Mike Ireland and Holler Play Smart, Soulful Country

Mike Ireland doesn’t look like a country music star. He wears no cowboy hat or rhinestones, rarely swings his hips or dedicates one to the ladies. Worse yet, he records for Sub Pop, the Seattle label that brought you Nirvana.

But Ireland sings country like a master. At the Mint on Monday, the Kansas City-based artist displayed a genuine feel for old-time country, shedding manly tears during love ballads and wailing through the rave-ups. For Ireland and his band, Holler, country is no affectation, no scheme to cash in on the continuing “No Depression” country-rock movement.

Like the late Gram Parsons, Ireland already has a voice ideally suited for the honky-tonk, flexible enough for both tender ballads and the darker “House of Secrets,” where Ireland sings as a man ready to torch his own house and the memories inside. Just as crucial Monday was the vivid country blend of guitarists Michael Lemon and Dan Mesh, crafting sounds of energy and warmth even without the strings of their “Learning How to Live” album.

Though Ireland and Holler played to barely a dozen customers for much of their early slot, the few who did attend were serenaded by country music that was smart, pure and memorable.

Ireland was followed at the Mint by the understated western crooning of Tex Beaumont, and headliner Harry Dean Stanton’s usual intoxicating mix of rocked-up R&B;, raw pop standards and Mexican tear-jerkers.

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* Mike Ireland & Holler play tonight at Spaceland, 1717 Silver Lake Blvd., 9 p.m. (323) 833-2843); Friday at the Foothill, 1922 Cherry Ave., Signal Hill, 9 p.m. $10. (562) 984-8349.