Song Review – The Turnpike Troubadours – “Mean Old Sun”
The first observation about “Mean Old Sun” is that it’s distinctly a Turnpike Troubadours song.
The first observation about “Mean Old Sun” is that it’s distinctly a Turnpike Troubadours song.
The Turnpike Troubadours will release a new album called “A Cat in the Rain.” The Turnpike Troubadours will release a new album called A Cat in the Rain on August 25th. It will be their first new album since 2017.
On Friday (4-14), a new song from the band called “Mean Old Sun” populated on TouchTunes machines at bars and other locations across the United States. As Turnpike fans showed up at their favorite watering hole and went to play a Turnpike song, they noticed it.
Are the Turnpike Troubadours post hiatus truly an arena act? Down in the Ark-La-Tex, the answer has definitely been certified as “yes.” That all changes when they play Friday, May 5th at the Capitol One Arena in Washington D.C., with Old Crow Medicine Show and Lucero set to open.
Just like Billy Strings, the Turnpike Troubadours have weaseled their way into becoming an arena artist, at least in select markets. This week they announced they’ll be playing the immense American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX on February 25th, 2023, along with The Avett Brothers and The Wood Brothers.
The Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed on all the best songs and albums coming out right here, right now in country and roots music. It’s available on most all streaming formats, or you can just use the song, artist, and album recommendations.
If you can’t get enough of the country rock sound of bands like the Turnpike Troubadours, and also want your country music served up with a strong songwriting element, the new album from the Teague Brothers Band ‘Love and War’ will be right up your alley. There’s a reason Evan Felker made his return with them.
The amount of country/roots/Americana releases coming at you each week has officially reached critical mass. And it will spill over like a school bus taking a dive into an above ground pool on Friday, October 28th. Luckily, you know about lil’ ol’ Saving Country Music, so at least you have a head start.
The roots and brambles of all traditional music tend to intertwine, and gravitate toward the universal plight of poor, agrarian, and working people, even crossing oceans and bridging continents and eras. Along with delivering a record of kick-ass music, the Dropkick Murphys present an illustration.
At the beginning of his career, John Fullbright was considered one of the fastest-rising names in the Americana scene, validated by a Grammy nomination. Now an album released eight years later into a musical world where there are dozens of rising names, the threat is that it gets overlooked.
The amount of album releases these days can be dizzying. And it can be even more daunting when you have a release day with some super big titles that suck up all the attention when some of the other releases from smaller and more independent artists are just as important or enjoyable.
Now celebrating five years of gathering in festival form, KOKEFest attracts a huge crowd of local KOKEheads, as well as people from across the country who want to get the genuine Texas country experience, including those who regularly listen to the station remotely online.
There are many festivals out there now catering to independent country and Americana. But in three short seasons and amid a pandemic, Under The Big Sky Fest has quickly made the case for being the biggest and most important of all off the strength of its lineups.
It’s not that the Turnpike Troubadours were just meandering along and mired in obscurity before their hiatus in May of 2019. But clearly the distance and time away made hearts grow fonder, and has acted like a slingshot for this band from Oklahoma.
The Dropkick Murphys may be best known for their loud and aggressive Celtic punk music, but for their next album, they’re taking an entirely different approach, and one that has numerous ties to the independent country realm. Called This Machine Still Kills Fascists…
Well damn, we were all saying right after the Turnpike Troubadours announced their return and tickets were selling out immediately wherever they announced shows, that the boys from Oklahoma could probably sell out arenas at this point, or at least in certain markets.
“I’m not sure what a bar band from Oklahoma is doing here, but we’re sure glad to be here,” Evan Felker said from the stage. And after witnessing the set Evan and the rest of the boys from Oklahoma turned in, it wasn’t just one of those things you say to butter up the crowd.
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.
With no effort at embellishment, what happened in Tulsa will go down in history—for the historical venue of Cain’s Ballroom, for the Turnpike Troubadours, for independent country music, and for country music in general. It was that paramount, and that profound.
Don’t ever take the moments you share with your favorite artists and bands for granted, because you never know when they could get scuttled and go away forever. That is the lesson of the last 2 1/2 years for the Turnpike Troubadours. And thankfully, that painful lesson is finally over.
Look. If you know anything about music, and anything about the Turnpike Troubadours, you had to know that betting against a reunification of this band after the indefinite hiatus they announced on May 31st, 2019 was a foolish proposition, no matter how bleak it appeared to be.
Thursday evening (10-28), Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller helped organize the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s “Breathe Easy” CF Concert Series featuring a host of cool artists from the country, alt-country and roots world raising money to help find therapeutics and a cure for the disease.
All you Turnpike Troubadours fans out there chomping at the bit for anything and everything related to the band, carve out some time on Thursday, October 28th because frontman Evan Felker will be making a very rare live appearance with his old buddy Rhett Miller.
One thing was clearly evident after traveling to Whitefish, Montana to experience the massive Under The Big Sky Festival with its incredible lineup and expansive grounds: the independent country and roots music we all enjoy has officially arrived. This is no longer a boutique subgenre.