Mike Harmeier was still in his early 20s when he formed the band now known as Silverada. From the start, they were the definition of a workingman's country band, cutting their teeth with five-hour sets on Austin's dancehall circuit before spreading their music to the rest of America. By the early 2020s, they'd become global ambassadors of homegrown Texas music, flying their flag everywhere from Abbey Road Studios (where they recorded 2019's Cheap Silver & Solid Country Gold with help from the London Symphony Orchestra) to the Grand Ole Opry. The band's newest self-titled album, 'Silverada', marks a new chapter in the band's history. It's not just the title of the boldest release of the group's critically-acclaimed career; it's also the name of the reinvigorated band itself. "Back in the day, all we wanted to do was play the Broken Spoke," says Harmeier, nodding to the hometown honky-tonk in Austin, TX, where Silverada began sowing the seeds for a sound that mixed timeless twang with modern-day dynamics. "We had different aspirations back then. We were still figuring out what kind of band we were gonna be, and that took a lot of time and a lot of records." A lot of records, indeed. Silverada marks the group's ninth release, and it balances the strengths they've accumulated along the way - sharp, detailed songwriting that bounces between autobiographical sketches and character studies; gorgeous swells of pedal steel that drift through the songs like weather; a rhythm section capable of country shuffles, hard-charging rock & roll tempos, and everything in between - with a willingness to break old rules and open new doors. "Radio Wave" is a roots-rock anthem for the highway and the heartland, peppered with Springsteen-worthy hooks and War On Drugs-inspired atmospherics. "Eagle Rare" launches the band into outer space during its explosive middle section, which the band improvised in the recording studio. "Stay By My Side" showcases Silverada's road-warrior credentials - the band recorded the track live during a tour across the American Southeast, capturing it in a single take at Capricorn Sound Studios in Macon, Georgia - while "Wallflower" blends the organic with the otherworldly, finding room for harmonized guitar solos, driving disco beats, and 808 percussion. "Going into the studio, everybody in the band felt inspired to do something bigger than what they'd done before," Harmeier explains. "We all knew we were at a precipice, and we wanted to jump. I brought in some songs that were metaphorical and not always straightforward, and that showed the guys that I wanted to take this music somewhere new... so they threw their own rule books out the window, too." Harmeier wrote the bulk of Silverada in his backyard studio, surrounded by dozens of books he'd picked up at a local Goodwill. “We'd been on tour for so long, playing the same set for almost two years, and I wanted to write something that was a departure," he remembers. Jeff Tweedy's books on songwriting were a big help, but Harmeier pushed himself to get weird, too, finding inspiration in everything from astronomy texts to sci-fi novels. "I would read some, work a little bit, read some more, and work a little more," he says of the creative process. "I spent a full month in that studio, going there every night, making word ladders and highlighting lines and learning to free write." Recorded at Yellow Dog Studios with longtime producer/collaborator Adam Odor, Silverada propels the band forward without losing sight of their roots. "Stubborn Son" - a loving, unsparing sketch of the family patriarch who set Harmeier's creativity in motion - unfolds like a close cousin to Steak Night at the Prairie Rose's title track, laced with fiddle solos from longtime George Strait collaborator Gene Elders. "Doing It Right" channels the same throwback, slow-dance ambiance that informed 2019's "You Look Good in Neon." "Load Out," which chronicles the grind of blue-collar jobs both on and off the road, could've found a home on 2021's One To Grow On. There's a smart sense of history here - a celebration not only of where the band is headed, where they've been, too. Even so, Silverada doesn't spend much time looking in the rearview mirror. Instead, it keeps its gaze focused on the road ahead. This is a snapshot of a band in motion, chasing down the next horizon, writing the soundtrack to some new discovery. It's the sound of alchemy, of some new metal being forged. And like silver itself, Silverada shines brightly. "We spent the first part of our career figuring out who we are and what we're good at,” says Harmeier. "Now we want to evolve not only the sound of the band, but the dynamic of the live show, too. Silverada is us setting the stage for the next leg of the journey."

Whenever Emily Nenni is onstage, she welcomes everybody to the dancefloor. The California-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter wants the honkytonk to be a place of escape, where fans can shed their troubles for a few hours and feel safe and free. “You can have trouble whenever you mix late hours and alcohol,” she says. “I’ve been in bad situations before, and I’ve tried to learn from those experiences. But it’s heartbreaking that some people don’t feel safe or don’t feel like they’re allowed to exist in this world. So I’m always watching the dancefloor and making sure everybody’s being respectful.” Or, as she sings on the supremely funky title track to her new album Movin’ Shoes, “Here’s where you dress for you and dance the way that you want to.” Movin’ Shoes is an album about how we treat each other and how we treat ourselves—whether we’re at the honkytonk or not—and Nenni writes and sings like someone who has seen enough shit go down that she’s not going to allow any more, at least not on her watch. “When I was writing these songs, I was thinking about just how hard it is to live in this world,” she says. “How are we leaving our mark in this world? How are we interacting with other people and with ourselves, too? Pain is part of the human experience. The world is so scary, but there’s so much beauty to it. And so much of that beauty comes from how we treat each other and ourselves. That's the album's entire message.” These are lessons she’s learned from some of her favorite artists, from Aretha Franklin to Stevie Wonder, and her new songs reflect these influences that extend beyond the honkytonk. “This isn’t strictly honkytonk like my former records, even though it’s still all the same influences,” Nenni explains. “I’m just drawing from more artists and genres than I have in the past.” Confident in its touchstones and compassionate in its insights, Movin’ Shoes eloquently and wryly blends southern soul from Memphis and Muscle Shoals with southern rock from Macon and outlaw country from Austin. These songs percolate with new sounds, like the bluesy Rhodes organ that kicks off the title track and the Lone Star harmonica that weaves throughout her bluesy cover of Paul Simon’s “Tenderness.”  She cites Sly Stone and Linda Ronstadt’s Motown covers as specific influences, but the old styles sound fresh and current because her personality and charisma come through in every note. Especially on some of the darker tunes, Nenni found strength in her heroes. With its piercing blasts of Stax horns and weeping pedal steel, “What Have I Done Wrong” pleads for empathy and patience: “Please believe I’m trying,” she sings. “I’m faulty by design.” In addition to some of her most incisive lyrics, the song also features one of her most powerful, soulful vocal performances. “I wasn’t trying to sing like Aretha—who could possibly do that?!—but I was thinking of her and her power and her confidence. I’ve heard so many songs that have lifted me out of something and made me feel like I’m not alone.” Drawing from a lifetime of experiences, Nenni wrote these songs in isolation, usually during lonely winter months. Alone with her thoughts, she found perspective devising lyrics and melodies. “That’s when all those dark things come to the surface, but I can put it all down on paper. I process life by writing songs.” On the rambling, rousing “Livin’ in Shame,” with its crackling guitar licks, she examines her own relationship with her body. Nenni notes that the song shares a title with a 1969 hit by the Supremes, but she tweaks the phrase to show how unkind we can be to ourselves. “We are so hard on our bodies. Back in middle school I wore a back brace. It was particularly challenging at that age as our bodies are changing, and it largely changed the relationship I had with my body and confidence. It’s such an insecure time for anyone, again, not just women. I still struggle with how I speak to myself and my body as a result of my experience and I see so many others struggling with the same. We should all be nicer to ourselves, but of course, that’s easier said than done.”  To record these songs, Nenni drove down I-40 from Nashville to Memphis, where she worked with producer John James Tourville (the Deslondes) and Matt Ross-Spang. They worked together on 2024’s Drive & Cry, but the setting—Ross-Spang’s new Southern Grooves studio—was different. “Matt’s place is incredible. He put so much time and care into it, and the building it’s in—Crosstown Concourse—is a wonderful community based around art and education and food and culture. It’s a special spot.” Recording in the home of the blues—and the home of soul and the home of rock & roll—Nenni let some of those local influences seep into the music, especially the Stax fanfares on “Talk to Me” and “Yes It Hurt.” “Initially we weren’t going to do horns, but John James gently brought up how horns could make a few songs really pop. That’s always the fun part about recording: You walk in with a song you think is going to sound one way, but it turns into something different because the musicians come from different places and have different interests.”  One of the most important crew members at Southern Grooves was Edna herself, who provided comfort during the writing as well as the recording process. “She loved laying outside the echo chamber,” Nenni says with a laugh Edna is also the subject of “Home with My Dog,” a catchy ode to staying in rather than going out. “When I was in my early twenties, I was always going out to see live music, hanging out, popping up onstage. Now that I’m older and on the road more, I just want to stay home with Edna. She doesn’t do that thing where she’s looking past you to see if there’s someone else she needs to meet.”  Making Movin’ Shoes was a process of discovery for Nenni. Musically she found all new ways to combine the disparate artists she loves so much, and lyrically she found all new ways to relate to herself and to others. “We should at all times acknowledge and accept the fact that we’re imperfect people,” she explains. “We all make mistakes and we should all rethink the way we go about things. I am flawed. Everyone around me is flawed. But that’s not a bad thing. It just means we’re all human. This album is about making mistakes and learning from them. I’m always trying to put that into my songs.”