Midland brings Get Lucky Tour to Rio Rancho

RIO RANCHO — According to Jess Carson, country music is having a moment right now, and that suits the sound and style of Grammy-nominated Midland, which is performing in Rio Rancho this weekend.

He compared the current movement in the country music genre to the time following the release of the movie “Urban Cowboy.” “That movie was, really, the first big flash point for country music, where it just exploded into popular culture: the music, the fashion. It just changed things,” the Midland member said.

“There wasn’t one single moment lately, but we are in another post-Urban Cowboy moment right now with country music, and especially more traditional-sounding country music,” Carson said.

When Carson, Mark Wystrach and Cameron Duddy formed the trio about 10 years ago, they began with that traditional sound.

“Everybody was like, ‘Oh, wow, you’re doing a traditional sound,’” noting that the expectation was that was the direction it was going to take in the following year or so, including several pop artists moving over to the genre in recent years.

“People have been saying that for, like, 10 years, but now I actually feel like it is happening. I don’t know why. I think, for whatever reason, rock and roll has shrunk down, and maybe a lot of people who listen to rock and roll have moved over to country music, but it’s undeniably experiencing a massive moment right now.”

One of the reasons Carson feels country music, particularly the traditional sound Midland utilizes, resonates with people is that it’s an American art form. “It’s one of America’s greatest creations,” he said, noting that country, blues and rock and roll were born in the same time period and out of the same “soup.”

Another draw that sets it apart, he said, is the storytelling of the lyrics.

“Country music is a storytelling genre,” Carson said. “I think one of the biggest differences between country and rock is that in rock, you can say things that are very shrouded and they may make sense or they may not, or they don’t have to be linear. But in country, for three minutes you’re telling this story and you kind of have to make every line count and tell this narrative. And that’s what I love about country songwriting: It’s always going to be challenging, and I don’t think you could ever get to a point where you’re like, ‘I’ve figured it out.’”

That love of songwriting harkens back go Carson’s childhood in Oregon, where he grew up in what he calls a musical family.

He said his dad played guitar and had been in bands, and instead of a TV in the living room, they had a piano. His sister took to the piano while Carson began picking up guitar.

“I grew up on a farm outside a town — it was about 3,000 people — so country music was really the form of music out there, and it was the first stuff, that when I started playing music, the first songs and stuff like that.

“It wasn’t until probably middle school that I was really sort of investing time in playing guitar and making up little instrumental things at first,” he said. “Then, probably when I was a teenager, starting to write songs, and once I started to write songs lyrically, I got that excitement of, like, ‘Wow, you can express yourself or make up a story and tell it in song.’ There’s this kind of addiction, you know? I can remember those early days, sometimes staying up all night working on a song, just where you’re sort of wired. It’s just this bug that you catch, I guess.”

According to a press release, the members of Midland met at a wedding while Wystrach and Duddy were living in California.

“I was out here in Austin and was doing music, doing a solo thing, and Cameron and Mark were in California, and I somehow talked them into moving out here and doing this band. I think we all thought it was going to kind of be more like a hobby, but I guess ‘Drinkin’ Problem’ changed all that,” Carson said in reference to the band’s first hit. “It was the way that song took off and radio playing it and everything. It really just kid was like a rocket ship.

“Things happened so fast, there wasn’t a lot of time [to process],” he added. “It was like one day we were playing around in Texas and playing bars and stuff, and then very quickly after that, the first thing we did was go on a radio tour. … That was the first thing we did, and that was grueling, and then we just kind of went on tour, and we haven’t really stopped for 10 years.”

Now, the trio is making its way to Rio Rancho on its “Get Lucky Tour,” which is promoting their new album, “Barely Blue.” Rio Rancho’s Dec. 7 show is the final stop on the tour before the band returns to their home city of Austin, Texas, to wrap up the tour.

“It’s a whole new tour, whole new look, whole new set, whole new lighting setup and stage plot,” Carson said. “It’s just fun to rebuild the set list and the whole, kind of, live experience when you have a new album. You can kind of integrate that into it, but it’s going to be the same Midland energy and entertainment, so it’ll be a fun night of honkey-tonkin’.”

He said the band loves coming to New Mexico and has been to the Albuquerque area lots of times — including a performance at the state fair — and have also played recent shows in Taos and Santa Fe. “We’ve got great fans over there,” he said.

In fact, it’s the fans that keep them going. “You see what the music means to people,” Carson said. “There are different things that really kind of fill you tank. … I never take that kind of thing for granted.

“Everybody’s got to work and pay the bills,” he added. “If we weren’t doing this, we’d be doing something else. I think we would rather be doing this.”