Austin band drops album

When someone first listens to Austin-based quartet Moonlight Towers they are introduced to a set of heartland rock tunes, fully expressed in a mix of smart lyrics and a musicianship that only comes with real experience. Every song they release goes to the core of music, boiling down each song with no allowances of the pop-rock fad that has circulated the music industry for the past 30-odd years. The band will be performing Jan. 31 at Hole in the Wall to celebrate the release of their new "Live At Antones" EP.

Moonlight Towers takes their name from the tall vintage streetlights that illuminate Austin at night. They formed in 2001 when lead singer and rhythm guitarist James Stevens introduced a record of tracks he made to drummer and back-up vocalist Richard Galloway. They joined forces with bassist Jason Daniels then released their self-titled debut album in 2002, adding lead guitarist Jacob Schulze into the mix shortly after.

"Live at Antones" EP is a followup to their 2011 album "Day Is the New Night," which has received critical acclaim since it was released, even catching the attention of Steven Van Zandt (famed guitarist of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and former co-star of The Sopranos). Shortly after the release of the single "Heat Lighting," Van Zandt named the track as his weekly "Coolest Song in the World" and began to play the track and other songs from the album in his long-running Sirius XM radio show "Little Steven's Underground Garage," which reaches a reported over 1.2 million listeners a week.

"Heat Lighting" went on to be crowned number 12 on Van Zandt's "Coolest Song of the Year," and fans of the show voted the song as number nine "Coolest Song in the World" for 2011. Other songs on the album are definitely just as cool.

The band just released a video for their newest single "The Easy Way Out," a song that stirs up the summertime glow of 70s era R&B. Other songs of note are rockers like "What Else Can I Say" and "Black River," while songs like "Distant Wheels" evocates John Lennon. Especially sucessful are the strong but tender ballad complete with strings "Comes a Time" and a minor-key rocker about growing older and possibly wiser "Not a Kid Anymore."

Moonlight Towers has big plans for the upcoming year; for the next 6 months the band will be on a U.S. tour with plans of recording their next album when they get back. The video for "Distant Wheels" is in post-production and will be released in February. Another video from "Day Is the New Night" will be shot and released in the upcoming months, possibly while the band is on tour.