Moot Davis, with Pete Anderson

Sunday, May 15, at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999.

Comments (0) By Michael Berick Thursday, May 12 2005

Moot Davis's birth certificate states that he hails from Trenton, New Jersey, but if you listen to his purebred honky-tonk music, you wouldn't guess that he was raised in the land of Bon Jovi and Bruuuuce. And, in a sense, he wasn't. Davis inherited a love of Hank Sr. from his dad, who would come home from work singing "Hey Good Lookin'," and he heard tons of country music while visiting West Virginia kin.

Moot Davis

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So given all that, it's not surprising that when he started playing music in his early twenties, out came terrific, straight-shooting tunes, like "Thanks for Breakin' My Heart," "Whiskey Town" and "Hall of Smoke & Wine," that recall Nashville's golden age without sounding like calculated re-creations. Davis's "real-deal country" impressed no less of an authority than Dwight Yoakam's longtime producer/guitarist Pete Anderson, who not only signed him to his Little Dog label but also tours with him as his guitarist. Since the release of his well-received self-titled 2003 debut, Davis has been crisscrossing the country, doing upward of 250 shows a year on his "Tour That Never Ends."

This time through Houston, he'll be showcasing some new songs slated for the sophomore album that he's just started to record -- when he finds the time to get into a studio. He's also likely to perform old jukebox gems like "Cheated Me Right Out of You" and "Fourteen Carat Mind." But it's Davis's own timeless-sounding originals that are worth the price of admission.