After a six-year-long hiatus, the Turnpike Troubadours are back with their fifth studio album, A Cat in the Rain. It’s been a long time coming for the legendary Red Dirt band, and the expectations from everyone in the independent country scene were through the roof.
The question that remains is: “Was it worth the wait?”
To preface this review, I want to express just how happy I am that Evan Felker and Co. are back together creating music. Though this review will still be as objective as possible, I feel that it would be amiss to not note how important it is that Felker is healthy and the band is back together. I truly believe that country music is in a better state when Turnpike is together creating music.
What immediately struck me upon my first listen is just how lyrical the record is; A Cat in the Rain is arguably the most lyrical Turnpike record to date. While it would be blatantly false to claim that the rest of their discography is lackluster in terms of lyrics, it feels like Felker was focusing even more on creating lyrical, poetic verses that feel more like laments than your average country song.
This results in an ultimately reserved album from a production standpoint. While there are some songs that show flashes of the classic Turnpike sound such as the previously released, Chipping Mill, A Cat in the Rain feels more brooding than Turnpike’s older records. Though it sounds fantastic due to Scooter Jenning’s masterful production, I couldn’t help but want a little more energy throughout the tight 40-minute album.
A track that feels like the strongest balance between engaging production and lyric-centric writing is Brought Me. The track is a classic Felker love song that simply feels like him. It’s a brutally honest love song where he expresses his shortcomings while simultaneously being grateful for the love he has received. He comes out of the gates firing lyrically in the first verse.
“Well, I have loved you for so long, I have no memory of fallin’
So long now it feels that we have never been apart
I hear you have a world away and know for whom you’re callin’
I’d have said this years ago if I’d known where to start”
This immediately gives way to the extremely melodic chorus that begs the listener to sing along.
“Oh, now still beat steady this heart I handed you for free
Should you ever need a thing, it won’t be hard to find me
Standing at the ready with a dance or two still left in me
Wager that it won’t appear that I’ve forgot who brought me”
Without coming off as exploiting Evan Felker’s struggle with addiction and journey to sobriety, it would be extremely difficult to talk about the record without mentioning it. It’s been well-reported that Felker’s alcohol addiction was one of the leading causes of the Oklahoma band’s six-year hiatus, and he openly discusses it here on A Cat in the Rain. He directly confronts these past issues in the powerful fifth track, The Rut. Here, Felker makes the poignant comparison of liquor being a temporary shelter from his problems.
“I don’t miss the taste of liquor or really anything about it
But the temporary shelter was a welcome compromise”
Ultimately, A Cat in the Rain is a very good country record. However, I cannot say that it truly lives up to the impossibly high expectations that the band has set with their first four records pre-hiatus. Given that the previous four records have the advantage of hundreds of listens and years of digestion, it may be a bit of an unfair comparison. That being said, this collection of songs didn’t immediately grab my attention in the way the previous ones did. While Chipping Mill, Three More Days and East Side Love Song (Bottoms Up) capture what I feel is the classic Turnpike charm and sound, A Cat in the Rain feels like it is missing that spark that makes their first four records so incredible.
Listen to Chipping Mill, Three More Days and East Side Love Song (Bottoms Up) here: