Turnpike Troubadours Play Fan-Favorites, Debut New Songs for Sold-Out Rev Room

by Julian Spivey
The Turnpike Troubadours once again proved they’re the best band in the music business right now with another terrific show at Little Rock’s The Revolution Room on Thursday, Sept. 14.
​
Pretty much at this point in their career, with a fifth studio album on the way in October, the Troubadours play a set of “greatest hits” every night, which might be news to those who still don’t know who they are because they don’t receive mainstream radio airplay. Their loyal fans know them and if you happen to go to a show without following their music first you’ll understand it’s almost like a cult following as the packed audience knows every single word in the group’s discography.

The group kicked off the night with fan-favorites “Every Girl,” “7 & 7,” my personal favorite, and “Shreveport” from their 2010 release Diamonds & Gasoline. That album was the introduction for most of the Troubadours brand of literary red dirt country music and is still heavily featured in their sets.

Other great performances from Diamonds & Gasoline included “Kansas City Southern,” “Whole Damn Town” and “1968.” Even though many fan-favorites off this album were performed I would’ve loved to have heard “The Funeral,” as well, which may be front-man and primary songwriter Evan Felker’s best composition.

The Turnpike Troubadours are probably the tightest sounding band in all of country music, no matter the subgenre, and possibly music in general. Every individual in the group incredibly talented and create a unit that just sounds like they were made for each other. The music is very fiddle driven and Kyle Nix is one of the best in the business. Ryan Engelman plays some great guitar licks and I know this well as my ears will be ringing for days having stood directly in front of him. Bassist R.C. “Rooster” Edwards and drummer Gabe Pearson keep the music humming throughout and I really love that Edwards has “This Machine Kills Fascists” scrawled across his bass, in tribute to fellow Oklahoma and folk music icon Woody Guthrie. Newest band member Hank Early is a great addition on pedal steel and accordion giving the Troubadours this important steel sound throughout their set. Engelman doubled on steel before.

The Troubadours’ third studio album Goodbye Normal Street was also well represented throughout the night with fantastic performances of “Gin, Smoke & Lies,” “Blue Star,” “Before the Devil Knows We’re Dead” and “Good Lord Lorrie,” which is my favorite song from that album.

Almost half of the group’s most recent release their 2015 self-titled album was played throughout the night. The rip-roaring performance of “The Mercury,” which was my top song of 2015, was one of the absolute best of the evening keeping the crowd moving throughout. “Down Here” and “Bossier City” also kept the crowd energized.

The Troubadours will be releasing their fifth studio album A Long Way from Your Heart will be released Oct. 20. The group performed two new songs from the album about midway through their set on Thursday night: “Pay No Rent” and “The Housefire,” which should have their fanbase pumped for the new release. These are typical Felker-penned song, which is to essentially say “genius.”

The Troubadours always play with a high energy that few artists I’ve ever seen can match and this may have caused Felker troubles later in the show. Honestly, Felker sometimes forgets his own lyrics when caught up in the action of a show and he seemed to have more trouble with this on Thursday than usual. Later in the show I couldn’t help but wonder if he wasn’t feeling well. The Rev Room was incredibly hot and the sold-out show being packed shoulder-to-shoulder didn’t help things at all. I honestly think Felker may have been winded toward the end of his show.

The group finished their set with a solo performance by Felker of “A Little Song,” from the self-titled release, that was dedicated to his wife, Staci, with the couple celebrating their one-year anniversary on the night. Felker then left the stage for a breather while Edwards took over vocals and Nix borrowed Edwards’ bass for a performance of the rowdy “Get Drunk, High and Loud,” which is performed frequently by the band, but has never been recorded.

The entire group reformed on stage for a sing-along to “Long Hot Summer Day,” the John Hartford-penned song that really put the Oklahoman-group on the map about seven years ago now. It’s one of the all-time great fiddle tunes.

The group briefly left the stage again before returning for a performance of “The Bird Hunters.” The performance was highlight by the fact that a couple, standing directly behind me in fact, got engaged mid-song to uproarious applause that I’m not sure the group performing onstage really understood.

The final performance of the night was a new song “Something to Hold Onto,” from the album to be released in October, that sounded like vintage Troubadours and once again should have fans stoked for the release.

The popular Texas red dirt band Flatland Cavalry opened the show for the Troubadours at The Rev Room on Thursday night with a good set from their 2016 debut release Humble Folks. One of the best performance of their set was the opening tune “February Snow.” Other highlights included “Coyote (The Ballad of Roy Johnson),” “A Life Where We Work Out” and “Stompin’ Grounds,” which was their finale. It is somewhat surprising they didn’t perform the catchy “Goodbye Kiss” from their debut. Flatland Cavalry is likely a red dirt group you’ll be hearing a lot from in the future.  

---