Thanks to his work with acts as varied as country-punk rowdies Hickoids and West Side soul revivalists Eddie & The Valiants, it’s fair to say Harvey McLaughlin is a foundation of the San Antonio music scene.
While the multi-instrumentalist’s chameleon-like quality makes him a hot property for a variety of acts, he takes the listener on a unique journey when he steps out on his own.
On Saturday, April 26, McLaughlin and his band will host a show at Brick at the Blue Star celebrating the release of his latest solo album, Peña. The evening also will feature the Sandworms, McLaughlin’s surf-rock group, and Emily Whitehurst’s indie-pop project Survival Guide.
Although Peña is already available on streaming platforms, McLaughlin wanted to put his latest release out into the world in physical form. There will be CDs, and for those vinyl collectors our there, fresh-pressed LPs.
The release is a 10-song collection that highlights the keyboardist-guitarist-singer’s songwriting mastery while underscoring his ability to effortlessly morph between genres with style and grace. But don’t expect McLaughlin to toot his own horn about those skill sets.
“I just naturally have this creativity, a wandering attention span when it comes to creative endeavors. I can’t do just one thing,” McLaughlin said. “What you hope is that you are able to genre-hop and it all kind of sounds like you. You have your own voice, your own style, and then it all comes out sounding like you.”
McLaughlin’s style is as varied as the company he keeps. In addition to the aforementioned Hickoids and Eddie & The Valiants, he performs with Misfits tribute Psycho ’78, country crooner Nicky Diamonds and pop quintet the Alyssa Bernal Band.
“Everything that I do on my own is its own thing — its own universe, its own flavor,” McLaughlin said. “All of the projects I am involved in absorb from the other entities that I play with, get their fingerprints all over what I’m doing. You fold it into your sound and your experience. You can’t help but be affected by that.”
Appropriate to McLaughlin’s varied resume, Peña has rockers such as opening track “Undertown” and the evocatively titled “Dead Body In The Backseat.” Meanwhile, “O Gimme Blood” and “Something Weird” elicit a New Orleans sound that showcases McLaughlin’s piano prowess. The instrumental “Red Weed” is a straight-up surf classic, while “Tick Off The Wall” is soaked in traditional country twang.
One consistency for McLaughlin is groove. While drenched in dark tones, “The Man With the Getaway Face” has a classic vibe that’s sure to be a fan favorite. It was written on a vintage acoustic Silvertone picked up at Robot Monster Guitars.
“I write a lot of stuff on that guitar,” McLaughlin said. “I remember coming up with the riff one night and building on it and messing with it until we turned it into something.”
The name of the song derives from a 1963 Richard Stark crime thriller, but the song doesn’t have a direct correlation to the novel.
“It was a book I was reading. The lyrics are not that at all, but I always liked the title,” McLaughlin said. “Those books, the Parker novels, are hardboiled stuff, and it’s all over the lyrical content of the record.”
McLaughlin’s biggest songwriting strength may be his patience.
“I’m always writing, you half-finish something three years ago and then find an old notebook and it’s a little closer to finished the next time you mess with it,” he said. “The biggest currency for me is always ideas. You’ve got the seed of a good idea, you can cultivate it and pick it when you need it.”
The evolution of the songwriting also reflects changes McLaughlin’s band has made over time.
“I’m writing this stuff for me, first and foremost,” he said. “If it doesn’t tickle me, then it’s not going to tickle the band. And if it doesn’t tickle the band, it’s not going to tickle an audience. I’m very aware. I want to make music that people respond to. I’d like them to, but I don’t care ultimately. I want to put my best foot forward and make songs that resonate.”
The songs did tickle the band, a group of McLaughlin’s friends who believe in and commit to the process. The preliminary tracks were recorded live in the basement of Alamo Music by McLaughlin with Chadwick Gonzales on drums, Rice Moorehead on bass, Joseph Slocum on keys and Andrea Santillan Wood on lead guitar.
He then took the project to “Hollywood” Steve Vegas of the Beaumonts for overdubs, and wrapped up at the Corn Pound’s Jetpass studio with Joshua Bloodsworth.
The result is a lo-fi masterpiece, an engaging timestamp of one of San Antonio’s most prolific songwriters, who is sure to be embedded in the scene for a long time.
$10, 7 p.m. Saturday, April 26, Brick at the Blue Star, 108 Blue Star, (210) 262-8653, brickatbluestar.com.
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This article appears in Apr 16-29, 2025.