From Film to the Stage, the Mulroney Brothers Get Honest with jackrabbit.

Actors and lifelong musicians Dermot and Kieran Mulroney channel decades of shared harmony into jackrabbit., their Cali-country band that blends vintage flair with raw emotional honesty.

Stream: “Your Lying Eyes” – jackrabbit.

Brothers in a band – that could go either way.

But for Dermot and Kieran Mulroney, jackrabbit. isn’t a side project or some whimsical detour. It’s where all the pieces finally come together – a sound shaped by years of experience and shared history.

During some downtime on the set of a JFK movie currently filming in Winnipeg, Dermot wanders into a local guitar shop. Music is never far from his mind, and even a quick visit to browse strings and gear stirs memories of the passion he and Kieran have carried since growing up in Virginia. Their childhood was scored by Johnny Cash, Simon & Garfunkel – harmonies, heartache and sincere storytelling.

“We’ve been lifetime musical soul mates,” Dermot says, reflecting on their long, twisting road through orchestras, folk bands and rock gigs. “So, in our long run, this is our final stop – that we’ve landed as a harmony-singing country duo really taps our musical roots and what our family used to listen to in the house back in the ’70s. So, we’re thrilled with what the band’s become.”

jackrabbit. made their debut last year with the single “Bastard Out of Carolina,” a gritty, harmony-driven track that introduces their brand of Cali-country with purpose and personality.

With its swaggering beat and sharply drawn characters, it immediately sets the tone for what they’re about – musically and emotionally.

“It really sets the tone for who we are,” Dermot says. “Old-timey on purpose. That’s the music we grew up on and love.”

And it’s not just nostalgia. There’s a deliberate vision guiding every note and lyric. Kieran leads the songwriting, while Dermot builds harmonies on top of the melody – a division of labor that sounds simple until you realize they’ve got a catalogue of about 35 songs ready to go.

jackrabbit. is preparing to perform 25 of them live at some upcoming shows in August.

“I’m practicing even today,” Dermot adds with a laugh. “All original music – except one Engelbert Humperdinck [“Spanish Eyes”] cover. You’d be amazed.”

That mix of sincerity and subtle absurdity is part of what makes jackrabbit. unique.

The music might evoke the spirit of the Everly Brothers or Brooks & Dunn, but it’s filtered through the Mulroney lens – with a little bit of Bakersfield twang, some Glen Campbell smoothness, and echoes of the Doobie Brothers and the Eagles.

“Are the Doobie Brothers brothers?” Dermot jokes. “The Ramones aren’t. It’s really confusing.”

Still, there’s no confusion about their sound – jackrabbit. songs come with a built-in compass.

“Sometimes you can just feel the facility in a song, but it’s not ours,” Dermot explains. “Matt, our bass player, has a real good feel for if it doesn’t fit in the pocket. But most everything Kieran writes is aimed at jackrabbit. It’s tailor-made.”

The full band lineup includes Matt McFadden, Sebastian Sheehan and Henry Quirion – all seasoned players who help deliver jackrabbit.’s warm, textured sound with polish and grit.

Dermot, a classically trained cellist (as seen in an episode of the wildly popular series The Hunting Wives), has also played on various film soundtracks, adding another layer to his deep musical foundation. Kieran, equally entrenched in music and performance, brings a storyteller’s precision to every lyric.

Though widely recognized for their acting work – Dermot in films like My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Family Stone, and August: Osage County; Kieran in The Spitfire Grill, Gettysburg, and By Dawn’s Early Light – the Mulroneys have been musicians just as long, with past stints in bands like Low and Sweet Orchestra (which landed a deal with Interscope) and Cranky George, a self-made band that didn’t quite land. This time is different.

“This is the real go,” Dermot says. “We’ve been playing together for 50 years. We’re not jumping the line – we’re breaking in a different way.”

The band draw on their Virginia roots, too – though not in the bluegrass sense you might expect.

“I’d distinguish jackrabbit. from bluegrass. Parts of it are, but it overlaps under the country music umbrella,” he says. “But we’re more strumming country than picking country. There’s a difference.”

That distinction – and intention – extends to the band’s overall identity. They’re not aiming to sound retro or lean on nostalgia as a gimmick. Instead, they strike a balance between tradition and something entirely their own.

“These songs really carry their own personalities,” he says. “They’re for singing – like crooners, in a way – so it hopefully remains authentic while tapping into something fresh.”

It’s an outfit that has found its right time, Dermot says, while country music gains more respect and continues expanding its boundaries. Their latest release, “Don’t Worry,” leans into that blend of classic and cinematic.

“Yes, we love to feel somebody left and done you wrong,” Dermot says. “Or you still can’t stop thinking about somebody while you’re dreaming and looking at the moon or looking through the hazy smoke. It’s all those very atmospheric lyrics.”

Their sound, while richly layered with influence, has a confident focus that feels fully realized – not something they’re still searching for, but something they’ve arrived at. The band is hoping to get back into the studio in September to keep building on that momentum.

“It was a pinpoint target,” Dermot says. “It’s deliberately conceived of to hit this sound pocket – because Kieran and I knew that’s where our voices sit. We’re really two baritones, and I sing over him. So even that – that’s a very unique combination.”

With that blend of rootsy harmony, offbeat humor and emotional honesty, jackrabbit. has carved out something rare: a band that feels both vintage and alive, a little dusty but still full of fire – and just getting warmed up.

“We’re not trying to chase anything,” Dermot says. “We just want to make music that sounds like us. And it finally does.”

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