MoonShroom released their first album on June 27, 2025. The group features Lily B Moonflower on guitar and vocals, Jake Keegan on dobro and vocals, Zach Bozeman on upright bass, and Colby Allen Walter on mandolin, electric guitar, and vocals. The new album, Take A Trip, is a mix of bluegrass with hints of rock, country, blues, and folk with a dose of psychedelia. Pure Americana.
Take A Trip with “Sunflower State Of Mind,” an ode to MoonShroom’s home state of Kansas.
The title song is a romantic love song set against an idyllic camping trip with “nobody else for miles around and the howling of the wind is the only sound.”
“Weekend With Me” waxes philosophical with the observation that “we’re here for now, live it up while we can.” The same is true of “Livin’ The Dream.”
The overall feeling of Take A Trip is one of having fun. The mix of musical genres works for the group. That is just as well because they are not interested in being boxed into a particular musical definition.
“I heard a wise bluesman from the St. Louis area talking about the clubs he played in,” Jake said. “So I asked him, ‘Are you a blues musician?’ He said, ‘You know what I tell people when they ask me what kind of music I play? I tell ‘em I play good music. ‘Cause if it’s good I don’t care what it is. And if it’s not good, it’s not worth my time.’ Then he just walked away.”
But the advice stayed.
Now in the beginning there were two distinct bands. There was the Lily B Moonflower Band. There also was the Jake Keegan Band. The two bands often collaborated. Also, Jake and Lily – now husband and wife – would tour as a duo. Logistics became a problem.
“It just reached a point where we were doing two separate things,” Jake told me. “Managing one band is hard enough. Offers would come and we would have to decide which band should take it. There were a lot of intersecting offers. So we decided to simplify our lives.”
So it was that the two bands merged to become MoonShroom.
So how did the group come by its name?
“So Jake and I were traveling and doing shows as a duo on the west coast,” Lily explained. “And we were going by just our names, Lily B Moon Flower and Jake Keegan. We were camping near Mt. Shasta one night, kicking names around, and trying to figure out what we were going to call our band.”
Out of the mystic or perhaps through divine inspiration, Lily said “moonshroom” out loud. Jake responded by saying “I think that’s it.” And so a name was born.
Lily, Jake, Zach, and Colby started playing as MoonShroom in 2022. The band may have been new but the four were friends and had performed previously with each other’s bands. The chemistry was already there.
It may seem odd that a band that has been together and performing live for three years would wait so long to release an album, especially since they have a stockpile of original songs – 50 all told. Lily chalked it up to wanting to build up their fan base so when the album was released it would have as much impact as possible.
Lily also says, “The way we have done it has been a success. We were able to finance the album with a crowd funding Kickstarter campaign. We actually went over our goal and were able to get into a really nice studio.”
The studio was Element Recording Studios in Kansas City owned by Joel Nanos. They spent eight days recording and five days mixing the album. It was such a positive experience they are already itching to get back in the studio.
“After two years of heavy touring without releasing an album and then just buckling down and doing it last October and November we realized that was fun, “Jake said.
“Yeah, what were we waiting for?” Lily added.
Take A Trip is a concept album, the concept being to really take you on a trip. You start in Kansas in a “Sunshine State Of Mind,” then get “More With Your Miles” as you “Take A Trip.” You find yourself “Somewhere On A Mountain” or perhaps “Drivin’ Through The Night” engulfed in “Waves Of Love.” You find yourself ready to “Do The Damn Thing” while “Livin’ The Dream.” You can “Weekend With Me” before going to “Party On The Moon.”
The energy and spirit of Lily B Moonshine and Jake Keegan permeate throughout the album. Lily has a voice reminiscent of Miranda Lambert while Jake brings to mind a mix of Ray LaMontagne and Chris Stapleton.
Take A Trip has done well on the streaming services and YouTube, so the wait apparently has been worth it for their fans. Not surprisingly, given the fun they had, another album is already in the planning stages with a target of this fall to get back into the studio.
Let the good times roll!
