\n<\/p>\n
\n\tEight years ago, \u201cDrinking Problem\u201d had dropped seemingly out of nowhere and the smooth vocal trio Midland<\/a> were riding a growing wave of a country music resurgence<\/a>.\u00a0One night around that same time, I was on the patio of Justine\u2019s French brasserie in Austin, Texas, talking with one of my favorite photographers, Linda Beecroft, when a very wild-eyed and heated Mark Wystrach, Midland\u2019s singer, ran up saying he needed to talk to me immediately<\/em>. Back then I wasn\u2019t yet a full-time musician<\/a>, nor had I even started my photo journey, but this night helped change all that.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cJT!\u201d he fumed. \u201cThey fucking threw me out of the White Horse for some bullshit and I\u2019m about to go back there and bust the door guy\u2019s head.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tI walked Mark over to the bar and ordered us a round of tequila shooters and beers, and I told him, \u201cNo, you\u2019re not. You\u2019re gonna get one shot in and then four guys are going to break your legs.\u201d It was a different time in the underground honky-tonk scene of Austin. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna go on tour and he\u2019s gonna work the door,\u201d I continued, \u201cbut you ain\u2019t going anywhere with a cracked jaw.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWe sat at that bar until close and drank more tequila. We talked Marty Robbins, Gary Stewart, surfing, and the joys of travel until we were cross-eyed. The next morning, Wystrach called me. He declared we were now friends and that wherever Midland goes, so would I.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWhich is how I found myself in Copenhagen, Denmark, on a late August day in 2025. Mark and his core bandmates, Jess Carson and Cameron Duddy, have just burned through a sold-out Midland show at the Copenhagen club Vega. I\u2019m on the road with the group, opening gigs \u2014 I\u2019m releasing my new album Dove<\/em><\/a> on Sept. 26 \u2014\u00a0but also capturing all the mayhem with my camera for Rolling Stone<\/em>. After the show, we pile out of the venue into the rain and find the nearest glowing pub.<\/p>\n \n\tImmediately, a bleary-eyed Brit on holiday starts grabbing at Mark\u2019s and my cowboy hats when we walk in the door. Somebody\u2019s now in a headlock, and there\u2019s a surge of packed bodies moving in a swelling tide of shirt-tugging and shouting. One guy is lifted off his feet and tossed out into the rain \u2014 the owner of the pub brings us a crate of beers because his football team won a qualifying game and he\u2019s not going to let some kid ruin his celebration. There is cheering and hugs and then, just like that, there is calm. The band and crew of 15 pile in and we sit with locals, bouncing around candlelit tables to talk politics, painters, and songwriters. Midland\u2019s European tour is officially in full swing.\u00a0<\/p>\n