REVIEW: Turnpike Troubadours @ MGM Music Hall 2/7
Photo Credit: David McClister
Review by Kat Harmon
Walking past the inherently summery Fenway Park in the middle of Boston’s latest single-digit snowfall is in and of itself a disarming experience. And yet, I still found myself unprepared for the near Bacchinalian experience of seeing the Turnpike Troubadours at MGM Music Hall this past Saturday. As the perfect antidote to a city suffering from weeks of cabin fever, “The Price of Admission” tour served as a hearty, homespun reminder of brighter and warmer times.
Robert Earl Keen, the Turnpike Troubadours’ opener for their first three tour dates, was already on stage by the time I got out of the coat check line, sitting center stage throughout his hour-long opening set. I’m used to openers speeding through their allotted twenty-minute slots, so Keen’s methodical stroll through his discography was surprisingly refreshing. Keen’s generous hour-long set was a show of respect, it seems, from Troubadours’ lead singer Evan Felker, who considers Keen to be “bigger than Willie Nelson.”
I noticed the palpable excitement in the crowd almost right away, though very little of it was directed at Keen’s set. Friends loudly reunited in the pit, and couples took turns pushing through the crowd to the bar, all seemingly just waiting for the Troubadours to take the stage. Everyone was talking or moving throughout Keen’s set, and he and the band noticed. Their set had a sort of “grin and bear it” air usually reserved for cover bands at dive bars. However, this doesn’t mean they had a bad set in the slightest. Keen’s music expertly walks the line between typical well-wrought country ballads— with lyrics about long roads and small towns— and some more bluegrass-y instrumental tracks. The audience woke up for a few of Keen’s more famous songs. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” he said with a chuckle as they sang along to “Feelin’ Good Again”.
The son of a cowboy and a nurse in rural Oklahoma, Evan Felker started the Troubadours in 2005 after he relocated to Stillwater, Oklahoma. Felker is in league with other new country singer-songwriters like Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson, bringing the modern country landscape from the formulaic pop-country era to somewhere more grounded and heartfelt. There are hints of that country lyrical tradition— some lyrics in “Gin, Smoke, Lies” feel a little Keith-Urban-esque— but Felker works in his personal struggles with sobriety, divorce, and a blue-collar life. Felker’s down-to-earth lyrics are what really pull people into the Troubadours’ songs, as they feel like a breath of fresh air for anyone whose idea of country is limited to tired “trucks, girls, and beer” songs. For New Englanders, especially, it’s a glimpse into life in the Southwest without the underlying fear of supporting any less-than-savory political beliefs. Whatever the reason, Boston certainly shows out for the Troubadours.
The crowd is spirited during (though not because of) the opener, but things really get rowdy once the Troubadours take the stage. Though to say that the crowd was rowdy feels like an understatement. Felker stops the show three times for fights breaking out. I heard multiple people around me comment how they’ve never been to a show stopped for one fight, let alone three. “Welcome to Boston,” Felker quipped after the second stop. Felker dutifully chided the audience to “do a little taking care of one another,” but he and the band grinned.
The Turnpike Troubadours met the audience’s hyperactivity, catapulting through high-energy numbers like “Mean Old Sun” and “Before the Devil Knows We’re Dead.” It was clear that the audience members knew every word. During “The Bird Hunters,” the crowd yelled “go back to Cherokee County,” a lyric from the song, so loud I almost took it as a command. I wouldn’t necessarily call Bostonians reserved people, but it felt like something was let loose at MGM Music Hall that night. People two-stepped with their partners and spun them around, often into other two-stepping couples. I made unfortunate eye contact with a middle-aged woman near the back who looked a little possessed as she shimmied through “Good Lord Lorrie.” A surprisingly touching camaraderie emerged amid cartoonish “yee-haws” and drunken apologies from the fans. Turnpike Troubadours bring light to the dark and mundane corners of American life, and encourage their audience to do the same.
Stream Turnpike Troubadours’ newest album, “The Price of Admission,” anywhere music is found. Follow the band at @turnpiketroubadours.