Jason Eady, Mike & the Moonpies

"There has always been pop music, but country music was always the avenue out of adolescence and into the grown up world with grown up issues like responsibilities and family. Someone's got to keep it alive, to preserve that kind of sound. That was our aim with this record."

Jason Eady's extensive background in "grown up issues" is what explains why the word "poet" is so frequently associated with his name. A six-year stint in the US Air Force as a translator placed him in a slew of foreign cultures giving him a universal look into the nature of human beings and a good jumping off point for his comprehensive lyrical translations. The Mississippi native and Texas transplant has spent the last seven years in an incubation period undergoing a musical metamorphosis that has led him through lonesome delta blues, inspirational church house harmonies, poetically spun tales of Americana and into the naked and honest regions of good ole' country music.

His three previous record releases have laid an impressive foundation starting with his 2005 debut FROM UNDERNEATH THE OLD (produced by Walt Wilkins and Tim Lorsch). That was followed by his 2007 sophomore release, WILD EYED SERENADE (produced by Eady), which was tagged as the Top 50 Albums of the Year by the No Depression reader's poll and reached #14 on the Americana Music Chart. WHEN THE MONEY'S ALL GONE (produced by Kevin Welch) is the last anyone has heard from Eady, until now.

AM COUNTRY HEAVEN, Eady's fourth record release, originated as a side project with friend (and producer) Kevin Welch. The plan was to lay down some old school authentic country music out of sheer self-indulgence and as a labor of love. As the recordings got underway more and more people appeared in the studio contributing their ideas and adding their personal touches until their side project evolved into what is the highly anticipated album everyone is talking about. Eady says, "I love that old school country music so much. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of artists doing it these days. It's almost the opposite…like people are running away from it. I admit that this record is a drastic departure from anything I have done before, but this is where my heart is."

AM COUNTRY HEAVEN features Redd Volkaert on guitar, Earl Poole Ball on piano, Tom Lewis on drums and Kevin Smith on acoustic bass - all members of Austin's all-star team of country music players called Heybale. Combined, they have recorded and toured with artists such as Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Junior Brown, Dale Watson, Connie Smith and Johnny Bush. They're responsible for the southern swagger on this album's tunes like "AM Country Heaven" and "I'll Sure Be Glad When I'm Wrong." Add legendary pedal steel player Lloyd Maines on the soulful "Longer Walk In The Rain" and "Lying To Myself" and a special vocal appearance from the incomparable Patty Loveless on "Man On A Mountain" and Eady's rich baritone timber, and what you have is a pure honky-tonk affair in the tradition of all the great troubadours that came before him.

In addition to his own albums, his talent for prose has been embraced by his peers landing him two cuts on Micky and The Motorcars' latest record RAISE MY GLASS, one cut on Eleven Hundred Springs' forthcoming record and two co-written cuts on The Trishas' forthcoming record. Eady also co-penned The Trishas' latest single "Drive." Although the radical departure that is AM COUNTRY HEAVEN is sure to strike fans like a storm without warning, it seems that Eady is merely living up to his reputation for the element of surprise as perfectly stated by USA Today who said, "This Mississippi native's blues-rocker creeps up like gathering thunderheads."


'The brand of country on "The Real Country," the debut album from Mike and the Moonpies, is extremely adaptable. Some of the music, like the steady blues bounce of "Water on the Rocks" or the relaxed Southern sway of "Matrimony," call for cordial two-stepping in an upscale dance hall. But if you were to hear the twangy romp of the title track's steel guitar riffs at, say, the band's Aug. 12 gig at the Mohawk, you couldn't help spilling your Lone Star before you scuttled across the dance floor.
It's fitting, then, that the Moonpies feel at home all over town. They're in their element among the rough-edged rock elites on Red River, but they also held the release party for "The Real Country" at the historic Continental Club, and they're veterans of the tiny Drag dive the Hole in the Wall. Ultimately, "The Real Country" is exactly what it claims to be — Texas country for Texans, played straight from the heart of Texas.'