Mike and the Moonpies? Silverada? The only names you really need to know are Mike Harmeier, Omar Oyoque, Catlin Rutherford, Zachary Moulton, and Taylor Englert. If they’re involved, it’s probably tits.
If you’re looking for an album that avoids all the well-worn grooves and eye-rolling tropes of country music, “Hum of the Road” by Tylor and the Train Robbers is sure to sit right with you.
May 3rd is one of those Fridays when the album releases come so hard and heavy, you really need help to make sure you navigate yourself in the right direction, and don’t miss out on something that may speak to you.
Previously known as Mike and the Moonpies, the Austin-based band shocked the independent country world when they announced the new name change at Mile 0 Fest in Florida in late January.
Memphis Kee out of Austin is looking to revitalize that approach of taking the robust songwriting of guys like Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, and applying it to music that’s just as much akin to grunge as country. Memphis Kee calls it “Shred Dirt” in tribute to the Red Dirt sound of the Texoma region.
The amount of country/roots/Americana releases coming at you each week has officially reached critical mass. And it will spill over like a school bus taking a dive into an above ground pool on Friday, October 28th. Luckily, you know about lil’ ol’ Saving Country Music, so at least you have a head start.
The Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed on all the best songs and albums coming out right here, right now in country and roots music. It’s available on most all streaming formats, or you can just use the song, artist, and album recommendations.
The single greatest band in country music at the moment has just released one of the single greatest records you will hear in country music in the last few years. And as much as you may assess this opinion as fandom overriding objectivity, or outright overwrought hyperbole…
Along with recognizing some of the best live performances that happened before the lockdowns, it also feels important to recognize the top achievers in the medium of film, video, instrumentality, and production in 2020, since there were some stellar efforts in that direction in 2020.
Mike Harmeier, Caitlin Rutherford, Kyle Ponder, Zach Moulton, and the incomparable Omar Oyoque. Mike and the Moonpies as they’re know collectively. Also known as the greatest country music band in the world at the moment — Gary Stewart. The King of the Honky Tonks.
We though Mike and the Moonpies caught us completely off guard last August when they released a surprise album on us recorded in London. Now they have a brand new record of completely unheard songs written by country legend Gary Stewart on the way.
Reprising their highly-regarded tour pairing in early 2019 that saw Jamie Lin play for 45 minutes, Mike and the Moonpies play for 45 minutes, and then both take the stage to rip through classic country cover songs, the collaborations and moments were pretty incredible. Members of American Aquarium also helped.
Garrett T. Capps is like a country artist without a country. Or more like a country artist without a planet. Space country is what he likes to call his music to attempt to convey the atmospheric and psychedelic flavoring of his brand of honky tonk. It’s a little bit out there, but more country and grounded than you might think.
As if true country music fans didn’t have enough on their plates Friday (8-2) with Tyler Childers releasing a new record Country Squire, formidable Texas honky tonk outfit Mike and the Moonpies came out of left field with a new record of their own, completely by surprise both in its arrival, and in its approach.
“We’ve always just wanted to entertain ourselves and put out music that would be a part of people’s lives, not just something passing to them,” says Jason Boland. “We want to be something more monolithic. We’re just a social experiment at this point .”
If you’re looking for an authentic Austin, TX honky tonk band as opposed to . . . I don’t know . . . some rich Californians looking to exploit the mystique and romanticism of such a thing, then the first place to start looking might be Mike and the Moonpies.