More MoM reviews: West Texas Exiles, Talbott Brothers & more
We will highlight Scott's top 35 picks over the next two weeks leading up to the July 30 start to Mile 13. The complete lineup, performance schedule, and volunteer opportunities can be found on the Mile of Music website.
WEST TEXAS EXILES Americana
Taking on that low-key fondness-for-adventure vibe from classic Texas troubadours like The Flatlanders and Willie Nelson, the West Texas Exiles hail from El Paso, Lubbock and Amarillo. The band features three singer-songwriters in guitarist Marco Gutierrez, keyboardist Daniel Davis and guitar and mandolin player Colin Gilmore. Gilmore is the son of Flatlanders founder Jimmie Dale Gilmore, best known for the classic, “You’ve Never Seen Me Cry.”
Though they’ve played together for only three years, the five-member band’s shared musical influences, similar upbringing and solid musical chops give them an old-soul sort of familiarity and authenticity. “Bright yellow sun in my eyes, feels like the first day of my life,” Davis casually sings on the band’s 2025 full length debut. It’s an ongoing Exiles theme, leaving Amarillo, or anywhere really, with everything they have on the back of a truck. The title track, “8,000 Days,” referencing their 21-plus formative years, features rough but ready voices harmonizing their way down the wide-open landscape of the region.
The locals would call it unmistakable Llano Estacado soul. Country music with a sweet Texas accent and a mandolin shimmer, the West Texas Exiles pull you in like a dive bar with a classic juke box. Bring plenty of quarters to this year’s Mile of Music.
THE TALBOTT BROTHERS Americana
For good reason, these good-natured, brother-ribbing brunette boys have become a beacon of musical merriment in Appleton and the Mile of Music. It’s Tyler Talbott, in his Nebraska drawl, knocking out the lyric “light me up like Kerosene” and the harmonica kicking in behind a soft wall of acoustic guitars. It’s country, blues, rock, soul and folk, cowboy hats and knowing glances on stage. It’s living a musician’s life; soaking in new influences while revisiting the blue collar, fishing, guns and campfires upbringing that inspired two guys to pick up guitars. The Talbott Brothers (Tyler on lead vocals and guitar and Nick Talbott on lead guitar) make an encore appearance at Mile 13 behind their 2025 release, Borderlands.
Having honed their craft for over a decade, the brothers recorded the album around an acoustic guitar, going for a less-produced sound than 2022’s Letters. On “Wild,” Ty’s seductive drawl feels innocent, even as he sings, “I wanna be the sheets on your body when you’re waking up.” The sound of Talbott lands somewhere between Jason Isbell and Mumford and Sons but the idiomatic allure is all their own. In concert, they drive hard, in true Americana fashion, but bring it down a beat to deliver a poignant lyric or a lightly strummed guitar chord
JON TYLER WILEY AND HIS VIRGINIA CHOIR Americana
Making their fifth Mile of Music appearance, Jon Tyler Wiley and his facetiously named Virginia Choir are an alt-country, hair-flipping quartet with guitar solos that are as ecstatic as the slowly strummed ballads are sad. On “The Ending of the End,” from their latest release, Pictures in the Dark, Wiley belts out an REM-flavored lyrical barrage that punctuates with a Robin Zanderesque, full-throated roar. On “Mission,” Wiley’s playful lyrics meander topically before the band builds to a smooth jam that comes into full bloom on stage.
When they slow it down, on songs like “Calls Me By My Name,” Wiley’s Americana sensibility shines most brightly. In concert, bassist Josh Pittman, drummer Piper Barbre and guitar/mandolin player Lonnie Southall equal or exceed Wiley’s frenetic energy, opening the door for Wiley’s between-song banter. At their most recent show in Appleton, Wiley related the story of a new “fan” in Nashville who, in post-concert conversation, criticized his loud jacket and skinny jeans. Being the wily chap he is, Wiley prodded fans to post pictures of him preening in that jacket as a subtle display of one-upmanship, then launched into the song, “I Won’t Miss You:” goodbye my not quite friend, good riddance that you’re leaving.”
A few songs later, Wiley flipped the mood as seamlessly as he flips his long brown hair when he introduced “Flowers,” a song he penned in the face of his family’s pain over the loss of their baby.
“Still my family sends me flowers in the springtime/I know a rose won’t bring my daughter fourth to nurse/But never have I so looked forward to the curse/Of the reminder: forgetting would be worse.”
Wiley formed the Virginia Choir in 2020 after earning his credentials as a slick guitar-playing side man. (He’ll be moonlighting on guitar with Will Hoge at this year’s Mile.) And while he’s latched onto the universal dream of living in the limelight, his love of songwriting is the heart of his exuberance on stage.
RACHEL MAXANN Folk
Rachel Maxann is based in Nashville now, but her deep, melodic voice, careful guitar playing and evocative lyric-writing is a consequence of lived experiences in Ohio, North Carolina, New Orleans and all points in between as a cruise ship performer.
A few years ago, she was playing with Fickle Hellcat, an Indie rock trio, in Memphis. Her song, “Goddess,” from 2021, has an Annie Lennox/Eurhythmics vibe. She describes it as a deeply personal song that encourages her to embrace love in all forms and recognize “my beautiful LGBTQ community, as well as my beautiful goddess women who encourage me.” Today her sound leans a bit more rootsy, ala Tracy Chapman. She has toured with Valerie June and the Black Opry, a revue featuring Black country music artists performing in different locations around the country.
Her folk and Southern blues sensibilities – post-modern folklore, as she calls it -- come to life in the effusive folk tune, “The Tides,” a follow up to her 2023 EP, “Black Fae.” In foreboding fashion, she begins: “I’ve been ripped out by the tides, going places I could hide, hide from the storm.” As the song progresses, the listener becomes inured to her voice as the lyrics weave their way into our understanding, and the mood changes. Maxann’s protagonist has found her soul, discovered herself, and a hint of joy eases into her vocal tone. “Here I Am. Here I Am.”
SPENCER LAJOY Folk
“Where you go, I’ll go/ Where you stay, I’ll stay/ I will walk, you, home/’Til we all are safe.”
Spencer LaJoye sings from the heart with a message of hope, pride and a resounding belief that we’re in this thing together. “Where You Go,” a popular singalong in concert, is a moment in time to hold tight against the chest. But with LaJoye, this isn’t Armageddon; it’s a walk through the light to illuminate the best, authentic versions of ourselves. Whatever’s going on in the world, we’re here now.
While LaJoye takes pride in their transgender journey -- and many of their songs reflect on that journey -- this is music for all of us. Appleton has been graced with LaJoye’s presence a lot lately. Returning for a Mile of Music 13 encore this year, LaJoye also opened Pride Fest in Appleton recently and returned the next day as the musical guest at the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist’s pride celebration. In a soothing, welcoming style, LaJoye’s folk songs, with occasional looping, elucidate a life where theology, self-love and optimism collide. Raised in two Christian faith traditions (Roman Catholicism and Presbyterian), LaJoye’s has evolved beyond labels to saying yes to spirituality that feels right. They see the lessons they learned as a child as rich and informative.
Like their song, “Shadow Puppets,” the past makes more sense when you back up from the light. LaJoye’s 2021 song, “Plowshare Prayer,” has become an anthem for anyone hurting, for people who have had prayer used against them and for people who need it now more than ever. “I pray that your body gets all that it needs/And if you don't want healing/I just pray for peace." Providing reassurance through song may be their greatest gift.
LaJoye, who grew up in Michigan and now calls California home, released their debut LP, Shadow Puppets, in 2024, followed by Death Drive in 2025 and, most recently, Gentle Songs, featuring short songs that hold as much cultural relevance and fire as ever. “Best You Can,” at just a minute and 51 seconds, is a feel-good follow up to “Plowshare Prayer,” more jocular but just as forthright. “I believe you’re doing the best you can . . . you’re not the tales that keep you up at night in bed.”
LaJoye’s songs of joy brighten the spirit without discounting the struggle, that human driver for freedom as liberation. At Pride Fest, a young man with a contemptuous smirk and a Trump flag draped on his back briefly rode through the crowd on a bicycle. But it didn’t matter. We had Spence LaJoye on stage to walk us home.
