Artist:     Mike and the Moonpies

Album:     Mockingbird

Label:     Self Released

Release Date:     10/02/2015

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It’s no coincidence that the original tunes on Mike and the Moonpies’ third studio album, Mockingbird, sound so familiar. Frontman Mike Harmeier, who learned to play guitar at six, and has performed in front of live audiences since he turned 10, wrote all ten of the hardcore country songs to resemble those popular in the 1980s and 1990s.

“One Is The Whiskey” feels like a tribute to the years Harmeier has spent in bars listening to jukebox hits by Randy Travis, George Straight and Clink Black. On the title track, Harmeier pays homage to his late grandfather, with lyrics that deserve one more round of alcohol and a toast to faded old hand-me-downs. One song, “Never Leaving Texas” (though it’s contradicted by the band’s current touring schedule of Oklahoma, Arkansas, California, Arizona and New Mexico), pays homage to the band’s Texas legacy. The Moonpies, including Kyle Ponder on drums/percussion, Preston Rhone on bass, Catlin Rutherford on guitar, Zachary Moulton on steel guitar and John Carbone on piano/organ, have been fronted by Harmeier for 20 years now, and they’ve consistently drawn, and continue to draw, diverse young crowds to some of Austin’s favorite venues like the White Horse, the Continental Club and the Broken Spoke.

– Donna Marie Miller