Any number of people have bemoaned the state of mainstream country music. Tom Petty called it bad rock music with fiddle. Podcaster and author Tyler Mahan Coe cuts off his discussions of the history of the genre at the year 2000. But there are still folks carrying the torch for classic country, although you may not find them on the pop-dominated country radio stations. Among these folks are Austin, Texas’s Silverada, who headlined The Atlantis recently.

Since the late 2000s, Silverada has been honoring the musical traditions of the Lone Star State, everything from the cosmic American music of Doug Sahm to Western swing and dancehall boogie to the tender ballads favored by George Strait. When they started playing bars near the University of Texas, they took on the moniker Mike & The Moonpies (their frontman is Mike Harmeier). Like many young people, they weren’t thinking about the long-term when they did this. After more than 15 years together, and having aged into mature adults, they thought it was time to get a bit more serious.

While they’ve changed their name, Silverada hasn’t altered the core of what they do. Their self-titled album, released earlier this year, is the band doing what they do best, playing hardcore country that would’ve been at home in the mainstream in a bygone era. “Stay by My Side” feels like a song Willie Nelson could easily have sung. “Something I’m Working On,” which features Brent Cobb on the album, boogies hard, and “Eagle Rare” and “Wallflower” pulse with humming rhythms. At The Atlantis on August 30, they opened their set with the album’s lead-off track, “Radio Wave,” and played the last two songs, “Load Out” and “Hell Bent For Leather,” as their encore.

Watch the official music video for “Radio Wave” by Silverada on YouTube:

Traditionally, country music has been the music of the working class, and it’s been music for adults. Contemporary mainstream country has largely abandoned this tradition to focus on party music for young people. With songs like “Road Crew” and “Paycheck to Paycheck,” Silverada sings about the struggles of everyday folks. That’s not to say their music isn’t fun, or that you couldn’t party to it. “Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em” is a raucous celebration of marijuana (which is a common theme in the subgenre of Red Dirt, a kind of loud, hard-rocking country music coming out of Texas and Oklahoma that Silverada is associated with). “You Look Good In Neon” is exactly the kind of song folks could get down to at a roadside honky-tonk.

It’s to the band’s credit that they have the range to make both songs you can dance to — like, appropriately enough, “Dance With Barbara” — along with more serious, thoughtful numbers like “Rainy Day” and “Mockingbird,” and powerful evocations of place like “Steak Night at the Prairie Rose” and “Beaches of Biloxi.” They have a wicked, cutting edge, which is nowhere more evident that in “Danger.”

Silverada’s set also included “Cheap Silver,” “Hour on the Hour,” and “We’re Gone.” The set was lean and focused; they didn’t waste any time on banter, instead using their 90 minutes on stage to deliver more than 20 songs, and to do it with plenty of volume. This may have been the loudest show I’ve seen at The Atlantis.

Oklahoma City’s Jason Scott & The High Heat got the evening started with a 30-minute set. Their style was well paired with Silverada, as they too play loud, hard-rocking Red Dirt. Most of what they did was pretty raucous, but like Silverada, they showed they have an ability to slow down and get a little quieter and go for emotionally deep moments. They have a new recording coming out next year, called The Song of the Summer.

Really great artists and band are set apart by their range. Their music has variety, sonically and emotionally. Silverada is a great band because they can hit a lot of different notes, both literally and figuratively. They do a lot of things, but they always sound uniquely like themselves.