Named “Best Country-Western Artist in L.A.” by Los Angeles magazine and called “the uncrowned king of the L.A. neo-honky tonkers” by Billboard, Mike Stinson is in a class by himself among Southern California country performers.

The universally respected singer-songwriter has issued two widely admired independent albums, Jack of All Heartache and Last Fool at the Bar, and 2009 will see the release of his third CD, The Jukebox In Your Heart, produced by the noted Austin, Texas musician Jesse Dayton and recorded at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studios.

Active on the booming Los Angeles country-rock scene since 2001, Virginia-born Stinson draws inspiration from such stylistic progenitors as Nelson, Merle Haggard, Ray Price, George Jones, Bob Dylan, and Gram Parsons. He has made the honky-tonk template his own, spinning a distinctive take on the barroom muse in sharply-crafted songs that are by turns rousingly comic and profoundly heartbreaking. His evocative wordplay, emotional directness, and down-to-earth sincerity as both a songsmith and performer have forged an abiding bond with his fans.

Other performers have caught on to Stinson’s impassioned writing: His contemporary classic “The Late Great Golden State” has been covered by both Dwight Yoakam and Billy Bob Thornton. His music has also made inroads in Hollywood: Stinson’s songs have been heard on the soundtracks to the hit TV shows Mad Men, Weeds, and Cold Case, and in the feature comedy National Lampoon’s Adam and Eve.

A knock-‘em-down live performer, Stinson has attracted a legion of devoted followers with eight years of saloon-rocking shows. He is a perennially popular attraction, and plays packed-to-the-walls residencies at the Redwood Bar & Grill in downtown L.A., the Cinema Bar in Culver City, and the Grand Ole Echo at the Echo in Echo Park.

– Chris Morris