By Chip Chandler — Producer
After going back to his roots on his last album, Mike Harmeier looked close to home again for his latest one.
But instead of taking inspiration from his own family, as he did on 2015's Mockingbird, Harmeier instead asked his band, the Moonpies, to let loose and take the lead.
The result is Steak Night at the Prairie Rose, which debuted at No. 10 on the iTunes country chart and at No. 22 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart, the first time the band has appeared on a Billboard chart.
Now, Mike & The Moonpies will return to Amarillo for a 10 p.m. Saturday show at Hoots Pub, 2424 Hobbs Road. Also on the bill is Amarillo native blues-rock star Cody Jasper. Cover is $10.
"I really wanted to stray away from doing anything too Texas country or a singer-songwriter record," Harmeier said. "I wanted this record to be about the band, to let the guys do whatever they wanted to, just the way we naturally do it.
"I just stood out of the way," he continued. "I didn't want too much influence over the record, and I'm glad we did that."
The resulting album is winning raves in addition to its prominent position on charts.
"Steak Night is a boot-scooting rave-up that crisscrosses the country music map, as much Bakerfield as it is New Braunfels," Jeff Gage wrote for Rolling Stone.
"I tried to write simpler songs," Harmeier said. "Stuff we could do live. ... This is the first record that I feel that everything works live and we can pull it off."
Though the album doesn't delve into Harmeier's roots as significantly as Mockingbird, which was inspired largely by his father and grandfather, Steak Night does get personal in its title song.
"I had my very first gig at 14 years old ... at the Prairie Rose, a neighborhood bar (in his suburban Houston hometown)," Harmeier said. "I did play every night for Steak Night for a couple of years.
"It's all pretty true until the very end of the song, where I kill off my dad in the song. My dad's still alive," he said, laughing. "It was hard to show him that song ... but I needed a way (to end the song). I had to wrap it up somehow. ... He loves the song becuase it's so true to form, a time we both remember very well. And I told him I'd bring him back on the next record."
Harmeier's come a long way from strumming his guitar for folks more interested in the daiy deal on a well-done filet.
After kicking off 2018 with several shows at the MusicFest at Steamboat in Steamboat Springs, Colo., the band has an upcoming West Coast run later this month.
"Our national touring has has taken over the majority of our calendar now," Harmeier said. "We've been hitting the Midwest a lot over the years and we're starting to headline festivals there. ... We're really seeing some things starting to happen."
Chip Chandler is a producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
