It Happened In Helotes: Turnpike Troubadours Return to Floore’s
The Turnpike Troubadours are officially back after a nearly 3-year hiatus. And before they make it to Red Rocks in Colorado later this month to play some mammoth sold-out shows ahead of headlining numerous festivals throughout this summer, they’re returning to the scene of the crime so to speak, haunting some of the locations that have been important to the history of the band to knock the rust off, and give their local and regional fans first crack at seeing them back.
Their official reunification occurred in Tulsa at Cain’s Ballroom in early April. They also played a series of shows at Billy Bob’s Texas in Ft. Worth April 21st-23rd. Then on Friday, May 6th they made it down to the legendary Floore’s Country Store in Helotes, TX to take the outside stage in front of a sold-out crowd.
The always-entertaining Shinyribs opened the show, and just like every show so far since the hiatus, emotions were very high when Turnpike took the stage. Along with mainstays from their repertoire like “Every Girl,” “7&7,” “Good Lord Lorrie,” and their version of John Hartford’s “Long Hot Summer Day” (see full set list below), Turnpike also launched into a spirited rendition of the song “May All Your Favorite Bands (Stay Together)” by Dawes, sung by bass player R.C. Edwards.
Just like Cain’s Ballroom and Billy Bob’s, the Turnpike Troubadours have a long history playing Floore’s, including numerous installments of their annual Spring celebration they called “Dia Del Gallo,” which ran for seven years between 2011 and 2018. There were no mentions of roosters Friday night, but it was a de facto continuation of the spring tradition in Helotes.
On Saturday, May 7th, Turnpike stopped at the White Oak Music Hall in Houston, Texas, and Evan Felker played a new song solo called “Cat In The Rain” that seems to address his past troubles.
“You can try to put the past behind,
It’s on your clothes like burning pine,
Is it gin or turpentine you keep in your canteen,
If pressure makes a diamond babe, we still might come out clean…”
No word as of yet of any new studio music or albums from the Turnpike Troubadours at this point.
Photographer Brad Coolidge was on hand in Helotes to help capture the moments for those who couldn’t be there. You can find Brad Coolidge on Instagram.
SET LIST:
1. Every Girl
2. 7&7
3. 1968
4. Good Lord Lorrie
5. Wrecked
6. Shreveport
7. The Bird Hunters
8. Something To Hold Onto
9. Gin, Smoke, & Lies
10. The House Fire
11. Kansas City Southern
12. Pay No Rent
13. A Tornado Warning
14. Blue Star
15. Diamonds and Gasoline
16. All Your Favorite Bands
17. Long Hot Summer Day
18. Long Drive Home (Encore)
May 8, 2022 @ 7:14 pm
So much of new artists have been introduced thru Sirius Outlaw country to me and ever since reading your site and utilizing gained knowledge the Turnpike Trubs were not understood but now are being played more on rotation and I like what I’m hearing-you can be late to the game and always enjoy new music-keep on passing the word…
May 8, 2022 @ 7:32 pm
Love it. Also love some respect paid to Dawes, great band. I think their best song is Little bit of Everything, but All your Favourite Bands is 2nd favourite. And obviously more topical.
May 9, 2022 @ 3:41 pm
Funny that they played that song. Them getting back together made me think of it and I even put a link for it in the comments of the article about the Tulsa show. My favorite Dawes tune is “So Well.” I still find a TT set list without “Pipe Bomb Dream” not entirely satisfying.
May 8, 2022 @ 7:43 pm
Listened to the new song 7 times already. The album version of this will be so good. Evan’s still got his fastball.
May 8, 2022 @ 8:47 pm
The show at Floore’s was great but the sound seemed pretty bad to me.
May 9, 2022 @ 5:39 am
It started off horrible especially off off to side, but it did get much better after a few songs. Still not great.
May 9, 2022 @ 5:44 pm
I thought the sound was fine if not a little on the quiet side. The problem was you couldn’t hear over the entire crowd singing every single word to every single song. Which in and of itself was an experience like I’ve never seen at a live show. My videos taken a little above head level picked up the band better and it sounded good by cell phone standards.
May 10, 2022 @ 8:06 am
Yeah, the singing didn’t bother me — it added to the experience.
The problem with the sound was that I could never hear the steel, fiddle and lead guitar at the same time. Sometimes they pushed the level of one of them up when they did a visually obvious solo or intro, but they were mostly just lost.
Either that or I need to get my ears checked. But every other time I’ve seen them I could hear all 3 of those instruments the whole time.
May 8, 2022 @ 9:00 pm
What a fucking song
May 10, 2022 @ 9:55 am
I went back and re-listened to a couple of my videos. Except for Bird Hunters, you’re right, the mixing is a little off at times. I could usually hear Hank & Ryan but not Nix unless it was a fiddle solo. I listened to a few from Cains and Billy Bobs on YouTube and I do think they had it more put together at Floore’s. It takes some time to hone the rhythm, soundboard and vocals on a new tour, especially after so much time off from live shows. By the end of the summer the boys will be tighter than a…well you know.
May 10, 2022 @ 6:21 pm
I agree. At the beginning you couldn’t hear Felker because the crowd was so loud. Then they turned him up but also the steel guitar at the same time. I couldn’t hear Nix unless he was on a solo.
May 9, 2022 @ 1:09 pm
So glad to hear the band is getting back out on the road to their regular stops.
I hope the best for the band but especially for Evan. We all have demons & I hope he can keep his at bay. I hope he is not defined & or forever remembered for his troubled times. He is a great musician & song writer as well as a good person. He seems to wear Daddy well! Congratulations