The long awaited new album from Turnpike Troubadours has arrived and hits heavy in every musical aspect. It's been 6 years since new music was released and a lot of professional and personal upheavals have taken place in between. The experiences in that time frame shape what is "A Cat In The Rain."
Turnpike's success and creativity is borne out of what each band member brings to the table, a force of a unique sound that can't be described, other than a mashup of Red Dirt, country, bluegrass, and folk. The group is comprised of Hank Early on accordion and steel guitar, R.C. Edwards on bass, Ryan Engleman on guitar, Evan Felker on lead vocals, guitar, and harmonica, Kyle Nix on fiddle, and Gabe Pearson on drums. The blend of melodies, instruments, vocals, and lyrics is always fresh on their new albums yet feels lived in, as if this band has been around one's entire life. The lived in feel is part of what makes TT special, lyrically deeper than traditional country music yet the familiar tone of yesteryear.
Kicking off the collection and first single is the ominous "Mean Old Sun." This sets the stage for the rest of the excellence to come but it's not all rumination and darkness. "Brought Me" is a hypnotic, bouncy song brimming with metaphors. It feels like the band is proclaiming their appreciation for the fans sticking by them through their hiatus.
"Mean Old Sun"
"Brought Me"
The lyrical mystique rolls on into the next composition as listeners are introduced to a new name in the TT line of characters that reoccur from time to time. "Lucille" is a brooding ballad about a couple who seem to be plucked out of "The Great Gatsby." The lyrics are rather cryptic so listeners may interpret the song to fit other eras but it comes across as a flapper generation illicit love triangle. Maybe Lucille isn't a character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous book, but possibly an ancestor of Lorrie who has her own stories to tell in numerous other TT songs ("The Mercury," "Good Lord Lorrie," "The Housefire").
"Lucille"
The real meat of the record lies within the next two tracks "The Rut" and the title track. The former is a trancelike, haunting ballad full of raw emotion. "Early fall descended on the dry back country aspens...It could be any time now that the bulls start bugling...I watched the pack mule panniers, see the loads are riding even...Is it in my mind or did I finally hear one sing..." Love at first listen, the guitar intro is lush, leading into achingly poetic autobiographical lyrics about sobriety, hunting, and finding oneself. Overflowing with symbols, the mountains are not just the scenic ones, but of relationships and band members that "are all still standing there." Turnpike has never really turned out a bad song but if there are certain standouts in an artist's body of work, this is one of them.
"The Rut"
The title track "A Cat In The Rain" is likely TT's most lyrically brilliant and one of their finest to date. The storyline takes on a string of life events in a delightful 5 minutes and 17 seconds, throwing the pieces together like leaves in the wind. Melodically rambling in the best way, the chorus flows like a river "...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, I still might come out clean..." Closing with "...There's black mud on the belly of the yellow colt I ride...Never thought I'd catch myself so calm out in the open...As a gulf storm deals in bucket loads...And hits from every side." Felker's delivery is optimistic despite the turbulence on this epic, career-defining song.
"A Cat In The Rain"
Felker contributed 6 of the album's 10 songs as solo writes (the other being "East Side Love Song"), rounding out the rest are from Edwards and Lance Roark on the fantastic, hard driving "Chipping Mill", former member John Fullbright on "Three More Days," and covers of The Ozark Mountain Daredevils' "Black Sky" and Jerry Jeff Walker's understated ballad "Won't You Give Me One More Chance." The latter closes out this collection on a gentle note, as if signaling the end of the turmoil and chaos from the past several years.
Fans were left wondering if new music would ever be created again; this feels like a rebirth from a band who epitomizes Red Dirt music. From the excellent musicianship to the production to the lyrical prowess; front to back "A Cat In The Rain" is a masterpiece.
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