Silverada

Austin's Silverada channels longstanding Texan musical idioms onstage and in the studio, free of any historical encumbrance. The ensemble can summon the atmosphere of the Lone Star State through hardcore two-step rhythms, loose-limbed Western swing, Doug Sahm's Cosmic American Music, George Strait's polished ballads, or neon-lit heartbreak. That capacity appeared on the early releases issued under the Mike and the Moonpies name and crystallized on the self-titled 2024 album that appeared after the group adopted the Silverada designation.

The project first took shape in 2008, when guitarist Catlin Rutherford assembled rotating players for a weekly Monday-night engagement at the Hole in the Wall, a modest bar along the University of Texas drag. By around 2010 the lineup stabilized with Rutherford, vocalist Mike Harmeier, steel guitarist Zach Moulton, drummer Kyle Ponder, and bassist Preston Rhone; this configuration issued the independent album The Real Country. Pianist John Carbone entered in 2011, and the band adopted the East Side venue the White Horse as its primary Austin base. The next year brought the second studio effort, The Hard Way.

Continued road work carried Mike and the Moonpies beyond Texas. Their third album, 2015's Mockingbird, drew notice beyond state lines. Following the 2016 double-live set Live at WinStar World Casino & Resort, the quartet delivered its fourth studio album, Steak Night at the Prairie Rose, in early 2018. The 2019 release Cheap Silver & Solid Country Gold marked a departure; during a European tour the group recorded the orchestral country collection at London's Abbey Road Studios with the London Symphony Orchestra.

A more austere project followed in 2020 with Touch of You: The Lost Songs of Gary Stewart, a tribute to the late Texas country artist. After One to Grow On appeared in 2021, the band changed its name to Silverada and issued the self-titled Silverada in June 2024.