One of my favorite bands is the Turnpike Troubadours, a Red Dirt group from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. All members are talented – singer and guitarist Evan Felker, bassist R.C. Edwards, fiddler Kyle Nix, guitarist Ryan Engleman, drummer Gabe Pearson, and steel guitar and accordion player Hank Early.
Their music blends distinct instrumentation with impressively descriptive lyrics. The music alone catches the ear and can speak to a certain mood even if you’re not following the lyrics. For example, “Gin, Smoke, Lies” is a favorite of mine to lift weights to or to crank out a hard swim set while “7 & 7” and “Down on Washington” make me tap my fingers against the steering wheel.
But you’re missing out if you’re not paying attention to their lyrics, which bear the hallmark of what I consider great writing – they make me wish I’d written them myself. This line from “Whole Damn Town” makes me nod my head with appreciation (and a little envy) every time I hear it: “Well, the music pours out on the street/ Just as clean and cool as a cotton sheet.” I mean, THAT is a truly great simile based on clear yet fresh imagery.
The combination of great music and outstanding lyrics creates songs that get stuck in my head in the best possible way. Right now, I’m humming “Leaving and Lonely,” like I do for at least a week every time I hear it.
They also do some interesting things in terms of story-telling – many of their songs tell stories that make me want the novelized version, but the Troubadours don’t stop there. Rather, they build a world across albums with reoccurring and distinct characters like the gritty Jimmy and the sexy Lori.
And the stories they tell are often deep and moving. The song the “Bird Hunters” tells an entire story about love, loss, and how you both can and cannot come home again in a tight 5:10. Not many short stories could pull this tale and these themes off half as well. “The Housefire” accomplishes a similarly admirable task – the title gives you the main plotline, but don’t assume you know how it is going to go down. The song makes me want to sing along and appalls me with the truth of how fast our fortunes can turn and gives me hope all at the same once.
As I may have mentioned already elsewhere on my website, I create “character soundtracks” for my main characters and then listen to each one when I am working from that character’s point of view. I’ll just link to the Troubadours songs on my playlists below in in a bulleted list, but you should also know that there have been countless days where I just listen to their albums on a loop as I work.
Perhaps the greatest compliment I can give to the Turnpike Troubadours is to say that they are artists who inspire me to continue my own creative pursuits. Their music makes me want to write and listening to it before or while I work helps me see my characters even more clearly as real, complicated people. In other words, I enjoy the Turnpike Troubadours work for its own sake while also believing that their music makes me a better writer. And because I believe that stories, no matter their format, tell us a little bit about what it means to be human and how to go about living in this wild world, that means their music makes me understand how to be a more nuanced and authentic human being.
So, I’m sending a big “thank you” their way and encouraging you to check them out: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1YSA4byX5AL1zoTsSTlB03?si=EYqGQWRXTLWkuRAdVzOWAQ.
List of Turnpike Troubadour Songs on my character soundtracks:
• Down on Washington
• Call a Spade a Spade
• 7 & 7
• The Funeral
• Whole Damn Town
• Every Girl
• Gin, Smoke, Lies
• Kansas City Southern
*I am not affiliated with the Turnpike Troubadours in any way and garner no monetary or other tangible benefit if you listen to or purchase their music.
