Silverada bassist Omar Oyoque steps away for hand surgery after nine years

Omar Oyoque is leaving Silverada for an indefinite stretch to deal with an injury to his right hand that needs surgery. The bassist announced it on the evening of 18 September, alongside two final shows: The Shed in Maryville, Tennessee that night, and The Caverns in Pelham the following evening. He has been playing through the injury for two years.

In his statement Oyoque said the decision had not been taken lightly, that "playing music means everything to me," and that after nearly nine years he had to put his health first to have any longevity in his career. He thanked the venues and the crowds and signed off by saying his heart will always be with the Silverada and Moonpies family, a line his own fans immediately started reading two ways in the comments.

He is not a background player. Oyoque works the front of the stage as the band's hype man, a role most frontmen would never tolerate from a bassist, and Mike Harmeier encouraged it rather than reining it in. He is also a skilled musician on steel guitar. Saving Country Music argues that when he joined in 2018 he was part of what turned an Austin honky tonk act into a national touring band capable of winning over a room that did not come for country music.

Oyoque replaced Preston Rhone, who had been with the group since it formed in 2009 as Mike and the Moonpies. The name change to Silverada came about two and a half years ago.

The departure lands in a run of them. Steel guitarist Zachary Moulton left just over a year ago. Drummer Kyle Ponder left in 2022. Keyboardist Parker Twomey was made permanent in 2025 and plays on the new record.

That record is Living Proof, released on 7 August to a warm reception, and it is the album the band will be carrying through the rest of the autumn. Shows are on the books for early and mid October before the current tour finishes and the group take a break.

Nobody has been named to cover the bass in the meantime. Nor has any return date been set, and the report is careful on the distinction: Oyoque has said he is stepping away, not leaving.

Silverada came up on the club circuit and the smaller festivals rather than through radio, the same Texas and Oklahoma network that keeps acts like the ones on the Honky Tonk Fest bill near Austin working. That circuit rewards the road, and the road is exactly what Oyoque has had to come off.

The last word in his statement was gratitude rather than farewell. Whether the band find a permanent bassist or hold the chair open is the thing nobody has answered yet.