Turnpike Troubadours
Album: Turnpike Troubadours
Label: Bossier City
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.turnpiketroubadours.com

Just when I was hoping to have a closer look at the current Red Dirt scene then I get two records at once. First, the latest Jason Boland & The Stragglers album (reviewed separately for Fatea magazine) and now the fourth and self-titled album from the Turnpike Troubadours. They have got a little reputation for releasing their music slowly (three years since their last Goodbye Normal Street) but boy it was the worth the wait.

The Turnpike's are back on fine form with twelve tracks full of everything you would expect and more. The quintet of Evan Felker (vocals, guitar), R.C. Edwards (bass), Kyle Nix (fiddle), Ryan Engelman (steel and electric guitar) and Gabe Pearson (drums) blend together a fantastic concoction of sounds, storytelling lyrics and stellar vocals.

'The Bird Hunters' starts off with a story of someone returning to his home soil (red dirt?) of Cherokee county reminiscing of growing up shooting a gun in the wilderness. Having returned from love losses in the Tulsa rodeos a childhood friend suggests not much has changed other than his grey hair.

If anything this album is the rockiest to date and with 'The Mercury' I can imagine this being the type of pulsating electric guitar and drum beating you would hear at a live Turnpike's show in many a juke-joint down Texas way. Not that they are confined to the Oklahoma and Texas areas as they consistently sell-out shows right across the US. Felker's vocals just slide off his tongue with the swagger of Elvis Presley while he sings such cracking lyrics as 'Her kind of loving is a little like a fist fight, Alright, alright, The kind of thing you never see before midnight'. This song is highly addictive and very good in describing certain scenes you can imagine seeing in certain venues the group are no doubt familiar with. It's no secret though even going back to the early days of Western Swing with Bob Wills that a lot of the honky tonks are notoriously tough venues to play.

I have several favourites on this collection the first of which is 'Down Here'. I love the rhythm to this gem and also the catchy chorus "You're gonna be alright, you'll be fine, You can have a nickel outta my last dime, The moon is bright and you're alright down here". There's fiddle heard in almost every song and 'Time of Day' is no exception with lyrics about meeting a lady the kind who isn't often seen down that end of town, "Well I give you every bit of my spending money, Give me just a minute of your time of day".

Some of the instrumentation sounds like something Garth Brooks might have done back in the 1990's at times especially when the fiddle kicks in. There's a reflective song about long lost or distant love with 'Ringing In The Year'. 'A Little Song' is a little slower but none less impressive. It's a very tender ditty with just a guitar and Felker's emotive lyrics about how someone tries to sing "a little tune that I could hum to turn back time, Back to all our better days and nights". Can he come up with the right lyrics or melody to save this struggling relationship?

There are a couple of revisits and slight reworkings of previous songs such as 'Easton and Main' and the always impressive 'Bossier City'. The latter is an absolute belter of a song and sounds as good as ever with brilliant fiddle and harmonica. The song is about a youngster living a care free lifestyle partying and gambling.

In-between the revisits there's '7 Oaks' which is a story about being poor and having hardly any money available to put food on the table. Despite the subject matter it is a fun upbeat sounding song with some interesting ideas about how to earn a few bucks. 'Doreen' is a very good interpretation of the alt-country Old '97's song and the Turnpike's definitely put their signature flavour and stamp on this to make it on a par if not better than the original versions. There is also another soul searching relationship slowie asking how did they 'Fall Out of Love'.

The Turnpike Troubadours self-titled release is a splendid balanced collection of slow and upbeat tunes, the signature instrumentation we have grown accustomed to and more masterful lyrics sung eloquently and passionately. Felker and the boys have come out with a collection I cannot stop playing and surely will not be able to put down for some time yet.

Craig Parry