On Friday, April 12th, the widow of Americana singer and songwriter Justin Townes Earle took to social media to let her thoughts be known about the song “When We Were Close,” written and performed by Jason Isbell.
“Home” (ᎣᏪᏅᏒ in Cherokee syllabary) is a bold, auspicious, full, rich, and entertaining specimen of authentic Northeast Oklahoma country rock, reminding you of some of the best up-tempo tracks of the Turnpike Troubadours.
On Monday, February 19th, Wyatt Flores announced that he would be cancelling his upcoming show in Oxford, Ohio. Other upcoming shows in Detroit and Toronto will also be rescheduled to a later date.
If you know the Turnpike Troubadours, then you know Lorrie. You may have never met her, not be sure if she’s real or just a figment of songwriter and frontman Evan Felker’s imagination. But she looms large in the Turnpike Troubadours universe.
Evan Felker has gone on acoustic tours in the past, including with Rhett Miller of the Old 97s. But the primary songwriter for the Turnpike Troubadours hasn’t played a space this intimate in years.
Cash in a vacation day, play hookie, pawn the kids off on the in-laws, or do whatever you have to do because Charles Wesley Godwin is hitting the road, and you don’t want to be the dunce that stayed home.
Welcome to Saving Country Music’s most comprehensive guide to music in a given year: The Essential Albums List. It’s a resource not just for 2023, but for future generations who may want to reflect back on this year in country music.
Unlike a Song of the Year, the Single of the Year is supposed to be a jam or a ditty that gets stuck in your head. It just happens to be that the Turnpike Troubadours version of this type of song still comes with an emotional component.
Every year there’s that handful of artists that you discover and it’s hard to comprehend how you got along without them previously. In 2023, there seems to be even more of these artists than normal.
Often picking the Song of the Year frustrates folks who just want to hear songs that are enjoyable and also happen to be well-written. That’s what a Saving Country Music Single of the Year is for.
The 2024 lineup set to go off on July 12-14 does not disappoint, with Under The Big Sky landing a massive fish in bluegrass maestro Billy Strings, and the Turnpike Troubadours and Miranda Lambert rounding out the headliners.
A couple of the top flight performers in independent country are teaming up for a rare run of select shows in locations they don’t always play. This will be a unique opportunity for fans to get their taste.
After 2023 sold out, you knew Two Step Inn would be returning for 2024. Returning it is, and with just as mouthwatering of a lineup as it had in 2023, but sans as many of the hip-hop wild cards.
For sure, the big names that the Grammys tend to favor will get theirs. But let’s make sure that the names that don’t enjoy media darling status and might get overlooked in the process also receive attention.
The Turnpike Troubadours, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, and Charles Wesley Godwin have have all released landmark albums in 2023. They’ve decided to join forces to help kick off 2024.
When the future looks back at this current moment, it will be with envy about how people got to experience when Zach Bryan, Charles Wesley Godwin, the Turnpike Troubadours, and others all released landmark albums.
Not only is country music codifying its monopoly at the top of the charts, it’s being done by independent and outright unsigned artists that came up solely from the strength of grassroots support.
So much damn country music talent will be assembled all in one place, it very well my cause a rip in the country music space-time continuum, and Merle Haggard himself might waltz on out and sing “Mama Tried” one more time.
The story of the Turnpike Troubadours is one of a victory, where the better angels of a bunch of friends from Tahlequah, Oklahoma refused to allow some moments of weakness and the outside noise to tear asunder something…
Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. I unilaterally declare that August 25th in the Year of Our Ford 2023 will be officially recognized as a country music holiday, with all right and privileges thereof.
Watching the interview, you can feel the camaraderie among the group, and how it feels like they’re in a healthy place. This isn’t the 2010-2012 Turnpike Troubadours anymore.
It’s such good times in independent country music at the moment, the Top 25 Playlist is busting at the seams and been extended to 29 temporarily just to take in all the great songs and artists demanding to be heard,
It’s the wide array of influences that the Turnpike Troubadours bring to bear in their music that makes their songs feel both wholly unique and keenly familiar, often conferring a warm feeling even upon the very first listen.
Before Turnpike went on indefinite hiatus in 2019, they were doing quite well for many independent acts, but were also meandering along in the effort to really spark national attention for themselves. Now the game has completely changed.