Scattered band members still crank out bluegrass-heavy rock songs

Wrinkle Neck Mules, a country/indie hybrid band with hard-hitting attitude, will continue to feed its hearty body of musical works this summer as the band members hit the road and head to the studio to record their fourth full-length album.

"It's a rock and roll body and it sort of has bluegrass bones and country skin," lead singer and guitarist Andy Stepanian said of the Mules' style. "The way our singing is and with the pedal steel and mandolin it's really bluegrass and country. We really swing the spectrum."

After years of touring out of Richmond, where the band met in 2000, external forces eventually brought Chase Heard (vocals, guitar, banjo) to Austin, Texas, and eventually Stepanian moved to Dallas, leaving Mason Brent (vocal, guitar, mandolin, pedal steel), Brian Gregory (vocal, bass) and Stuart Gunter (drums) living in cities in Virginia. Stubborn not to let a quality friendship-based band slip away, the members of Wrinkle Neck Mules kept in contact to continue collaborating. Now the five take turns flying and using all manner of transportation to get to one another in order to write, record and tour.

Wrinkle Neck Mules has June tour dates in the Carolinas, including one at The Pour House on Saturday, opening for Blue Mountain. This tour marks the first time the band has worked with all of Blue Mountain, though the renowned Mississippi band's bassist Laurie Stirratt has previously opened for the Mules solo.

"I listened to Blue Mountain when I was in high school and was really really into them," Stepanian said. "Being able to play with them and be friends is something really cool for us. They have such a rich history."

The shows are slated to feature some of the Mules' much anticipated new material, which they are recording for their next album "Let the Lead Fly," set for release on Sept. 22. Original plans to release two companion albums containing all the material they've been accumulating since they last laid tracks down in 2007, the band decided instead to spend extra time with the more "bluegrassy, rootsy" material.

"We've always been a little bit insulated in the way we make albums," Stepanian said. "We've recorded and produced most of them in our own space and in our own time except for our second album. We decided we'd rather take some of the material that lends itself better to a different treatment and go to a producer."

Stepanian also plans on giving the new album the same attention as the last by explaining what went into each song on the band's Web site, Wrinkleneckmules.com.

"I actually had fun doing that," Stepanian said. "We're big fans of letting people get what they want out of the songs. But at the same time it can be nice to get a few thumb tacks out on the map."

However, some mysteries, like the band's unconventional name, can't be pinned down as easily.

"It came out of thin air I suppose, there's no real back story." Stepanian said. "It's something like Santa Claus — it is what you make of it."