All tagged Mike and the Moonpies

Festival Review- Born & Raised 2023

Four miles north of Pryor, Oklahoma, along Hwy 69 on the fabled Rocklahoma festival grounds, is the premier Red Dirt, Country and Americana music and camping festival known as Born & Raised. In only its third year of production, the line-up continues to dazzle with top names in the genres. Each year, the dates have moved around a little in the month of September with this year’s festivities running September 13-16. The week provided beautiful weather – dry and mostly sunny the entire time. It was even a bit cooler than I remember from my past attendance which was most welcoming. 

Mike and the Moonpies: One to Grow On

At its heart, Mike and the Moonpies is a dance band made for filling up the floors with everyday folks looking to cut loose and have some fun. The band’s eighth studio album One to Grow On celebrates the workingman and his day to day efforts to get ahead.

"I wanted to create a record you could crank loudly in your truck on Friday afternoon at quitting time," says frontman Mike Harmeier, who wrote One To Grow On in his backyard studio on the outskirts of Austin. "To do that, I developed a narrative and a central character. It's a guy who's working hard to make ends meet, all while living in the moment and hoping to stay appreciative of the things he has. A guy who takes pride in what he does but is still searching for a balance in his life. There are a lot of similarities between him and me."

“Everyone I know who isn't a musician is working construction.” adds Harmeier.” They're putting one foot in front of the other and trying to appreciate the moment they're in, while basically working 24/7, 365. A lot of people live their lives that way, and they inspired me to write a workingman's story.”

Train to Birmingham: July 2021

No live music experience can match a Texas dance hall on a Saturday night with a hot country band on stage and a roomful of people two-stepping around a hardwood floor. When that dance hall is the Old Coupland Dance Hall and that band is Mike and the Moonpies, you have officially arrived in Honky-Tonk Heaven!

Working out a road trip itinerary that would get me from a Cody Canada show in Gun Barrel City, Texas, to a Blackberry Smoke show in Lake Charles, Louisiana, I found a Mike and the Moonpies show that fit perfectly. Little did I realize how life-changing that decision would be.