Holy Moly

This past Labor Day weekend in Fort Worth during the Clearfork Music Festival, it was evident early on that the atmosphere would be dampened by the rather thin turnout. But the general malaise that swept through the sweltering, empty spaces of land along the Trinity River proved no match, however, for the steady stream of exceptional performances. Indeed, if the grounds of the festival were a bit dull, the onstage happenings were anything but.
Perhaps more than any other band through the entire event, which included a headlining set from Austin's Black Angels, and a revelatory, sun-baked one-man band show from Lincoln Durham, local band Holy Moly made its small square of the afternoon a memorable one for the few dozen assembled and dancing along.
All of a sudden, the group's upright bass player and guitarist were off of the stage, and in the grass with the onlookers as they kept pace and performed. It was quite a moment, to be sure. Oh, and when we say local band, this Joe Bill Rose-led psychobilly outfit proudly reps the 817, where each group member lives.
The group's origin has been immersed in a case of drunken history: As Rose says "there are conflicting answers" about the band's beginning, due to how the group "drank a lot when we first started this damn thing." For the record, the group's Facebook page states the group formed in 2005. Regardless of how they officially became a band, Holy Moly now consists of Jeremy Hull on bass, guitarist Danny Weaver, drummer Joe Carpenter and the esteemed Ben Roi Herring on pedal steel. This seasoned group (the youngest members are in their mid-30s) released Brothers Keeper, its fifth full length album, way back in December of 2013.

But between that release and the late-August Clearfork set, the band had virtually bulldozed the annual Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards earlier in the summer, taking home seven -- yes, seven -- trophies, including Best Song for "Time Travelin'," Best Album, Best Americana/Roots Band and likely most important to the group itself, Best Live Band. For those Dallasites who doggedly keep their focus on the east side of DFW Airport for their musical fun and information, that's a serious haul -- even better than a Sarah Jaffe-at-the-DOMAs-kind-of-haul.

Such acclaim from the Fort Worth press and adoring crowds makes sense, as the band has long nurtured a well-earned rep as forceful live band. The focused feel of Brothers Keeperis also an improved, tighter, more mature product than Grasshopper Cowpunk from 2011, or any of the group's other fun, worthwhile efforts.
"I was in my early 20s when the first album came out. All I was concerned with was playing power chords and doing as many drugs as I could get my hands on in an immature attempt at burning out fast and leaving a wasted corpse," explains Rose. "As the music progressed, so did our ability to tell a story and express emotion. Albums two, three and four were spent exploring every facet of emotion: From rage to complacency, silly to serious, and the merry to morose.
"Album five definitely has a different feel," he continues. "The first song I wrote for the album was 'Good Fight' which I wrote two weeks after my wife and I lost our daughter Scarlett. Most of the album has a similar feel of the sentimental, due to my deep need to understand the up and down nature of the world around me. I felt like a child, and when I was a child my musical inspiration came from classic country -- probably the reason this album feels a little more honky-tonk and less barn-burning."
Certainly, the band has enjoyed being kings of the Cowtown hill for a few years now, thanks to infectious performances, which has led to prime gigs at Billy Bob's Texas (Holy Moly just played to a crowded house there on Christmas night) and sharing stages with the likes of the Reverend Horton Heat and Turnpike Troubadours, and even an upcoming gig at the legendary Gruene Hall. Understandably, Rose likes to think that more Dallas- and Denton-based folks will eventually turn their attention to what is going on to the west, and grasps why it may not sometimes have happened as much in the past.
"We're just patiently waiting for our turn," Rose says. "I've been around long enough to watch the music scene in Dallas and Denton come and go many times. I don't think there is ever a shortage of talented musicians in DFW. I guess we all just have to wait and see."
As casual and refreshing as Rose's take on Fort Worth's musical underdog status is, the approach his group took as they ramped up to the aforementioned Fort Worth WeeklyMusic Awards is even more so. The lack of pretense the band showed in actually -- gasp! -- promoting themselves for such an event is a trait that Fort Worth oozes in its small-town-inside-of-a-big-city feel.

"There was some good, old-fashion shaking hands and kissing babies," Rose explained this past week to us, as the group gears up to perform the grand opening of the new Dallas venue, Henderson Avenue Country Club on Friday night. "Acting apathetic about what your music means to you seems to be the trendy way of introducing it to new people. Then we woke up and all decided one day that it was O.K. to get excited about your own art. It's O.K. to be unashamedly proud of it. After all, if an incredible band plays an underground show to an empty club and there's no one around to hear it and buy the t-shirt, who gives a shit?"
But more key to a country band's sustainability than social media promotion or landing high-profile gigs, any band worth a damn must adamantly command the stage, regardless of how pristine its records may be. And in Holy Moly's case, they not only command their stage, they set it ablaze with a roots-fueled fire.
"Our albums are carefully constructed, well thought-out interpretations of a past moment, a past thought," says Rose. "If you want to know who someone really is right now, you have to look them in the eye, shake their hand. Live shows live in the present. It's how we are feeling then. Usually 'then' is when we are also charged with adrenaline and booze, which makes for an exciting, charged interpretation of the past."
The joyous, frenetic live show Holy Moly provides betrays the deliberate approach Rose and crew adopt when it comes to the group's future goals. A sixth album is casually being considered as the various schedules of the individual members, and the increasingly busy concert docket takes shape for 2015.
Just as one will be hard-pressed to find a more up-tempo, raucous country show in all of North Texas, one will also have a tough time finding a guy that's not in much of a hurry to change anything or jump through too many hoops to simply capitalize on winning a few trophies. Such is another example of the refreshing lack of pretense that comes with a crack Fort Worth cowpunk band from Where the West Begins.
"We're always keeping our eye out for bigger opportunities," he says. "Lucky for us, we are just fine with a slow burn; no need to rush. I can play country until I'm 90, sitting on a bar stool and sipping bourbon." - Dallas Observer

Large bodies were bouncing off one another like bingo balls. In front of and slightly above them, Fort Worth acoustic country-punk quintet Holy Moly was wrapping up a set of sometimes subdued, often high-octane originals and the occasional obscure cover. The show was happening in Fort Worth but not at a place where you’d expect to see moshing. Not 1919 Hemphill. Not Lola’s Saloon. Not The Rail. No, Holy Moly was firing up the masses at Billy Bob’s Texas, a place better known for boot-scootin’ and line dancing than for maelstroms of tattooed knees and elbows.

Except for the occasional dinosaur-rock act (Styx, Ted Nugent), Billy Bob’s multiple stages are usually reserved for both kinds of music: country and Western. True, Holy Moly’s music is countrified and twangy, but the band has as much in common with Fugazi and The Dead Kennedys as with Willie and Waylon. The show was huge in a couple of ways. First, nearly 2,000 people showed up, enlivening the shadowy, sprawling room. Second, maybe Holy Moly has broken through some sort of glass ceiling. Maybe the band has proven that top-quality, underground, independent, non-C&W music can work at Billy Bob’s. The honkytonk makes a ton of money –– tickets were $10, and the drink prices were pretty steep –– and the bands that play there get to make some money and also get to say, “Hey. We played Billy Bob’s.”

Robert Gallagher, who’s been booking shows at Billy Bob’s for 25 years, said Holy Moly has always been on his radar. Knowing how well the band draws, Billy Bob’s president Concho Minick made room on a Thursday night. The band jumped at the opportunity and did not disappoint.

“Oh, my gosh,” Gallagher said. “It was one of the most diverse crowds I’ve ever seen on a Thursday. … I loved the music. I hadn’t listened to them in two or three years, and they’ve grown incredibly.”

The show also meant a lot to the heart and soul of Holy Moly. Frontman and lead songwriter Joe Rose wanted to thrill Billy Bob’s to prove that indie underground rockers have a place at the table at one of the most legendary institutions in the country. Chiefly courtesy of Holy Moly, Billy Bob’s is now considering opening the door to more underground local music.

“We met about it this morning,” Gallagher said. “There are a ton of great bands in Fort Worth, but … you’ve got to get that crowd support. Holy Moly did a great job of marketing.”

On a less rational note for Rose, a kickass show also meant smooth sailing for Brazos. Rose and wife Hannah are pregnant with their second child, a boy named after the legendary river, and are due in February –– their first child, 4-year-old Edith, a.k.a. Ede Faye, is from Hannah’s first marriage, and last July, the couple lost a child, Scarlet Jolene Rose. “It was a hard time,” Rose recalled. “The guilt is tough to deal with. You want to push away from somebody at that point, run in the opposite direction, start over, disappear, forget it ever happened.”

Rose is one of the most talented frontmen and singer-songwriters in North Texas, and with his rugged good looks and trademark handlebar mustache he’s also a charismatic presence onstage. Even without the Billy Bob’s show, his band remains one of the biggest draws in North Texas, regularly packing the 450-people-capacity Aardvark (owned by Danny Weaver, who shares Holy Moly songwriting duties with Rose), other regional clubs, and even some small but crazy joints in Europe.

With Weaver on lead guitar, drummer Joe Carpenter, upright bassist Jeremy Hull, and newcomer Ben Roi Herring on pedal steel guitar, Holy Moly is pretty sui generis: raucous and rowdy but also intelligently humorous (despite some cringe-worthy sexism) and deeply emotional. The songs to drink and sing along to are always tempered by moments of powerful feeling, driven by the Southern-fried but unaffected instrumentation and Rose’s smart, heartfelt lyrics.

Rose hasn’t peaked yet –– he’s only in his early 30s –– but he has lived a hundred classic C&W songs’ worth of life, mainly the rough spots brought on by the poor decisions he’s made and also by dreadful circumstances beyond his control. Music has not always been in his life, but it’s been important. “I know it sounds cliché,” he said over beers recently at Fred’s Texas Café. “But music really did save my life.”

Music eventually saved his life. It was not there for him all of the time. Not long after he started his first band, The Action, with Weaver in the early ’00s, Rose partied himself into a manic episode that deposited him at death’s door. Music also was not there when young Joe ended up homeless and reeking on the streets of Atlanta, Ga., weighing about 110 pounds, and scrounging for his next heroin fix or pill to pop.

Music saved his life but only after he could have died. A couple of times.

********

Rose’s upbringing went from idyllic to horrific quickly.

Born in Arlington, he moved when he was just a kid with his family –– Mom, Dad, and older - Fort Worth Weekly

FORT WORTH – The sound of a locomotive run amok. You know, when the pistons get to syncopating and the whistle starts howling and the wheels begin hissing. That is Holy Moly in concert.

The Fort Worth cowpunk band made its Billy Bob’s Texas debut Thursday night at the club’s Honky Tonk Stage with a nearly two-hour show that had the crowd dancing, hollering, raising beer bottles and cigarettes. For lead singer Joe Rose, bassist Jeremy Hull, drummer Joe Carpenter, guitarist Danny Weaver and pedal steel guitarist Ben Roi Herring the gig had special written all over it. Aside from it being the first time playing the renowned country music venue, the band welcomed special guests Johnny Reno on saxophone and a horn section consisting of Phil Carpenter (Joe Carpenter’s brother), Bridget Carpenter and Blaze Loeffelholz. In the audience was Amy Lee of Evanescence and members of the North Texas Beard Alliance.

Holy Moly’s anthem “The Moustache Song,” which Rose wrote about his handlebar beauty, has morphed into one of those communal signposts that brings people together to honor the hair above a man’s lip. While the band played the tune, I witnessed a couple of guys don black marker-produced mustaches.

Jeremy Hull and his upright bass kept the rhythm Thursday night. (Stan Olszewski/The Dallas Morning News)

It’s a bar sing-along song, and Holy Moly has plenty of those. Let’s see here – “Babydoll and Beer,” “21 Shots,” “Moonshine Man” and “Honky Tonk Livin’,” to name a few. The band partakes, too. About midway through the show Rose distributed shots to his musical mates and then toasted them all onstage. “Pardon me one second,” he told the audience. Let us not forget that it’s their party on the platform.

Also, let us not ignore that these guys are accomplished musicians. Carpenter’s drum work was stellar. He owned the galloping beat that kept every song grounded in kicking cowpunk. Hull literally airlifted his upright bass (no small accomplishment) while he finger-picked a rhythm. Rose possesses one of those reedy, twangy voices that pierce the skin and then slither inside. Weaver and Herring tie it all together with slices of rock and country stringed instruments. The results are akin to a marriage between Hank Williams and Social Distortion.

Lots of attention went to 2011's Grasshopper Cowpunk, Holy Moly’s fourth full-length album. “Golden Sombrero,” featuring those brassy horns blazing away, took us south of the border. “Roses On Her Skin” moved at a rollicking speed. “Saturday Night” was so in-your-face rambunctious that for a moment it slipped my mind that the weekend hadn’t arrived. I’m betting those young dancers on the hardwood floor twirling their partners while doing the two-step felt exactly the same. A cover of “I Saw the Light,” done cowpunk style naturally, raised the merriment quotient significantly.

Holy Moly has no hidden agenda. The mission is clear, show the fans a good time while merging traditional country with old school punk-rock. Turns out that runaway train isn’t aimless after all. - Dallas Morning News

Fort Worth’s self-described “cowpunks” Holy Moly seems to be embracing more of the “cow” side of that equation on its latest LP, Brothers’ Keeper. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as the quintet ably marshals pedal steel, chugging acoustic guitar and bass lines and frontman Joe Rose’s wonderfully wounded vocals to create 13 addictive tracks. The band will host a record release party Thursday at Billy Bob’s Texas.

Online: holymolytexas.com - DFW.com

The last time Holy Moly played Billy Bob’s Texas, a mosh pit broke out, a first for the World’s Largest Honky-tonk®. You’ve got to wonder what was going through the regulars’ heads. These good folks had simply shown up to do some line-dancing, maybe drink a couple-a beers, maybe grab a little ass, and then –– bam! –– those people are slammin’ themselves into each other! And they’re not even in rhythm!

The non-regulars, the people who rarely ever go to Billy Bob’s but went on this night just to see the Fort Worth cowpunk quintet, weren’t surprised. There’s really a lot more to Holy Moly than rockified C&W. There’s punk fury, for one thing; for another, there’s a straight-ahead pop sensibility.

After pounding out three albums of hootin’ and a-hollerin’, Holy Moly settled down a little with its fourth long-player. Grasshopper Cowpunk (2011) is still fun and occasionally wheels-off, but it’s much more mature –– stylistically and especially lyrically –– than the band’s earlier output (“Rose and Thorns,” Dec. 19, 2012).

Frontman and co-songwriter Joe Rose, guitarist and co-songwriter Danny Weaver, drummer Joseph Carpenter, pedal steel player Ben Roi Herring, and bassist Jeremy Hull continue the trend of smarter, deeper, richer material on Brothers’ Keepers, their fifth studio album, which will be officially released on Thursday with a performance at –– where else? –– Billy Bob’s (2520 Rodeo Plaza, 817-624-8118).

“We think people who assume [that] Holy Moly is just about silly, rowdy songs will be surprised by what we’ve crafted,” Hull said.

Recorded last spring with producer Will Hunt at his Spaceway Productions studio downtown (Burning Hotels, The Hanna Barbarians), Brothers’ Keepers is 13 mostly moody, emotionally complex tracks that are country at heart but full of classic-rock and punk blood. Rose’s twang is tempered by a less exaggerated delivery and some robust, welcome vibrato, and the new songs, while still made of ragged, organic performances, are smooth, with sumptuous melodies and juicy hooks. “Cocaine,” featuring strings from the Dallas collective Open Classical, is a pristine, genuine yet non-sentimental knockout about Rose’s wayward father, while “Time Travelin’,” with its tale of alcohol-fueled transportation, will fill the dance floor. Hull said that having careers and lives outside of Holy Moly frees him and his bandmates to do whatever the hell they want musically.

“If we want to add electric guitar and double bass drum to make a straight-up rock song, we do,” he said. “If we want to add horns and pedal steel, we do. … If we want to add samples and loops, we will. Ultimately, that’s why we’re still together after nearly eight years. We genuinely love what we’re playing, and we’re not butting heads about a direction or some artistic vision. It’s all about playing the best we can and writing music that gives an emotional response.”

Tickets to the album release show are $10. Bring your elbow pads. - Fort Worth Weekly

Daybreak continues its "Movember" celebration with Fort Worth cowpunk band Holy Moly, from Fort Worth.
Movember is a time in which the importance of men's health is highlighted with mustaches. Band members in Holy Moly are no strangers to facial hair. In fact, one of their songs is titled "The Mustache Song." - WFAA Channel 8

Guitarist Danny Weaver tells us what Fort Worth local band Holy Moly has been up to and what plans are for the future.

You describe the band’s sound as cowpunk. What does that mean? The term “cowpunk” is a blend of old country western like Hank Williams Sr. as well as some aspects of punk or rock. We didn’t do it on purpose or try to create it really. It just sort of happened, the fusion part of these different sounds. We don’t want to be just one thing or one sound.

What was the most exciting performance you have ever given? When we used to play under the name Clickity Clack, we played the Double Door in Chicago and opened for Flickerstick. More recently we did a European tour, which was cool. They love music over there! We also set a pre-sale record for Billy Bob’s Thursday night sales. Yeah, that was a great night. I heard they had to bring on extra bartenders that night to deal with the all the people.

Are you currently working on another album? Yeah, actually. Joe [lead singer] and I are working on some writing. Usually we work together a bit, and then take what we come up with to the band. When we get ready to record the new album in March of 2013, we want to know all of our parts and have everything polished as to not waste time in the studio. Will Hunt is a huge part of our sound, for sure. He’s the sound engineer at Spaceway Studios, and he has a way of not forcing but suggesting things that really help.

The art for your albums is interesting. Can you tell me about the artist? Holy Moly’s artwork in its entirety has been created by “Troll” from Salty Dog Tattoo. I’d give you his real name, but nobody would know who we are talking about. We call Troll our No. 5. He’s a huge part of our band and our image.
- Fort Worth, Texas Magazine

Lots to get to, but first I’d like to apologize for my/HearSay’s grossly insensitive column last week (“Panic Volcanic: Freak Fuzz”). I’m sorry for implying that female vocalists in hard rock and/or metal bands somehow don’t belong. Of course they do. It’s been proven by millions of women all over the globe (Pussy Galore, Boris, Jucifer) and even by some in our backyard (Deaf Angel). Though I don’t know for sure, I’m pretty positive that women put up with a bunch of shit every minute of every day from a culture that simultaneously demonizes them as b-words and “hoes” while holding them up as bikini- or lingerie-clad pieces of brainless, soulless meat –– my female readers and women everywhere especially don’t need to be treated as lesser than by an assholic mama’s boy like me in the only real source of alternative news in this county. It won’t happen again.

“What Do You Get When You Cross Punk with Country? Cowpunk.” That’s the headline of a story in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, right above a deckline –– part of which reads, “The rise of music streaming services and internet radio have helped hundreds of musical subgenres gain exposure without much play on mainstream airwaves” –– and also above a publicity photo of Fort Worth’s Holy Moly.

“It came out of left field,” said Holy Moly co-songwriter and guitarist Danny Weaver. “They e-mailed us earlier in this week about doing an article on newer genres of bands.”

Holy Moly represents “cowpunk” (duh!), a term that Weaver said existed before he adopted it for his raucous outfit.

Other genres described by WSJ include folk metal (“a subgenre of heavy metal developed in Europe that incorporates traditional folk tunes”), epic doom (“metal with a heavy classical influence”), Zeuhl music (“a dark and gloomy jazz-rock fusion genre heavily influenced by the French band Magma”), and vaporwave (“samples sounds from computer games, infomercials, and hotel lobbies”).

Holy Moly is currently laying down tracks for a follow-up to last year’s Grasshopper Cowpunk with producer Will Hunt at his Spaceway Studios downtown. Weaver expects a late-November/early-December release.

Lastly, we received thousands upon thousands of votes in our 2013 Music Awards, and we’ve counted them all.

We have our winners.

We will announce them tomorrow (Sunday) at The Panthys, an awards presentation a la The Grammys but with a Panther City twist. Saxman Jeff Dazey and drummer extraordinaire Matt Mabe (Quaker City Night Hawks) are organizing a celebratory, jam-tastic after-party starting at 7:30-ish at Queen City Music Hall (425 Commerce St., downtown). Come join us. It’s free, and it’ll be fun. - Fort Worth Weekly

Lots to get to, but first I’d like to apologize for my/HearSay’s grossly insensitive column last week (“Panic Volcanic: Freak Fuzz”). I’m sorry for implying that female vocalists in hard rock and/or metal bands somehow don’t belong. Of course they do. It’s been proven by millions of women all over the globe (Pussy Galore, Boris, Jucifer) and even by some in our backyard (Deaf Angel). Though I don’t know for sure, I’m pretty positive that women put up with a bunch of shit every minute of every day from a culture that simultaneously demonizes them as b-words and “hoes” while holding them up as bikini- or lingerie-clad pieces of brainless, soulless meat –– my female readers and women everywhere especially don’t need to be treated as lesser than by an assholic mama’s boy like me in the only real source of alternative news in this county. It won’t happen again.

“What Do You Get When You Cross Punk with Country? Cowpunk.” That’s the headline of a story in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, right above a deckline –– part of which reads, “The rise of music streaming services and internet radio have helped hundreds of musical subgenres gain exposure without much play on mainstream airwaves” –– and also above a publicity photo of Fort Worth’s Holy Moly.

“It came out of left field,” said Holy Moly co-songwriter and guitarist Danny Weaver. “They e-mailed us earlier in this week about doing an article on newer genres of bands.”

Holy Moly represents “cowpunk” (duh!), a term that Weaver said existed before he adopted it for his raucous outfit.

Other genres described by WSJ include folk metal (“a subgenre of heavy metal developed in Europe that incorporates traditional folk tunes”), epic doom (“metal with a heavy classical influence”), Zeuhl music (“a dark and gloomy jazz-rock fusion genre heavily influenced by the French band Magma”), and vaporwave (“samples sounds from computer games, infomercials, and hotel lobbies”).

Holy Moly is currently laying down tracks for a follow-up to last year’s Grasshopper Cowpunk with producer Will Hunt at his Spaceway Studios downtown. Weaver expects a late-November/early-December release.

Lastly, we received thousands upon thousands of votes in our 2013 Music Awards, and we’ve counted them all.

We have our winners.

We will announce them tomorrow (Sunday) at The Panthys, an awards presentation a la The Grammys but with a Panther City twist. Saxman Jeff Dazey and drummer extraordinaire Matt Mabe (Quaker City Night Hawks) are organizing a celebratory, jam-tastic after-party starting at 7:30-ish at Queen City Music Hall (425 Commerce St., downtown). Come join us. It’s free, and it’ll be fun. - Fort Worth Weekly

What Do You Get If You Cross Punk Rock With Country? Cowpunk

The rise of music streaming services and Internet radio have helped hundreds of musical subgenres gain exposure without much play on mainstream airwaves. Below, a sampling.

Folk Metal: A subgenre of heavy metal developed in Europe that incorporates traditional folk tunes. Iceland's Skálmöld's debut album.
Epic Doom: Metal with a heavy classical influence.
Vaporwave: Samples sounds from computer games, infomercials and hotel lobbies.
Disco Polo: A genre that melds Slavic folk songs with the Italian-born dance-music form known as Italo-disco.
Zeuhl Music: A dark and gloomy jazz-rock fusion genre heavily influenced by the French band Magma.
Chicken Scratch: Also known as Waila, this Mexican-polka-influenced dance-music genre hails from Arizona and won its own category recently at the Native American Music Awards.

Holy Moly
Cowpunk: A blend of country and punk rock. The band Holy Moly, above.
Japanoise: Music composed with feedback, distortion and electronic effects.
Nitzhonot: A 1990s Israeli variant of trance music from Goa, India.
Kindie Rock: Indie rock for children.
New Wave of New Wave: A subgenre of British alternative rock that emerged in the '90s.
New Mexico Spanish Music: Spanish-language music popular in the state of New Mexico. Artists have lobbied for their own Grammy category.
Trap: A blend of Southern hip-hop, dubstep and dub that has become especially popular in modern electronic music.
Celtic Gospel: Gospel with a Celtic influence popular in Ireland.
Newgrass: Progressive bluegrass with a rock influence and electric instruments.
Frank Ocean

PBR&B: Alternative, modern R&B for hipsters takes its name from Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
Antifolk: A subversive or sarcastic form of folk music tinged with punk rock.
Neo-Soul: 1970s soul music fused with contemporary hip-hop and R&B.
Carolina Beach Music: A regional genre based on '50s and '60s pop that accompanies the official state dance of North Carolina and South Carolina.
Deborah Lopez
MC Frontalot.

Nerdcore: Nerdy hiphop that features heavy science-fiction subjects and computers
- Wall Street Journal

FORT WORTH — It’s a Monday evening, and the Aardvark is understandably empty. But it isn’t quiet. Nope. Holy Moly is in the house.

The Fort Worth cowpunk band just stepped off the stage after cranking out a rendition of “Moonshine Man” from its rambunctious 2011 album, Grasshopper Cowpunk. Like the other three Holy Moly discs — 2006’s Holy Moly, 2008’s Drinkin’ Druggin’ & Lovin’ and 2009’s Clickity Clack — Grasshopper Cowpunk was released on the band’s own label.

For Joe Rose, Danny Weaver, Joe Carpenter, Jeremy Hull and new member Ben Roi Herring, the Holy Moly sound is intertwined with a darkly macabre humor that works its way into the album artwork, song lyrics and overall sound. It’s a stomping mix of traditional country, punk-rock, blues and vintage rock ’n’ roll — Hank Williams meets Social Distortion.

“My life is extreme lows and extreme highs, and it bleeds into that,” said Rose, 34. He and Weaver, 40, are the group’s chief songwriters.

All the CD covers boast artwork by Troll, courtesy of Fort Worth’s Salty Dog Tattoo, who has a predilection for skeletons, roses, sombreros, snakes, liquor, guns and mustaches. The skeletal vaquero on the front of Clickity Clack sports a handlebar beauty. That’s not by accident; the mustache is the Holy Moly mascot.

Rose wrote “The Moustache Song,” a track on Grasshopper Cowpunk, as a tribute to his above-the-lip black bush with upward-curled ends.

“I tried to grow a mustache at 15, and it didn’t work,” Rose said. “The last three years it has taken a life of its own. It’s kind of a symbol of being a man. It’s about pride.”

At first the song felt like a joke, more comic relief for a band that likes to laugh when it plays. But now there’s something communal about it. The band has mustache T-shirts for sale. In December 2011, Holy Moly held an audience-judged mustache contest at the Aardvark. Members of the North Texas Beard Alliance were in the audience. Last month, during the “Movember” celebration on WFAA-TV Channel 8’s Daybreak, the guys were in the studio to perform “The Moustache Song.”

“The more we play it, the more I see the seriousness in it,” said Weaver. “It seems to have caught on, the mustache alliance thing.”

So has TV and video exposure for the group. The North Texas branch of the Chevy Music Showcase series, an advertising tool for Chevy that uses local music instead of cars and trucks, recently spotlighted Holy Moly. The two-minute video ran during commercial breaks on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this month. You can catch that clip on YouTube and the Holy Moly website, holymolytexas.com.

Seven years later, that kind of mainstream attention is indeed sweet. Rose and Weaver formed Holy Moly in 2005 from the remnants of the Action, an early 2000s band that played originals in the vein of Weezer and Foo Fighters. A few personnel changes ensued until the lineup solidified once Carpenter, 34, and Hull, 33, joined in 2007. Herring, 63, was brought in last year.

All five Holy Moly members have outside jobs and families. The band is their creative sanctuary. They play 35 to 40 shows a year and have been cranking on local stages since 2006. Fort Worth is the bread and butter, of course, and they’ve performed in Dallas, Austin, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Houston, Lubbock, Mineral Wells and New Braunfels.

They’ve ventured as far as Belgium and the Netherlands, but love it when they are close to home. The Holy Moly show Thursday night at Billy Bob’s Texas will be their debut at the venerable honky-tonk.

“We always have fun,” said Herring. “When we get onstage, all of that stuff is forgotten. If we are not having a good time, there is no point in doing it.”

There are goals, of course, including recording a fifth CD next summer. Forty songs are ready for studio time. A Kickstarter campaign will be used to fund the disc. But nothing trumps the camaraderie, the together-as-one spirit of friends making music.

“Even if nothing comes to pass,” Hull said, “we are still going to be a band.” - Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH — It’s a Monday evening, and the Aardvark is understandably empty. But it isn’t quiet. Nope. Holy Moly is in the house.

The Fort Worth cowpunk band just stepped off the stage after cranking out a rendition of “Moonshine Man” from its rambunctious 2011 album, Grasshopper Cowpunk. Like the other three Holy Moly discs — 2006’s Holy Moly, 2008’s Drinkin’ Druggin’ & Lovin’ and 2009’s Clickity Clack — Grasshopper Cowpunk was released on the band’s own label.

For Joe Rose, Danny Weaver, Joe Carpenter, Jeremy Hull and new member Ben Roi Herring, the Holy Moly sound is intertwined with a darkly macabre humor that works its way into the album artwork, song lyrics and overall sound. It’s a stomping mix of traditional country, punk-rock, blues and vintage rock ’n’ roll — Hank Williams meets Social Distortion.

“My life is extreme lows and extreme highs, and it bleeds into that,” said Rose, 34. He and Weaver, 40, are the group’s chief songwriters.

All the CD covers boast artwork by Troll, courtesy of Fort Worth’s Salty Dog Tattoo, who has a predilection for skeletons, roses, sombreros, snakes, liquor, guns and mustaches. The skeletal vaquero on the front of Clickity Clack sports a handlebar beauty. That’s not by accident; the mustache is the Holy Moly mascot.

Rose wrote “The Moustache Song,” a track on Grasshopper Cowpunk, as a tribute to his above-the-lip black bush with upward-curled ends.

“I tried to grow a mustache at 15, and it didn’t work,” Rose said. “The last three years it has taken a life of its own. It’s kind of a symbol of being a man. It’s about pride.”

At first the song felt like a joke, more comic relief for a band that likes to laugh when it plays. But now there’s something communal about it. The band has mustache T-shirts for sale. In December 2011, Holy Moly held an audience-judged mustache contest at the Aardvark. Members of the North Texas Beard Alliance were in the audience. Last month, during the “Movember” celebration on WFAA-TV Channel 8’s Daybreak, the guys were in the studio to perform “The Moustache Song.”

“The more we play it, the more I see the seriousness in it,” said Weaver. “It seems to have caught on, the mustache alliance thing.”

So has TV and video exposure for the group. The North Texas branch of the Chevy Music Showcase series, an advertising tool for Chevy that uses local music instead of cars and trucks, recently spotlighted Holy Moly. The two-minute video ran during commercial breaks on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this month. You can catch that clip on YouTube and the Holy Moly website, holymolytexas.com.

Seven years later, that kind of mainstream attention is indeed sweet. Rose and Weaver formed Holy Moly in 2005 from the remnants of the Action, an early 2000s band that played originals in the vein of Weezer and Foo Fighters. A few personnel changes ensued until the lineup solidified once Carpenter, 34, and Hull, 33, joined in 2007. Herring, 63, was brought in last year.

All five Holy Moly members have outside jobs and families. The band is their creative sanctuary. They play 35 to 40 shows a year and have been cranking on local stages since 2006. Fort Worth is the bread and butter, of course, and they’ve performed in Dallas, Austin, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Houston, Lubbock, Mineral Wells and New Braunfels.

They’ve ventured as far as Belgium and the Netherlands, but love it when they are close to home. The Holy Moly show Thursday night at Billy Bob’s Texas will be their debut at the venerable honky-tonk.

“We always have fun,” said Herring. “When we get onstage, all of that stuff is forgotten. If we are not having a good time, there is no point in doing it.”

There are goals, of course, including recording a fifth CD next summer. Forty songs are ready for studio time. A Kickstarter campaign will be used to fund the disc. But nothing trumps the camaraderie, the together-as-one spirit of friends making music.

“Even if nothing comes to pass,” Hull said, “we are still going to be a band.” - Dallas Morning News

Toward the end of Saturday, Holy Moly frontman Joe Rose looked out from the stage into the crowd at The Aardvark, pointed a tattooed finger in the air, and yelled, “We’re Holy Moly, and we’re from this motherfuckin’ town!” And then he and his band launched into “Hardcore Werewolf,” causing the spot in front of the stage to swirl in a circle of swinging elbows and bellowed lyrics. For those keeping score at home, the only mosh pit on West Berry Street happened in front of a band that has zero electric instruments.

I think. Memories are spotty, and mine probably looks like the back of Angela Lansbury’s hand. And anyway, it was 2 a.m. — details are always a little fuzzy at 2 a.m. Nevertheless, I do recall getting a little nostalgic — I probably was standing in the same spot (stage left, three quarters of the way back) at Holy Moly’s first show back in 2005 — because I’d also played at the nearby Moon right before popping into the ’vark, and I bartended there on Friday.

You might say Berry is where I’ve spent the bulk of my adult life. Oh sure, I’ve had jobs and apartments, but I’ve been hanging out near TCUland in various capacities for a decade. I like going into The Aardvark and perusing the gig posters plastered above the bar, because it’s like visiting a cemetery where nobody really cries about the deceased. The posters are headstones for the local bands of yesteryear. If you go into Spencer’s Corner, you’ll see a similar thing, with photos of all the bikini contests from its forbear’s 1970s heyday — obviously, I wasn’t around then, so The Aardvark’s memorabilia from days gone by mean a lot more to me.

But what of The Moon? Sure, I’ve hung out at the ’vark for a long time, but I practically lived at The Moon, at least since Chris Maunder bought it from The Aardvark’s Danny Weaver in 2003. (Or was it 2004?) My bands have played The Moon since then, and I worked there for four years, so the joint has sentimental value. When Maunder remodeled the bar in ’07, I took home one of the glass bricks that made up the bar, back when it was over on the south side of the room. I don’t know what kinds of souvenirs will be left when he moves the club to the Ridglea-plex. I guess that’s what made the Moon-shift I picked up on Friday night more than just some money in my pocket.

I hadn’t been behind that bar in nearly a year, and it was sort of funny walking in there last Friday, because things that drove me crazy for years had been inexplicably fixed — the computer never balked me, the lids to the beer cooler didn’t stick when I slid them back, the drafts poured smoothly — it was like the bar itself was stepping up its game. By the end of the night, the muscle memories of opening bottles, dunking pint glasses in the sink, and counting tips on the back bar made me feel like a million bucks. Or a couple hundred anyway. When The Moon moves across town to Camp Bowie, there might not be any physical reminders of the bar that used to be. On Friday, I was happy to grab a mental souvenir. –– Steve Steward - Fort Worth Weekly

Toward the end of Saturday, Holy Moly frontman Joe Rose looked out from the stage into the crowd at The Aardvark, pointed a tattooed finger in the air, and yelled, “We’re Holy Moly, and we’re from this motherfuckin’ town!” And then he and his band launched into “Hardcore Werewolf,” causing the spot in front of the stage to swirl in a circle of swinging elbows and bellowed lyrics. For those keeping score at home, the only mosh pit on West Berry Street happened in front of a band that has zero electric instruments.

I think. Memories are spotty, and mine probably looks like the back of Angela Lansbury’s hand. And anyway, it was 2 a.m. — details are always a little fuzzy at 2 a.m. Nevertheless, I do recall getting a little nostalgic — I probably was standing in the same spot (stage left, three quarters of the way back) at Holy Moly’s first show back in 2005 — because I’d also played at the nearby Moon right before popping into the ’vark, and I bartended there on Friday.

You might say Berry is where I’ve spent the bulk of my adult life. Oh sure, I’ve had jobs and apartments, but I’ve been hanging out near TCUland in various capacities for a decade. I like going into The Aardvark and perusing the gig posters plastered above the bar, because it’s like visiting a cemetery where nobody really cries about the deceased. The posters are headstones for the local bands of yesteryear. If you go into Spencer’s Corner, you’ll see a similar thing, with photos of all the bikini contests from its forbear’s 1970s heyday — obviously, I wasn’t around then, so The Aardvark’s memorabilia from days gone by mean a lot more to me.

But what of The Moon? Sure, I’ve hung out at the ’vark for a long time, but I practically lived at The Moon, at least since Chris Maunder bought it from The Aardvark’s Danny Weaver in 2003. (Or was it 2004?) My bands have played The Moon since then, and I worked there for four years, so the joint has sentimental value. When Maunder remodeled the bar in ’07, I took home one of the glass bricks that made up the bar, back when it was over on the south side of the room. I don’t know what kinds of souvenirs will be left when he moves the club to the Ridglea-plex. I guess that’s what made the Moon-shift I picked up on Friday night more than just some money in my pocket.

I hadn’t been behind that bar in nearly a year, and it was sort of funny walking in there last Friday, because things that drove me crazy for years had been inexplicably fixed — the computer never balked me, the lids to the beer cooler didn’t stick when I slid them back, the drafts poured smoothly — it was like the bar itself was stepping up its game. By the end of the night, the muscle memories of opening bottles, dunking pint glasses in the sink, and counting tips on the back bar made me feel like a million bucks. Or a couple hundred anyway. When The Moon moves across town to Camp Bowie, there might not be any physical reminders of the bar that used to be. On Friday, I was happy to grab a mental souvenir. –– Steve Steward - Fort Worth Weekly

There weren’t many surprises. Holy Moly won all three of its categories –– best live band, album of the year (Grasshopper Cowpunk), and song of the year (“The Moustache Song”) –– and Josh Weathers & The True+Endeavors won their two categories (best blues/soul and frontman Weathers for best male vocalist). Lola’s Saloon was once again voted best venue, Burning Hotels’ self-titled sophomore recording won indie-rock album of the year, and Telegraph Canyon took home best Americana/Roots Rock honors. - Fort Worth Weekly

There weren’t many surprises. Holy Moly won all three of its categories –– best live band, album of the year (Grasshopper Cowpunk), and song of the year (“The Moustache Song”) –– and Josh Weathers & The True+Endeavors won their two categories (best blues/soul and frontman Weathers for best male vocalist). Lola’s Saloon was once again voted best venue, Burning Hotels’ self-titled sophomore recording won indie-rock album of the year, and Telegraph Canyon took home best Americana/Roots Rock honors. - Fort Worth Weekly

Fort Worth band Holy Moly was the best surprise for me. Never having seen this cowpunk band before, I was impressed by both their mad musical ability and entertained by their wit and humor. Most of it was giggle-inducing bawdiness, for instance with the band joking that one of the members skipped that whole masturbation part of his teenage years to master one particularly challenging riff. Another song observed that “doggy style is hard to do when you only have one leg.” With upright bass, 2 guitars, drums, and a Korg/steel player, this band knows how to make a crowd laugh while playing some darn catchy tunes. - Examiner.com

Fort Worth band Holy Moly was the best surprise for me. Never having seen this cowpunk band before, I was impressed by both their mad musical ability and entertained by their wit and humor. Most of it was giggle-inducing bawdiness, for instance with the band joking that one of the members skipped that whole masturbation part of his teenage years to master one particularly challenging riff. Another song observed that “doggy style is hard to do when you only have one leg.” With upright bass, 2 guitars, drums, and a Korg/steel player, this band knows how to make a crowd laugh while playing some darn catchy tunes. - Examiner.com

Artist of the Year: Quaker City Night Hawks.

Rock Album of the Year: ¡Torquila Torquila! by Quaker City Night Hawks.

Indie-Rock Album of the Year: Burning Hotels, Burning Hotels.

Album of the Year: Grasshopper Cowpunk, Holy Moly.

Rock Song of the Year: “Bible Black Lincoln,” Quaker City Night Hawks.

Song of the Year: “The Moustache Song,” Holy Moly.

EP of the Year: Fish Out of Water, Lou Charle$.

Best new artist: We the Sea Lions.

Best band: Quaker City Night Hawks.

Best rock: The Hanna Barbarians.

Best hard rock: Stella Rose.

Best Americana/roots rock: Telegraph Canyon.

Best live band: Holy Moly.

Best Texas Music: Brad Hines.

Best hardcore: Wild//Tribe.

Best heavy metal: Southern Train Gypsy.

Best C&W: Moonshiners.

Best avant-garde/experimental: The Owl & The Octopus.

Best pop: D-Snacks.

Best punk: China Kills Girls.

Best jazz: Gunga Galunga.

Best blues/soul: Josh Weathers & The True+Endeavors.

Best R&B/rap: Dru B Shinin’.

Best acoustic/folk: Tripp Mathis.

Best semi-local band: Oil Boom.

Best cover/tribute band: Big Mike’s Box of Rock.

Best producer: Bart Rose (Fort Worth Sound).

Best record label: Spune Productions.

Best female vocalist: Meghann Moore (The Breakfast Machine).

Best male vocalist: Josh Weathers.

Best guitarist: Rusty Burns.

Best bassist: John Shook Jr.

Best drummer: Matt Mabe.

Best songwriter: Scott Copeland.

Best venue: Lola’s Saloon.

Comeback of the year: Exit 380 - Fort Worth Weekly

Quaker City Night Hawks, The Hanna Barbarians, Holy Moly, Tejas Brothers, and KatsuK bassist D. Anson Brody will represent the Fort in the North Texas Chevy Music Showcase, a mini-documentary that will air every Wednesday and Thursday on WFAA-TV/Channel 8 during Jimmy Kimmel Live! starting Wednesday, Oct. 3, and going through December. The rest of the 12 showcased bands are from Dallas and Denton and include some gems, namely Eleven Hundred Springs, Seryn, and The O’s.



Each two-minute episode features a single band onstage and in conversation with hosts, always members of another showcased band. ChevyMusicShowcase.com, where the entire movie will be available for viewing 24/7, also will offer a full-length performance video and free song download from each band.



The series also has featured bands in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Oklahoma City.



Participating North Texas venues include The Aardvark, City Tavern, Dan’s Silverleaf, Hailey’s, Lola’s Saloon, and Poor David’s Pub. Lola’s hosted the Barbs and Eleven Hundred, City Tavern did Quaker City and Madison King, The Aardvark Holy Moly and The O’s, Hailey’s Tejas Brothers and The Effinays, and Poor David’s Pub hosted Brody and blacktopGYPSY.



The bands are chosen by a small team that includes showcase executive producer Dot Rhyne, director/producer Tommy Smeltzer, and program manager Cam Mullikin. Not being from here, they study bands via “websites, social channels, publications, et cetera,” Rhyne said. The team also solicits input from showcase artists in other markets, friends and industry folk, and venue owners.



Quaker City Night Hawks drummer Matt Mabe said that he and his bandmates were contacted one day recently out of the blue. “Guess it was word of mouth,” he said.



The team, after vetting bands for legitimacy’s sake, compiles a “dream team,” Rhyne said.



“As we begin talking to artists, they start recommending others, and the target list takes on a life of its own,” she said.



The team got 99 percent of its North Texas wish-list. The only holdout? Denton singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe, who was on the road.



UPDATE

To the observation that all of the bands are rock/country-based (and white), Rhyne said that she and her team hope to “cover all genres and sounds before all is said and done.” Getting more involved in local scenes is the primary way by which she and her teammates hope to “cast a broader net,” assuming there are subsequent seasons. “We look forward to keeping our eyes and ears open for our next lineup,” she said. “It will help once people see the actual product for themselves and understand better who we are and what we do.”



The series will run for 52 weeks, she said, through September 2013. Twenty-six “unique episodes” will be aired (two per band plus two “topical episodes”), and all content will be repeated for a 26-week period. “At some point during the year, we also will air a commercial-free 30-minute show,” she said. - Fort Worth Weekly

Quaker City Night Hawks, The Hanna Barbarians, Holy Moly, Tejas Brothers, and KatsuK bassist D. Anson Brody will represent the Fort in the North Texas Chevy Music Showcase, a mini-documentary that will air every Wednesday and Thursday on WFAA-TV/Channel 8 during Jimmy Kimmel Live! starting Wednesday, Oct. 3, and going through December. The rest of the 12 showcased bands are from Dallas and Denton and include some gems, namely Eleven Hundred Springs, Seryn, and The O’s.



Each two-minute episode features a single band onstage and in conversation with hosts, always members of another showcased band. ChevyMusicShowcase.com, where the entire movie will be available for viewing 24/7, also will offer a full-length performance video and free song download from each band.



The series also has featured bands in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Oklahoma City.



Participating North Texas venues include The Aardvark, City Tavern, Dan’s Silverleaf, Hailey’s, Lola’s Saloon, and Poor David’s Pub. Lola’s hosted the Barbs and Eleven Hundred, City Tavern did Quaker City and Madison King, The Aardvark Holy Moly and The O’s, Hailey’s Tejas Brothers and The Effinays, and Poor David’s Pub hosted Brody and blacktopGYPSY.



The bands are chosen by a small team that includes showcase executive producer Dot Rhyne, director/producer Tommy Smeltzer, and program manager Cam Mullikin. Not being from here, they study bands via “websites, social channels, publications, et cetera,” Rhyne said. The team also solicits input from showcase artists in other markets, friends and industry folk, and venue owners.



Quaker City Night Hawks drummer Matt Mabe said that he and his bandmates were contacted one day recently out of the blue. “Guess it was word of mouth,” he said.



The team, after vetting bands for legitimacy’s sake, compiles a “dream team,” Rhyne said.



“As we begin talking to artists, they start recommending others, and the target list takes on a life of its own,” she said.



The team got 99 percent of its North Texas wish-list. The only holdout? Denton singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe, who was on the road.



UPDATE

To the observation that all of the bands are rock/country-based (and white), Rhyne said that she and her team hope to “cover all genres and sounds before all is said and done.” Getting more involved in local scenes is the primary way by which she and her teammates hope to “cast a broader net,” assuming there are subsequent seasons. “We look forward to keeping our eyes and ears open for our next lineup,” she said. “It will help once people see the actual product for themselves and understand better who we are and what we do.”



The series will run for 52 weeks, she said, through September 2013. Twenty-six “unique episodes” will be aired (two per band plus two “topical episodes”), and all content will be repeated for a 26-week period. “At some point during the year, we also will air a commercial-free 30-minute show,” she said. - Fort Worth Weekly

What do you get when you mix honky tonk infused country, rock 'n' roll, and some rambunctious punk attitude? You get Fort Worth foursome Holy Moly. These audacious rock 'n' roll cowboys have carved out a genre of music they proudly call cowpunk, and they've spent six years fine-tuning it. After releasing three albums, touring through Europe, opening for big names like Bowling for Soup and Flickerstick, and growing a local grassroots fanbase, the group has put out their fourth album, Grasshopper Cowpunk.

The band recorded the new album with local producer Will Hunt, who has also worked with fellow Fort Worth band Burning Hotels. Grasshopper Cowpunk is a 13-track album that blends country, honky tonk, punk, and rock 'n' roll seamlessly, with undertones of rockabilly flavor. Lead singer Joe Rose’s twangy vocals and storytelling lyrics are the sweet cherries on top of the delicious musical concoction that Holy Moly has created.

The album kicks off with the high-energy track “Saturday Night,” but that is only a tease of what is to come. As you delve deeper into Grasshopper Cowpunk, there are little nuggets of cowpunk goodness. “The Mustache Song” focuses on Rose’s (apparently) magnificent mustache, and it's an example of how their catchy western tunes will get you hooked from the first listen.

Holy Moly gives a Mexican twist to “Golden Sombrero,” a song with slightly imperfect Spanish about a golden sombrero wearing vaquero who has an undying thirst for tequila. After the first chorus you will find yourself cheerfully singing right along – in Spanish, no less – to Rose’s lyrics, “Donde es tequila mi bonita senorita?” Ben Roi Herring (father of local singer/songwriter Collin Herring) provides just the right amount of pedal steel guitar for that south-of-the-border feel.

But the real kicker is the final tune on the record, “Beatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’.” The shamelessly cheeky track has Rose singing unabashedly about masturbation. Yes, you read that right. The lyrics are downright hilarious, and it finishes as quickly as it started.

The band's CD release party is November 19 at Double Wide. - Pegasus News

One of the first things the casual listener may notice while listening to Grasshopper Cowpunk, Holy Moly’s fourth album in about as many years and the best, is that frontman and lyricist Joe Rose isn’t as twangy as he used to be. Though still urgent and evocative, the twentysomething heartthrob’s voice has taken on a much less affected, often denser timbre, which will be good news for casual listeners who bristle at the sound of “y’all” or a lot of “drinkin’,” “druggin’,” “lovin’,” and other normally innocuous verbs gettin’ countrified.

(Drinkin’, Druggin’ & Lovin’ is the name of Holy Moly’s second album, natch.) One of the best tracks on Grasshopper Cowpunk, an album littered with superb examples of C&W-inflected songsmithery, is “21 Shots,” a swaying, primarily acoustic, melancholy story-song that wouldn’t be out of place on 95.9 The Ranch (no little additional thanks to the somber pedal-steel lines of Ben Roi Herring, Austin-via-Fort Worth singer-songwriter Collin Herring’s pops and collaborator). I’m willing to bet that the Fort Worth cowpunkers Rose, co-songwriter/guitarist Danny Weaver, bassist/vocalist Jeremy Hull, and drummer Joseph Carpenter would like to distance themselves (even if just a little) from their rowdy, niche-y tag, opening themselves up to a lot more listeners and maybe paving the way to increased exposure. The $64,000 question now is: How do these guys get Grasshopper Cowpunk into the right hands? (Hey, Hayes Carll. Call me!) Produced by Will Hunt (Burning Hotels, Evanescence’s Amy Lee, Green River Ordinance), Grasshopper Cowpunk will be released Saturday at the Holy Moly show at The Aardvark (2905 W Berry St, 817-926-7814), with openers People on Vacation. - Fort Worth Weekly

One of the first things the casual listener may notice while listening to Grasshopper Cowpunk, Holy Moly’s fourth album in about as many years and the best, is that frontman and lyricist Joe Rose isn’t as twangy as he used to be. Though still urgent and evocative, the twentysomething heartthrob’s voice has taken on a much less affected, often denser timbre, which will be good news for casual listeners who bristle at the sound of “y’all” or a lot of “drinkin’,” “druggin’,” “lovin’,” and other normally innocuous verbs gettin’ countrified.

(Drinkin’, Druggin’ & Lovin’ is the name of Holy Moly’s second album, natch.) One of the best tracks on Grasshopper Cowpunk, an album littered with superb examples of C&W-inflected songsmithery, is “21 Shots,” a swaying, primarily acoustic, melancholy story-song that wouldn’t be out of place on 95.9 The Ranch (no little additional thanks to the somber pedal-steel lines of Ben Roi Herring, Austin-via-Fort Worth singer-songwriter Collin Herring’s pops and collaborator). I’m willing to bet that the Fort Worth cowpunkers Rose, co-songwriter/guitarist Danny Weaver, bassist/vocalist Jeremy Hull, and drummer Joseph Carpenter would like to distance themselves (even if just a little) from their rowdy, niche-y tag, opening themselves up to a lot more listeners and maybe paving the way to increased exposure. The $64,000 question now is: How do these guys get Grasshopper Cowpunk into the right hands? (Hey, Hayes Carll. Call me!) Produced by Will Hunt (Burning Hotels, Evanescence’s Amy Lee, Green River Ordinance), Grasshopper Cowpunk will be released Saturday at the Holy Moly show at The Aardvark (2905 W Berry St, 817-926-7814), with openers People on Vacation. - Fort Worth Weekly

BAND

Quaker City Night Hawks



ROCK

The Hanna Barbarians



NEW ARTIST

The Royal Savages



AMERICANA/ROOTS ROCK

Holy Moly



HARD ROCK

The Me-Thinks



TEXAS MUSIC

Green Light Pistol



HEAVY METAL

Southern Train Gypsy



LIVE BAND

Holy Moly



C&W

Walker & The Texas Dangers



AVANT GARDE/EXPERIMENTAL

Year of the Bear



POP

Son of Stan



PUNK

Fungi Girls



HARDCORE

Spacebeach



BLUES/SOUL

Leon Bridges



R&B/HIP-HOP

Rivercrest Yacht Club



JAZZ/WORLD

Tatiana Mayfield



ACOUSTIC/FOLK/SINGER-SONGWRITER

Scott Copeland



SEMI-LOCAL BAND

Oil Boom



COVER/ TRIBUTE ACT

Big Mike Richardson



PRODUCER

Ben Napier (Green Audio Productions)



VENUE

Lola’s Saloon



TALENT BUYER

Ghostlight Concerts



BASSIST PERFORMANCE

Zach Tucker, “Spider,” Panic Volcanic



GUITARIST PERFORMANCE

David Matsler, “Prize to Find,” Quaker City Night Hawks



OTHER PERFORMANCE

Ben Roi Herring, “The Pace,” Holy Moly



FEMALE VOCALIST PERFORMANCE

Rachel Gollay, “Against Love,” Un Chien



MALE VOCALIST PERFORMANCE

Joe Rose, “Linger On,” Holy Moly



DRUMMER PERFORMANCE

Matt Mabe, “Tell It Like It Is,” Quaker City Night Hawks



SONG OF THE YEAR

“Time Travelin’,” Holy Moly



ROCK SONG OF THE YEAR

“Tell It Like It Is,” Quaker City Night Hawks



EP OF THE YEAR

Texas Heavy, Quaker City Night Hawks



ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Brothers’ Keepers, Holy Moly



ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Animal Spirit, Animal Spirit



INDIE-ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Un Chien, Un Chien



ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Holy Moly - Fort Worth Weekly