdrew the next day. Or Tommy Thompson, who dropped out of the presidential race after finishing sixth in the 2007 straw poll.

For a mix of both, ask Mitt Romney, who won the 2007 straw poll but didn't win the Iowa Caucus or his party's nomination. This year, he's largely skipped Iowa, although he participated in August 11's nationally televised debate from Ames. He finished seventh in Saturday's straw poll, and you should read absolutely nothing into that.

Michele Bachmann certainly hopes that her victory Saturday portends good things for her campaign, but the past indicates that's not a safe bet.

(Other coverage of River Roots Live 2011 can be found here.)

Blues Traveler guitarist and songwriter Chan Kinchla calls the band's 2005 album ¡Bastardos! "our transitional record," and he admitted it has been a long transition.

Following three gold albums, the group - fronted by vocalist, harmonica player, and songwriter John Popper - had a top-10 hit in the mid-1990s with Four's "Run-Around," and the record itself went platinum six times, no small feat for a jam band. Straight on Till Morning (from 1997) also went platinum, but the death in 1999 of bassist Bobby Sheehan spurred a process of reinvention that might finally be over.

Blues Traveler will be headlining River Roots Live on Saturday, August 20, and as the band prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, it's planning big things. A retrospective package - including B sides and live material - is slated for March release, Kinchla said in a phone interview last week. ("The B sides have turned into almost a pretty good album all by themselves.") And a new record is in the works for the summer. That, he said, will be Blues Traveler's attempt at a great album.

(Other coverage of River Roots Live 2011 can be found here.)

For its second record, The Apache Relay - which will perform on August 20 at River Roots Live - initially tracked 10 songs in early 2010. But the band sat on the record - preferring a 2011 release to a late-2010 one - and that layoff prompted singer/songwriter Michael Ford Jr. to write new songs.

"I felt like in my heart of hearts that I had songs that needed to be on the record that hadn't been written yet," he said in a phone interview last week. "I felt like I had better in me. ... I wanted to write better songs."

So in the fall they tracked a handful of songs - some new, some different versions of previously recorded songs - and the fusion of those two sessions is American Nomad, which Nashville Scene called "exuberantly tuneful" and "irresistibly idealistic."

The final version of American Nomad only ditched two songs - "Sets Me Free" and "Lost Kid" took their places - but the band's decision to hold off on the record is one indication of the The Apache Relay's maturity. Even though the band is young - Ford is 23 - and has been around just two years, it seems and sounds far more experienced.

Author Zachary Michael Jack is a seventh-generation Iowan - the son of a farmer - who lives in Jones County, and like many people with deep roots in the Hawkeye State, his identity is intertwined with his home.

"It's a state that we imprint very strongly on where we're from and [that] we consider a lifelong commitment," he said in a phone interview this week. "Each person manifests that advocacy in different ways. ...

"If you do love a place, part of that love ultimately evolves into advocacy for that place. ... Kind of put your weight behind things that are homegrown."

The 37-year-old Jack - who will speak and read from his creative-nonfiction book Native Soulmate (scheduled for September release) at the Bettendorf Public Library on July 21 - is throwing his weight around in writing. An associate professor of English at North Central College, he has edited Iowa: The Definitive Collection and Letters to a Young Iowan: Good Sense from the Good Folks of Iowa for Young People Everywhere.

But with last year's What Cheer, Jack started on a new path. It was his first novel, and a mystery wrapped around a love story - in the conventional man-and-woman sense, but also reflecting a love of the Midwest and of traditions and things nearly lost to time.