Review Turnpike Troubadours - Self Titled

I know this album came out in September, but I still wanted to write a review because I'm still listening to it and it just keeps getting even better with age.  I was a little late to the party on their bandwagon, but I will be seeing them live for the first time in 4 weeks.  They are performing at a beer release I wanted to go to anyway.  Win-Win.  I fell in love with the latest two albums earlier last year while awaiting this release and it did not disappoint.


Gun to my head, I would probably say Bruce Springsteen is my favorite artist.  He does so much with words and phrases and don't really make sense, but are absolutely perfect.  I'm starting to feel Even Felker is his country equivalent. 


The album starts out with what may now be my favorite song of theirs, The Bird Hunters.  It shows how great Evan Felker is at songwriting.  The story is about a man hunting with his childhood friend after breaking up with his gal.  From the opening fiddle notes, this is fantastic.


The Mercury is a good rocking tune that references Jimmy and Lorrie from previous songs.


Down Here and Time of Day are the closest to fluff lyrics and still miles above anything on the radio.  They also both have killer melodies and music.  I can listen to the fiddle over the chorus of Time of Day endlessly.


Ringing in the Year finds Felker back in his lyrical sweet spot that continues through the lower key A Little Song.


If not for The Bird Hunters, Long Drive Home or Easton and Main may be my favorites off of this album.  Easton and Main is a reworked (and superior) version of a song on their first album and Long Drive Home has some of the best lyrics on the album.  The opening line about the "squeak of the hardwood floor" really puts you in the moment much like the opening to Thunder Road.  I also love the line "Damn that girl was pretty in the artificial moonlight" from Easton & Main written by bassist RC Edwards, a great songwriter in his own right.


7 Oaks is a great faster paced song that will probably be amazing live.  Doreen, a cover of an Old 97's song, is the only one on this album that doesn't really do it for me.  I know others love it, but I just can't get into it.  A little too one note musically for my taste.


RC Edwards shows his chops again on the slower Fall Out of Love.  The album wraps up with another song off the first album, Bossier City which will be another fun concert song.


Fantastic album from first to last.  These guys may be the best in the game right now.  If it takes another 3 years for the next album, it will be well worth the wait.

Mission statement

I've written about music a lot before, but country music seems to be where I have the most opinions so I decided to dedicate a blog to real country music.




As a fan of at least a piece of most genres and someone who grew up listening to mainly rock, I just want good music despite the genre.  My main problems with pop country
1.  It's not country (yes even though they added a token banjo, still no)
2.  It's mostly bad music regardless of the genre.


I used to make jokes circa 10 years ago that country radio was pop music with a fiddle.  Sadly the joke was on me as I can now remove the phrase "with a fiddle" from that statement.




For the most part my sweet spot is Americana or more rock oriented country or vice versa.  Rock radio got so fractured it was hard to find what I was looking for.    Country music was starting to be bland drivel.  In 2004 I fell in love with Cross Canadian Ragweed and Isbell era Drive By Truckers and opened the flood gate to Red Dirt & Texas country music and the rest is history. 


Thanks to Country Perspective and Saving Country Music, it's easy to find like minded people who enjoy good music.  Unfortunately this is a small percentage of the population.




The reason this annoys me is I am greeted with the same 2 responses anytime someone finds out I like country music.


1.  "I hate country"  For the most part, these people only know country in radio form.  They may have grown up listening to the Eagles or other country leaning rock bands, but their only experience with country is the dreck on the radio.


2.  "I love all country music like Sam Hunt, Thomas Rhett, FGL, etc."  These people are more annoying and often the reason person 1 says they hate country.




Regardless of the response, I'm tired of having to explain that yes I like country music, but no I hate the stuff they play on country radio.  The frustrating part is a lot of both groups of people would find something to like be it William Clark Green perhaps for person 1 or Turnpike Troubadours for person 2 who may enjoy actual country music as well, but isn't exposed to it.


I just like good music and want to share it with everyone.  The faster Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett go away, the better the world will be.