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Jonathan Mack is a singer-songwriter who’s got some major skills on the strings – guitar, banjo, mandolin – and a versatile playing style. He also has a pretty weird band, and when I say weird, I assure you I mean it in a very endearing way. Yes, they play some country-sounding stuff that crowds in Albuquerque eat up like a bowl of strangely seasoned mixed nuts, but from there they wander through more genres than we can name in a short online segment. And they’re a blast to watch in action. Almost every band we interview for Open Mic Mondays says their sound incorporates a mix of styles and influences, but Mineral Hill takes genre-blending to another level, legitimately creating a one-of-a-kind experience that epitomizes the musical diversity that makes New Mexico so special. Mack, Lauren Addario (drums) and John Funkhouser (keyboard/melodica) don’t just harmonize when they sing, they coordinate their instruments to create a sound that’s been described as “a bar band meets Primus,” which is hilariously accurate. Mack does a better job describing the band than I can, but you can jam the links below and form your own interpretation. Even better, check out their standing gig on Thursday mornings at Old Town Farm’s Bike In Coffee or watch them live at some quirky bar in a “far-flung corner of the Southwest.” You’re in for a trip, to say the least.
Will you describe your sound for us?
I like to write down amusing ways that people describe our music. Here are some of my faves:
“By turns soothing and alarming”
“Garage band Americana”
“Horrendously lovely”
“Not your mama’s polka band”
“Fantastically bright and dark. Painfully relieving.”
“Scientifically proven to be an aphrodisiac.” (Ok, I made that one up.)
And my all-time favorite, “The house band at the human dog park.”
I guess I’d say we’re “big bucket Americana.” Sometimes we also go with, “human country funk.” In our live shows, we’ll often play our straighter, more country stuff for the first set, then branch out into whatever amuses us from there: funky jazz, folky stuff, uncategorizable oddities, bluegrass, old school rock and R&B, bossa novas, polkas. All originals, pretty much. It’s a wide reach, but somehow seems to hold together pretty well. My wife says we’re a “one band variety show.” She’s pretty and smart and nice, so I believe her.
Lauren Addario plays drums and sings harmonies. Her drumming is the framework that Mineral Hill is built on. One of her biggest heroes is Ringo Starr, and it shows. She plays exactly what each song needs, in a brilliant and economical manner. She’s profoundly skilled and gifted, and I’m so thankful to have her as my musical BFF!
John Funkhouser plays keyboard and melodica and sings harmonies. He spent many years playing and teaching jazz in Boston and around the world, and for some strange reason decided during COVID to move to Albuquerque. Boston’s loss has been New Mexico’s gain! As well as his skills and knowledge, he brings an enormous openness, curiosity and capacity for joy in music. We love you, John!
I sing and play guitar, banjo and sometimes mandolin. I write a massive amount of music, most of which ranges from the awful to the forgettable. But there are enough chunky nuggets in the compost pile that we’ve always got a steady stream of fresh tunes!
What are your favorite venues to play and why?
We looooove to play, so wherever we’re playing this moment is our fave! We love Canteen Brewhouse’s beautiful stage and reliable turnout, and we love The Mineshaft Cantina’s lovely outdoor space; but we also love a lot of funky little spots in towns all over New Mexico and Colorado and Arizona.
It’s exciting to go to a little cowboy bar in some far-flung corner of the Southwest, where the audience doesn’t know us at all, and try to win them over. They may look at us sideways when we’re loading in, but most of the time we’re able to hook them in and warm them up as the night progresses. Sometimes the venues that initially seemed the least welcoming end up being the most enthusiastic and warm.
What are your lyrics about?
Our lyrics are about stuff like: drinking in an airport bar with a cross-eyed nun, a one-legged rescue chicken named Ladybird, (mostly) quitting the substances that make you dumb then discovering you weren’t that bright anyway and Ron Bell’s moustache.
When KUNM’s Matthew Finch heard Mineral Hill, he said, “For those who feel a certain amount of starvation and need more in the way of extinction, oligarchs, cheese, sasquatch, singing whales, fish and Spam, we may have the band for you.”
What bands or genres inspire your music?
John Scofield is one of our big heroes. Also Rickie Lee Jones, Mose Allison, Kris Kristofferson and a whole mess of West Texas singer/songwriters. Lauren adds Courtney Barnett and Jeff Tweedy. So much great music out there!
Mineral Hill was formed in 2017 by Lauren and I and our friend Bronson. Bronson left the band during COVID (although she’s still a close friend) and John joined in April of 2022. He’d been trying to join the band for months, but Lauren and I were like, “Why would this badass jazz guy want to play with us? He’s probably a nutter.” Turns out that he is, in the most wonderful way possible!
Mineral Hill is an actual, real place! Lauren and her husband Chris built a beautiful cabin outside of Las Vegas, NM. For years we’ve been going there for muti-day hangs of music, music, music.
What is the best show you have played and why?
Turning a roomful of strangers into a zone of joyous connectedness makes us really happy. And it feels worthwhile; especially in the world today. Any show where we can make that magic happen feels like our best show ever. And we’re lucky in that it happens a lot!
We’re also proud that our latest album, The Sun Comes Around, was a finalist in the 2024 New Mexico Music Awards “Best of the Year” category.
We’re playing at Second Street Brewery – Rufina Taproom in Santa Fe on 8/24, Town and Ranch on 9/18 and Ex Novo Downtown on 9/23 (both in Albuquerque). We also have a standing gig on Thursday mornings at Old Town Farm’s Bike In Coffee, where we mostly just play (our version of) jazz.
Watch Mineral Hill perform “Hungry Humpty” live in 2023 here, and you’ll see why they’re so damn popular.
They definitely do straight-forward Country/Americana songs such as “Truth or Consequences,” so if that’s a little more your speed, listen to the track here.
Check out the Mineral Hill website for a show calendar, music, lyrics, video clips, photos and more. Jam and purchase their new album and tons of old stuff on Spotify and Apple Music, or by visiting Mineral Hill on Bandcamp.
To get a taste of that jazzy, funky, uncategorizable stuff Mack describes, watch them perform “Bulldogs and Barnacles” at the 2024 Bernalillo Wine Festival here.