
We met them at Hangoutfest for the first time this year and to say we were impressed with both their presence and their music prowess would not due justice to how we really feel about this band. Now they have a number 1 song “Sad in Carolina” and are coming to Soul Kitchen Saturday February 22nd! Doors open after the parades at 6:30 ( so probably around 7:30-ish) , and show should start around 8:30PM, unless the parades are delayed for some reason.
Their origin story is a unique one indeed. A former fry cook, oil field operator, concrete surface decorator and kidsâ baseball coach met up in a small town in West Texas and started playing country western music together (as one does in small town West Texas). But something didnât feel right â so their roots in country began to cross-pollinate with the rock and grunge music they heard their parents playing at home.

Photo Courtesy of Severance Records
Meanwhile, as they honed their identity as a band, their drummer, Fox, (the baseball coach) took the helm of their social media, exponentially growing their followers. But they quickly proved they werenât just building a passive online community: their streams started to sharply increase, and their shows started selling out. Curious followers became fans of the music. Two years later, with 675,000 TikTok followers and more than 50 million streams, Dexter and The Moonrocks have become something none of them ever, in a million years, dreamed possible.
âComing from a town with only 700 people and regularly selling that many tickets in cities all over the nation is insane,â says Tuffs. âBeats the hell outta a pulling unit,â says bassist Ty Anderson (the former oil field operator). But it wasnât just the guys in the band who couldnât believe what was happening. The band had caught the attention of Severance Records, a newly launched Nashville-based imprint of Big Loud Rock. The rapidly growing fanbase on social media coupled with more frequent sold out shows convinced the label to sign the band as their flagship act. Through Severance, Dexter and the Moonrocks released âWestern Space Grunge,â an EP including their now #1 lead single âSad In Carolina,â an angsty rock track growing quickly at alternative radio.
âGrunge and country are honestly so similar,â says Fox. âLook at Johnny Cashâs cover of âHurtâ by Nine Inch Nails. Both speak to the oppressed and the depressed â country with twang and grunge with a bite. A pair of boots can mean cowboy or combat. We are huge fans of artists like Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers and Noah Kahan â and when you take that sound and plug it into amps with electric guitars, you get Dexter and the Moonrocks.â
âWe took a bet on ourselves, and itâs paying off immensely,â he continues. âWe believed we had something special, and if we could just get people to pay attention theyâd fall in love, and we did just that.â
âIt feels like a fever dream, and itâs definitely helped the health of my knees,â says Tyâs cousin guitarist Ryan Anderson, who never plans to decorate concrete again.
