Blacktop Mojo Proves Rock Still Has a Pulse

Zach Taylor

Jul 27, 2026

The Rock Revival We Need

While reading Bud Gambrell’s book, Side Tracks, I came across a section about Greta Van Fleet performing in Huntsville at the iconic Side Tracks venue. My wife and I had recently seen them perform at the Orion Amphitheater, and I was astounded by the idea of a band with that kind of energy fitting into such an intimate space—a beloved Huntsville music venue that closed its doors in 2022. Admittedly, I was mostly experiencing FOMO. At that stage of life, my wife and I were raising three kids, each with their own busy schedules. Going out to see regional bands simply wasn’t an option—even if one of them had a chart-topping song like “Highway Tune.” Recognizing a band I knew and had seen caused me to pause and pay closer attention. That’s when I came across the section on Blacktop Mojo. Reading about them made me wonder: how did these guys become such incredible performers? Musicians don’t simply explode onto the scene in stadiums and amphitheaters; they cultivate their presence in places like Side Tracks. They build a following.

Blacktop Mojo by Bud Gambrell Photography for Mixed Alternative Magazine — Credit: Bud Gambrell

So, I cued up Blacktop Mojo’s music to get a deeper feel. Whoa. Wow. How did I not know about this band sooner? These guys were right up my alley—their Texas grunge and pure rock sound hit me like a wave, and they are truly keeping the spirit of rock and grunge alive with their music. Formed in 2012, Blacktop Mojo are no strangers to Huntsville’s Side Tracks Music Hall, having performed there in 2018, 2019, and 2021. So, when I saw they were coming to Rocket City Honky Tonk, I marked the date as a must-see. And I almost didn’t make it because of work. I’d already given up hope of seeing them, let alone landing an interview, but fate had other plans.

Blacktop Mojo at Rocket City Honky Tonk on July 23, 2026 — The show poster

That morning, I texted Bud to see if he could arrange an interview, and band management agreed that one of the members would meet with us. Later that day, as I eagerly awaited the interview, my wife and I waited next door at Furniture Factory Bar & Grill, and as luck and persistence would pay off, I was able to talk with both Catt Murtis and Matt James of Blacktop Mojo. Read on to learn more.

The following conversation has been edited lightly for clarity.

MaM: People often describe Blacktop Mojo as “Texas grunge.” What does Texas grunge mean to you? What is one thing you like about that label and one thing you dislike?

Catt Murtis: I like it because some of our favorite bands are from the grunge era, and we all kind of collectively meet together on liking those bands. It’s cool that we’re associated with that in some way. You can definitely hear it reflected in some of our music. The only reason I don’t like it is that we’re so much more than that. We have such an expansive spectrum of rock and roll throughout our catalog. We go all the way to blues and even almost borderline Southern metal sometimes.

MaM: When people give you a label like that, does it help listeners understand what they’re getting into, or does it flatten what the band does?

Matt James: I think it helps people understand. It helps people maybe take a chance on you because it’s always really hard for a band to describe its own sound. You’re too close to it, you know what I’m saying? If you have that label, hopefully people who like grunge stuff, or maybe people who like Texas country, will check us out. That’s always the battle nowadays.

MaM: Who is your favorite band from the original grunge era, and who influenced you the most?

Matt: For me, it’s Soundgarden. I’m a big, big Chris Cornell fan. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who isn’t a Chris Cornell fan, though, so that’s not exactly a hot take.

Catt: I would honestly say Alice in Chains. When I first discovered grunge, it was Alice in Chains. A friend in high school told me I looked like Layne Staley, and I was like, “Who’s that?”

My hair was cut short, I was really skinny, and I had the blond-hair thing. I went and looked them up. I pulled up Facelift, their first album, because I thought, “I’m just going to check it out from the beginning.” “We Die Young” came on. As soon as that riff hit, I got chills, and my mouth dropped. I was like, “Yeah. This is my stuff.” They were what really broke me into finding bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and even Nirvana.

Blacktop Mojo with writer Zach Taylor for Mixed Alternative Magazine. Photo by Bud Gambrell Photography — Credit: Bud Gambrell

MaM: “Where the Wind Blows” is probably my favorite Blacktop Mojo song. I think it’s the intro that does it for me. There’s this idea of being completely obsessed with a woman. It almost feels Shakespearean. Am I off?

Matt: No. It’s about that really powerful experience of falling in love at first sight and wherever it takes you from there.

MaM: Have you experienced that?

Matt: In the past, for sure. To my own detriment.

MaM: Tell me about the headspace you were in when you wrote it. Where were you emotionally?

Matt: That song was on our second record, so I was probably 21 or 22 years old.

I was falling in love with every woman I met.

Writer Zach Taylor with Blacktop Mojo for Mixed Alternative Magazine. Photo by Bud Gambrell Photography — Credit: Bud Gambrell

MaM: You have a new song out. Do you call it “S.A.D” or “sad”?

Matt: We’ve been calling it “sad.” It’s easier to say.

MaM: It sounds like it’s about knowing you’ve crossed a line but still trying to convince yourself that you’re okay. Is it more a song about drugs, or about the regrets and emotions behind them?

Matt: I think it’s about really realizing that you can go down some dark roads with drugs, partying, and all that stuff. It’s that “aha” moment of, “Oh, shit. I might be about to die right now. I feel like I’m about to die right now.” Then all of those really important things flash through your mind. You finally realize that your family, your wife, your kids, and everything that is truly important to you are things you’re about to lose because of something stupid like drugs. I’ve had a lot of those moments over the years. Sometimes, especially when I’ve gone back toward drugs, whether it’s THC or psychedelics, you have to find the edge. You have to go too far a little bit, and suddenly everything becomes crystal clear to you. Once you realize you’re not about to die, you can kind of refocus your life in a more positive way.

Blacktop Mojo for Mixed Alternative Magazine by Bud Gambrell Photography — Credit: Bud Gambrell

MaM: A lot of heavy music is described in terms of anger, but underneath that anger there is often fear, shame or loneliness. Which emotion is the hardest for you to write about?

Matt: For me personally, it’s sometimes harder to write happy songs. It’s so much easier to draw from your shame and your anger. Songwriting is different for everybody, but for me personally, it’s a way to get that stuff out. You see it on paper, and once it’s on paper, you kind of have power over it.

MaM: Was there ever a Blacktop Mojo song that you finished and immediately thought, “This is the one”? A song you were convinced was incredible, but it never caught on the way you expected?

Catt: Honestly, I think we’ve had a little bit of that moment with every single one of our babies, so to speak. Every time you make something new, you’re like, “Oh, that’s better than the last one. I really like that.” You just keep bouncing from one to the other.

Matt: You always hope one of them will do something. You hope it will be the catalyst, the firework that pops you off into another stratosphere. That’s the thing you dream about. But at this point, we’ve been doing this for almost 15 years. You’re just hopeful that the song is good enough to allow you to keep writing more songs and keep making more music.

Catt: At this point, as long as we’ve been doing this, we’re not necessarily looking for something to pop off. We’re looking to make something we love, that we hope other people will love, and that will allow us to continue moving forward.

Writer Zach Taylor with Blacktop Mojo for Mixed Alternative Magazine. Photo by Bud Gambrell — Credit: Bud Gambrell Photography

MaM: You’re releasing your new album Discount Fireworks on vinyl and CD at a time when most music is consumed one track at a time through streaming. Is that nostalgia, or does Blacktop Mojo belong to a tradition where an album should be experienced as a complete work?

Catt: When we’re creating an album, we definitely lean toward the latter. But we’re also aware of the reality. We’re fans of albums.

Matt: Yeah. We have CDs and CD players. We have tapes. It’s nice to hold the art in your hand. We’re doing that for anybody who still likes that experience. I still like going into vinyl shops and finding something and thinking, “Oh, I don’t have that record.” Then you have it in your collection.

Catt: I think it’s cool that vinyl has come back like that.

MaM: What is something unique to Blacktop Mojo that you keep on the rider?

Matt: We have these Frisbees called Aerobie discs. On our first tour, we were in the van for about 60 days, and somebody gave us one. Every time we saw an open field or a parking lot, we would think, “That’s a good Frisbee spot over there.” Social media wasn’t exactly what it is today. You weren’t buried in your phone for 12 hours a day, so that was our time killer. It sounds dumb, but we still have them on the rider. We have a collection of them at the house.

MaM: What does the rest of the rider say about the band? What is the practical stuff?

Matt: Batteries, towels, energy drinks. It’s pretty sensible stuff.

I honestly laughed at that last answer. It made them sound like the most sensible rock stars imaginable—throwing Frisbees in an open field and asking for batteries, towels, and energy drinks like kids at a friend’s house. Still, they look every bit the rock stars: onstage, they play and move with undeniable presence. Matt James’s voice simply screams rock star, while Catt plays bass with the confidence of a lead guitarist, working the crowd—and occasionally picking up the guitar for a show-stopping highlight.

Walking down the street together, people must have nearly broken their necks watching these two—good-looking, long-haired, and clearly dedicated to their craft. Alongside them was the short, nerdy-looking engineer, who seemed on the verge of passing out from exhaustion. Yet from the moment we met, the experience felt less like accompanying rock stars and more like meeting the new kid at the lunch table—maybe the one sporting a Soundgarden or Alice in Chains shirt. You notice the shirt, they notice you noticing, someone says something, and you quickly realize that, for all your differences, you share a language. In this case, I was the new kid, and I felt like I was walking beside friends who loved the same things I did, except they lived inside that world while I merely walked alongside it.

The band, about to embark on the Texas Checkmate Tour with Seven Year Witch—set to kick off the next night in Huntington, West Virginia—could have treated Huntsville as a mere warmup, one last stop before the real tour began. But they didn’t. Blacktop Mojo didn’t shrink to fit the room; instead, the room had to rise to meet them.

Blacktop Mojo Texas Checkmate Tour — Catch these guys live in your town!

That’s what venues like Side Tracks understood. Iconic performers don’t start in amphitheaters; they are forged in small rooms, where the music has nowhere to hide, and the distance between band and audience disappears. For nearly 15 years, Blacktop Mojo has kept walking into those rooms, playing each one as if it might change everything.

Standing inside Rocket City Honky-Tonk, feeling the sound push against the walls, I couldn’t help but think of Side Tracks. The rooms may change, but the music still has to be bigger than them, and Blacktop Mojo's is.