”[Nonet] is big and free and uplifting me at the perfect time! A great fuckin’ record.”
- Ani DiFranco

“[Nonet] the new and sensational album from the Americana band, The Mammals . . . It is highly polished, it is beautifully constructed and arranged, and you’ll be hearing a lot more of it.”
- Iain Anderson, BBC Scotland 

”Nonet marshals the defiant spirit needed to heal a damaged world".”
- No Depression

“The Mammals are solid-gold-hearted and their music is too. Check this one out. ”
- Anais Mitchell 

“Transcendent new album from a brilliant group. Do yourself a favor and listen please. Joy-generator right here.”
- Rhett Miller. 

“Nothing short of Sublime.”
- AmericanaUK (9/10 rating)

"A terrific world class album.”
- Folk Radio UK

”A collection of songs that drip with raw humanity”
- Folk Alley

ALBUM REVIEWS & FEATURES

AMERICAN SONGWRITER: ALBUM REVIEW & INTERVIEW (9/1/20) “The songwriting of The Mammals is firmly rooted in the hand-me-down folk music of politics, community and rural splendor.” - American Songwriter (read here.)

HEAR IT FIRST:  FOLK ALLEY (5/20/20) "What was likely written as an album about where hope resides in a strange political season, reads now as an album about all the reasons to put our selves aside and protect our neighbors. After all, we humans are capable of all of this when we get together—the hope but also the layers of sound, the ability to turn darkness and fear into something you can crank up with the windows down. Something that can feel a little like freedom, even when you’re not leaving the house.”  - Kim Ruehl, Folk Alley (read the review)

THE MAMMALS STAND UP FOR THE COMMON GOOD ON THEIR STIRRING ‘NONET’: NO DEPRESSION (5/21/20) Like a superhero called to the scene of a crisis, The Mammals have returned with encouraging words of compassion and hope just when they’re needed most . . . the timing for their stirring new album couldn’t be better. Nonet was recorded before the pandemic, yet the timeless concerns it addresses — the common good, environmental responsibility, and resistance to injustice — feel especially relevant now . . . Nonet marshals the defiant spirit needed to heal a damaged world . . . With so much uncertainly in the air right now, The Mammals’ clear-eyed optimism is especially valuable. If Nonet won’t solve the world’s ills, it surely makes it easier to face them. - No Depression (read the review)

THE MAMMALS BRING NOSTALGIC FEEL WITH ‘YOU CAN COME TO MY HOUSE’: AMERICAN SONGWRITER (5/22/20)  "The video for the Mammals’ 'You Can Come to My House' opens with a scene that’s become almost alien and shocking in today’s social distancing times.  The camera, obviously handheld and perhaps a smartphone, is held waist high, obscuring what’s ahead… but the unmistakable sound of an anticipatory crowd rumbles with claps and murmurs waiting… expecting.  When the visual opens up, it feels almost taboo… a tightly-packed audience awaiting the band to return to the stage for the obligatory encore. (read the feature)

AMERICANA UK (9/10 rating)
[The Mammals] believe we can do something to change the world for the better. Their blend of resilience, kindness and optimism is very persuasive . . . nothing short of Sublime.” Read the review.

WMBR “PIPELINE” Interview & performance “Protest folk records are usually reactionary, but somehow Mike + Ruthy seem to have predicted this moment with their new album.” (Listen here.)

MORE MUSIC PLEASE Podcast. Long form interview with MK Burnell (Listen here.)

WEXT Interview & performance (Listen here.)

RADIO KINGSTON Album Premiere and Interview (Listen here. )

READ TO ME PODCAST feature “If You Could Hear Me Now.”
This band makes songs that feed you, uplift you, rattle and roll you. They make you glad. They make you dance! They make you feel like the moon watching the sun rise. They give you a summer swim. They give you the shimmery fizz of a music festival under stars. They give you hope. Just like my mom. Come be with me inside these lyrics. Come swim in verse and rhyme. (Listen here. )

FOUR SONGS FROM NONET FEATURED ON ISHMAEL.ORG “The Mammals’ music is transcendent, brilliant and will lift your spirits.” - Ishmael.org | Read Mike’s account of what the writings of Daniel Quinn have meant to him and his songwriting and some additional context for the songs “Beyond Civilization,” “If You Could Hear Me Now,” “What It All Is,” and “Radio Signal.” Click here and scroll down to MUSIC

Praise for Radio Signal.

“The Mammals’ new song, Radio Signal, is a dose of good medicine right when we need it. It’s a reminder that we can face daunting challenges together, even if all we have is a teaspoon to dig into a mountain. This is a folk song in a rich rock arrangement with synthesizers, a slide guitar, piano, and a driving rhythm that carries Mike Merenda’s lead vocals, as they float on top like the kite and the bird in his lyrics. It feels like the kind of song we’ll all be raising our lights to when we’re celebrating at live concerts with one another again.” – Marisa Waddell, KCBX Program Director; Live Oak Music Festival Artistic Director

“[Radio Signal] pulses like a radio tower. Play it loud and let it transmit down your central nervous system. Look for Light, it shines brightest in the darkness! Thank you Mike, thank you Ruthy, God bless The Mammals.” – Greg Gattine, WDST Music Director

"In a time of uncertainty and fear, The Mammals are gushing with light and hope and honesty. It's evident throughout their new album, Nonet, and especially on the single Radio Signal. In a time when the way to cooperate and protect one another is so counterintuitive - be separate, not together- Radio Signal reminds us that we are surrounded by the hopeful. It's in the wind, it's in the light, it's in the spring songs of the birds, it's in US!. There's a mountain of challenges that we face, so let's get to work. As the song says, "Here’s your tea spoon, let’s start diggin’ “ - Bob Weiser, WOMR 'The Old Songs' Home' Folk and Acoustic Music

"I've always said to bands that a sure way to get a song on the radio is to write a song that mentions radio. An even surer way to do that is to write a really really great song that mentions radio and The Mammals did just that. It's a song that soars across the airwaves." - Jimmy Buff, Radio Kingston WKNY

"The Mammals cover all the bases of folk music tinged with a psychedelic slow groove that builds and allows for the harmonies of mike and Ruthy to shine through. Radio signal is a radio song”. Dave Leonard, Radio Unleashed

FROM THE FANS

“I promise you will love it if you are a human being with a soul.” - A. Nigro 

“Best release of the season so far.” - J. Lippman

“Nonet speaks to me, It speaks for me.” - J. Fagan 

"It is a masterpiece. It’s so moving in so many ways. You guys have outdone yourselves. 
These songs are the seeds of hope I want to be planting with my children.” - ABx Media

“The Mammals wield music’s power for light and love. I continue to be inspired by them and the way they commit themselves fully to the best of what music can do for all of us.” - D. Cohen