Everybody loves a good comeback story. After releasing five genre-defining albums and building a fiercely loyal fanbase, Turnpike Troubadours — the Tahlequah, Oklahoma kings of Red Dirt music — all but fell apart in 2019, taking a three-year hiatus to find clarity amidst the noise of a red-hot career. But after the break, something remarkable and even unprecedented happened: the band returned more popular than ever. The proof is in the group’s latest album, A Cat in the Rain. Produced by three-time Grammy winner Shooter Jennings and recorded at the legendary FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals the album is a tale of reliability, rebirth, and redemption. It’s the story of brothers — front man and chief songwriter Evan Felker, fiddler Kyle Nix, steel player Hank Early, guitarist Ryan Engleman, bassist RC Edwards, drummer Gabe Pearson — six musicians who ran the gauntlet of success, scrutiny, and even personal troubles, and would fight tooth and nail for one another. That bond is in the band’s songs and in their live performances — they’ve racked up 1.5 billion streams globally. Still, to some, they remain a mystery…the most popular band they’ve never heard of. But with A Cat in the Rain, that’s all about to change.
