Palestine's Blacktop Mojo readies for Rockin' the Rails, summer tour

Jason Jones, Palestine Herald-Press, Texas
·2 min read

Sep. 15—Blacktop Mojo simply won't get in the box. The band is undeniably a resident in the rock genre, but their river of influence runs deep and wide. Allmusic.com contributor James Christopher Monger described Blacktop Mojo with a detour through multiple examples while trying to describe them.

"A hard-driving Southern rock unit based out of Palestine, Texas, Blacktop Mojo's fiery blend of post-grunge, classic rock, and metal falls somewhere between Soundgarden, Black Stone Cherry and Lynyrd Skynyrd."

With four studio albums under their belt and multiple singles making appearances on the Mainstream Rock charts, the band is poised for continued success for many years to come.

The band's summer tour, which kicked off in Kyle, Texas on July 15, featured a leg that the band was excited about.

"Yeah we headed up the west coast," said frontman Matt James. "It was exciting. It was the first time we'd been out there since COVID."

The tour featured stops in Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, highlighted by a turn at the legendary Whiskey-A-GoGo in Los Angeles.

The band returned to East Texas in August. Upon catching their collective breaths, Blacktop Mojo will be the featured artist at 'Rockin' the Rails' 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17.

"Basically folks will take off from the Palestine depot of the Texas State Railroad and travel to the depot in Rusk," James said. "They'll get off the train there and enjoy a concert before making the return trip."

Food and beverages will be available, including those of the adult variety, but the difficult parts are all handled.

"You won't even have to call an Uber," James said with a laugh. "Your transportation will be on the rails!"

With the summer tour nearly in the books, the band is celebrating a few new arrivals. While James and drummer Nathan Gillis are celebrating the arrivals of their firstborn children and future entourage members, Blacktop Mojo is also welcoming new guitarist Malcolm Booher.

"We met Malcolm a couple of years ago while on tour," James said. "He left and moved to Austin and we contacted him as fast as we could."

Will the new guy fit in?

"Well... he seems to be drinking from the same well as us," James said. "His wife is due in October!"

Tickets for Rockin' the Rails are available at www.texasstaterailroad.net.

Follow Blacktop Mojo at www.blacktopmojo.com and on all social media.