Midland to turn the Vilar Performing Arts Center into a honky tonk with its original songs and covers

Though he hails from Texas, lead singer and guitarist Mark Wystrach of Midland is no stranger to Colorado. His wife grew up in Boulder, where the couple now has a house, right across the street from her childhood home. They spend summers here, “so I really love the state,” he said.

Rooted in everything from George Straight to 1990s rock and honky tonk with heavy influences by Brooks & Dunn, Tracy Lawrence, Mark Chesnutt and John Anderson — along with the harmonies of bands like Alabama and The Eagles — the trio’s rich sound has garnered plenty of accolades. It has topped Billboard’s country album sales with the 2019 “Let It Roll,” earned Grammy nominations for best country song and best country duo/group performance and was named best new vocal group of the year at the 2018 ACM Awards.

“When you spend 11 years doing something, no matter where you started, hopefully you’re gonna be getting better — evolving as musicians and songwriters and as collaborators — and we definitely have,” Wystrach said.

Though not a total departure from its post-urban country sound, the band’s last release, 2024’s “Barely Blue,” explored lush, yet minimalistic sounds. Now, a new album, scheduled for a full release in early 2026, hits a little closer to its roots.

“We’re doubling down on that modern, traditional, new classical sound,” Wystrach said.

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Last May, they released the first song, “Glass Half Empty.” The vibrant Western honky-tonk, bar-room anthem is based on carefree two-stepping and intends to “fill your cup and make you feel like everything is going to be all right,” according to the press release.

“You’re going to get a little blend of tempo — some three-four times, some waltzes, some tear jerkers and stuff like that. It’s a beautiful album,” he said. 

In the last five years, since COVID-19 hit, their records have taken various directions. “The Last Resort” in 2022 was inspired by their experiences during pandemic shutdowns, “being locked out of the road in the basement, not allowed to make a living, in a way. Once we got back on the road and got really flowing, we were discussing the next steps,” he said. “As an artist, you’re constantly looking to explore and try something else.”

They had been working with producer Dan Hopkins, who was like a big brother to them, Wystrach said, but in wanting to stretch in a different direction, they reached out to Dave Cobb, a producer who has worked with the likes of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine and many more.

“Dave Cobb has been somebody that I wanted to work with since the very first day,” he said. “When we started going up to Nashville, I kind of went out of my way to reach out to Dave and get to know him and become friends with him, which is really cool, but the problem was that Dave is very busy and booked out for a few years.”

Once he became available, the musicians jumped at the opportunity. Wystrach describes Cobb’s approach as old-school, more reminiscent of “indulgent times” when musicians spent a few weeks together in a studio solely working on an album.

“Sometimes that’s really difficult if you’re on the road all the time. So we finally found the time right before Christmas in 2023. We went out and lived at Dave’s little home recording studio just outside of Savannah, Georgia. We had this amazing band that we put together — the same band that plays on all of Chris Stapleton’s stuff. It was just fun. It reminds us why we’re doing this — it’s about the music. Sometimes you get really busy, and it’s like a washing machine or a blender, just constantly going and turning,” he said, adding that the recording session brought about a reinvigorating pause. “It was an amazing chemistry and an amazing group of people. (We couldn’t) wait to get back in there every morning … the way that we congealed and bounced ideas off one another and the way that we collaborated ended up being one of the most enjoyable experiences in my career. We’d record a song, and then Dave would take us out to go get dinner. We’d go to a three or 3 1/2 hour dinner and then come back, go to the fire outside, have a glass of wine or two, and then we’d get in there, and we’d go record until 1 or 2 in the morning. What we came up with is one of my favorite records.”

The album recalls the more traditional sounds he was raised with on a ranch in Arizona.

“My family called it honky-tonk — that kind of music. That’s where I’m at in my life. It’s really calling me back. We have the fiddle featured prominently on this new album, and that’s something we haven’t done before,” he said. 

He refers to the fiddle as a magical instrument — one he recalls hearing a lot of at the honky tonk joint he grew up going to with his parents on weekends.

“It’s such an evocative instrument — the way that it just kind of calls and pulls at your soul. There’s nothing like it,” he said. “There’s something about the fiddle that cuts right through you.”

He wanted to make an album his mom would love, and he believes that he and bandmates Jess Carson and Cameron Duddy have succeeded.

“I wouldn’t say it’s going back to our roots, because I don’t think we’ve (ever) made this traditional of an album. The ‘Sonic Ranch’ had a Laurel Canyon, loose, wild kind of outlaw country vibe to it. The three albums that we did before ‘Barely Blue’ were very ’90s kind of honky-tonk centric. This one feels like something different. It feels like a truly traditional country album in a lot of ways,” he said.

Thursday night, the seven-piece band blends four-part harmonies with a few sad melodies, upbeat tempos and favorite covers.

“We love playing live — that’s what really fills our cup. We love writing, and we love being in the studio, but there’s nothing like performing live and getting to do our own interpretations of covers,” he said, adding that the live show “takes you on a bit of a tempo-energy, emotional journey. You got some tearjerkers in there, you’ve got some straight honky-tonk barn burner music to get you on your feet and dancing and drinking and having a good time. It’s got a great arc to it.”