Mike Stinson plus Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra

Mike Stinson’s new album, Hell and Half of Georgia, is a mixture of muscular Joe Ely-ish roadhouse bruisers and sawdust-floor tonkers. And with noted roots producer R.S. “The Ionizer” Field commanding the ship, Stinson completed the best sounding, most hook-filled album of his career. Fact of the matter is, Hell and Half of Georgia elevates Stinson’s game to new heights. And with his crack road band, he remains one of the only bands on the circuit who can do a four-hour two-step honky-tonk gig one night and do an hour-and-a-half rock showcase the next without a change of expression.

And Texas certainly had an effect on the cerebral Virginian who called L.A. home for 18 years. He fell in love with the space, the torrential rains, and the laid back feel of his new home, Houston. With two stellar, critically praised albums of hardcore honky-tonk and “barnyard rock and roll” in his LA past, immediately upon arrival in Texas he dropped The Jukebox In Your Heart, recorded with Jesse Dayton and his band at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studios. “No One To Drink With” from the album was voted best song of the year by the Houston Press in 2010.

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Nicholas Tremulis has called the Chicago music scene home for almost three decades. Over that time, he shared the stage with some local rock heroes, including Jeff Tweedy and Billy Corgan. He has also boogied down with some big boys such as Keith Richards. His band, the Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra, has undergone a number of changes since its formation in 1982. Despite its different incarnations, their sound has continued to echo throughout the Windy City. http://www.nicholastremulis.com/index.php

Admission is $12.