Parts rock, parts country and folk, Mike and the Moonpies play with a soulful tenacity thick enough to damn near cut with a knife. This is good old fashioned, old-school, bar room blues.
Hard-gigging country quintet Mike and the Moonpies titled this year's full-length debut "The Real Country" — a title they seem to consider a charge to keep. They look the part — front man Mike Harmeier sports a cowboy hat as he growls and drawls his way through a set of cutting country anthems, lead guitarist Catlin Rutherford puffs on a cigarette and pedal steel player Zachary Moulton is a tattooed vision of toughness.
The band's stock has risen nationally thanks to a breakthrough session with Daytrotter and subsequent spot on the website's annual Barnstormer tour. "It doesn't matter where we play," says Harmeier. "We're a good dance band; that's what it's all about."”