“The Turnpike Troubadours are the real deal…” – American Songwriter
Nashville, TN — Acclaimed Oklahoma roots-rock powerhouse Turnpike Troubadours will release their highly-anticipated new album A Long Way From Your Heart (Bossier City/Thirty Tigers) on October 20. Produced/engineered by Ryan Hewitt (Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Avett Brothers, The Lumineers) A Long Way From Your Heart is the fourth release from the fiercely independent outfit whose three previous albums received critical accolades while amassing a massive and highly passionate nationwide fanbase.
With his vivid character sketches and blue-collar narratives, Evan Felker continues to solidify his place as one of the finest songwriters to come out of the dustbowl in recent years. Felker’s vocals are honest and affecting, combined with his virtuosic band mates — RC Edwards (bass), Kyle Nix (fiddle), Ryan Engleman (guitar), Gabe Pearson (drums) and Hank Early (pedal steel) — Turnpike Troubadours are a force. The band has achieved a rare feat with A Long Way From Your Heart by creating an album that is immediately accessible, yet continues to reveal greater depth upon each listen.
The theme running through A Long Way From Your Heart is resilience during difficult circumstances, as in album opener, “The Housefire”. The subjects in Felker’s songs are composite characters based on real people. Some tracks feel deeply personal, such as the poignant but upbeat “Pay No Rent” or country/folk ditty “Oklahoma Stars”. Other observational songs like “Unrung” and the raucous rocker “The Winding Stair Mountain Blues” are proof that Felker’s penchant for great storytelling in the tradition of his musical forbearers has become masterful.
If the songs are what initially hooks listeners, the live performances are what completes the conversion to die hard fan. From coast to coast, Turnpike Troubadours have become a live phenomenon, averaging sell-outs of 3000-5000 nightly, and their touring success expands far beyond any one region. The group packs venues up and down both coasts including capacity crowds in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Washington, DC and more.
A Long Way From Your Heart is the follow up to their 2015 highly acclaimed third album, The Turnpike Troubadours. The album achieved major milestones for the band with their highest chart debuts reaching #17 overall on the Billboard Top 200, #3 on the Billboard Country Albums Chart, and #2 on the Independent Albums Chart. Since the 2012 release of their breakthrough sophomore album Goodbye Normal Street the press has taken note of Turnpike Troubadours with major coverage in Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone Country, Noisey,Paste, American Songwriter, CMT and much more.