Strong country, folk and Cajun sounds from Oklahoma quintet
Opening with banjo, fiddle and a strong backbeat, thisOklahomaquintet’s third album quickly grabs your attention. Vocalist Evan Felker evinces both sorrow and anger as he surveys evidence of infidelity, singing with end-of-his-rope angst that brings to mind the heartbreak of Material Issue’s Jim Ellison and the melancholy of the Gin Blossom’s Robin Wilson. But the Turnpike Troubadours are no guitar-and-drums power pop band; they play hard-driving country that celebrates cheating the devil and laments soldiers stumbling into a revolving door of service. Felker highlights his characters with nearly invisible every day details, drawing a warm portrait of a neighborhood bar on “Morgan Street†and recounting the memories of a breakup in “Good Lord Lorrie.†There’s Cajun accordion, fiddle and second-line beats on several tunes, some Dylan-esque harmonica, and folk-styled finger picking accompanying the worried hopeful of “Empty as a Drum.†The Troubadours deft mix of roots musics might be too complex forNashvilleto market, but this will go down well with anyone who likes hard-lived country, folk and roots-rock music. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com] 