CD Review — Turnpike Troubadours

| November 8, 2015 | Reply

This will be in the December issue, Buddy Magazine, as wellThe whole band 1 10x8 name smaller

Turnpike Troubadours /  Turnpike Troubadours /Bossier City Records

There’s only a handful of records that, when you listen to the first song, simply demands that you listen to the second, and then the third. And that makes it hard to pick your favorite, so you play it the first song again… repeat ad infinitum, without ear fatigue. The new, self-titled CD by the Turnpike Troubadours is one of those rarities.

Kyle Nix, Evan Felker, R.C. Edwards, Gabe Pearson, and Ryan Engleman, aka The Turnpike Troubadours, are joined on some of the 12 songs by other American giants, including John Fullbright on accordion and Byron Berline on fiddle. And Evan Felkner and R.C. Edwards wrote, solo style, some of the songs, and Felkner co-wrote some with Fullbright and with Rhett Miller of the Old 97s and others.

And the writing, well, these guys have the use of words down in spades. Metaphors, many brand new and a few familiar oldies, such as “What Mama don’t know won’t hurt her” and “I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if you don’t.” These seal their respective songs, wise beyond the norm.TT cover toss

And then there’s the new descriptors. On “Easton & Main,” heartbreak is described as “I left my heart in Tulsa, on the corner of Easton & Main, on Cain’s ballroom floor, Soaking up a bourbon stain.” And on “The Mercury,” the girl is described as “Her kind of loving is a little like a fist fight, The kind of thing you never see before midnight,” and “…like sittin’ in the middle of a funnel cloud.”

The first song released to radio was “Down Here,” a view of life of a friend on the bottom, describing hope along with life’s truisms. And the lead-off song, “The Bird Hunters,” brings all the biggies together — friendship, success, true love not yet requited. “Dan says, ‘Hell of a shot, looks like you’ve still got it. That’s what we came here to do’.”

This newly released CD, Turnpike Troubadours, the third for this Oklahoma-based band, is their finest and destined to be a lifetime favorite for every Americana music lover.

Mary Jane Farmer

 

Tags:

Category: - CD Reviews

About the Author ()

In the music production business, including event production, booking, photography, reporting, and other such essentials, since 1980.

Leave a Reply

banner ad