Houndmouth (2026)

One Liner: Shaggy southern rock goodness.

Wikipedia Genre: Alternative country, indie rock, folk rock, Americana
Home: Indiana

Poster Position: 9
Day: Sunday at 5:00
Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  Here in 2015 and 2018.  I love these guys.  Saw them when they came through in 2015, and it was a great show.  High energy, real deal rock and roll.  Can't recall if I saw it in 2018 too, but expect I did?

They formed in 2011, playing gigs around Kentucky and Indiana before showing up at SXSW to promote their first EP.  The head of Rough Trade was in the audience and offered them a contract soon thereafter.  Spin and Esquire named Houndmouth a "must-see" band at Lollapalooza, and Garden & Gun said, "You'd be hard pressed to find a more effortless, well-crafted mix of roots and rock this year than the debut album from this Louisville quartet.  Pretty high praise!

But it was their second album - Little Neon Limelight - that blew up - mainly because their top single is on there   Excellent jammy, country-tinged rock.  One of those groups (like Of Monsters & Men or Lumineers) where it seems like ten people are singing on half of the tracks.  But these tunes hop into a groove and rock it with short-ish (almost everything under 4 minutes) jams.  Also reminds me of Bright Light Social Hour, which I dig.  Fun music.  "Sedona" is a great track, I still hear it from time to time in playlists and on the radio.  321.7 million streams.

I like the lines about your neon glowing brighter, a "Saturday night kind of pink."  They have a lot of party tunes that should be great live, and a few slower burners that are also good.  But that song there has gone platinum in the US and reached #1 on the AAA Chart

2018's Golden Age starts with about 40 seconds of silence, and then eases you into a slightly cleaner sound.  Still good rock and roll, but a little less shaggy, more produced.  Less roots, more pop.  Also, did the female vocalist leave?  Didn't they have a female on the old songs?  Yes, Wikipedia says that Katie Toupin left the band in 2016, so now its just three dudes.  That is too bad, I liked her harmonies, made the band a little different than the usual sausage party.

These tunes are pretty good - you can run through the album repeatedly in quick fashion because its only 10 songs and 36 minutes.  The top track is "This Party," with a sentiment of wishing you could escape.  3.6 million streams (sooooo far below the big hit).

Hear that?  Not a roots rock song, but still a pretty solid rock and roll tune.  Danceable, catchy, good groove.  Makes me think of Spoon.

"Waiting for the Night" sounds kinda like a Strokes vibe.  "Modern Love" hews a little closer to the classic sound, acoustic guitars and harmonies.  Well, then they have a weird ending to the song with robot vocals and spooky synths.  Otherwise, nice tune.  "Coast to Coast" uses a beat piece that I associate with the Beastie Boys, which is attractive to me, but now I need to dig into where that actually came from.  Oh, no, wait, that is an Eagles song!  "Those Shoes."  Aw yeah!  That is kinda tight.  1.4 million streams.

"'cause I'mma high, plains, drifta."  Such a tight beat.  Makes a cool groove on that tune.  But I think the easiest comparison on this album is to Spoon.  Most of the album sounds like their recent tunes.

Their most recent disc is 2021's Good for You.  That one sort of has Wilco vibes to me.  The top track on there is "McKenzie" with 34.8 million streams.

Nice tune, and the back scenes footage of the guys makes them seem like fun dudes.  I also note that they continue to like songs with place names as the title, as this album has an "Ohio" and a "Las Vegas" to go with "Sedona" and "Houston Train" and "Come on, Illinois" and "Halfway to Hardinsburg" on prior albums.

I have to admit that I prefer the old tunes to the new album, but I'd still go see these guys do their thing again.  They are definitely the best band I have heard on this poster in a few days.