Turnpike Troubadours is an American country band, they released their new album on April 11, 2025. This is their first time releasing an album in 23 weeks which dates back all the way to August 25, 2023. The album did very well numbers on spotify, reaching #3 on the U.S. albums chart and #9 on the Global Album chart according to Spotify.
The first song in the album “On the Red River” this song is a great way to open the album with. The guitar in the background with the lyrics talking about the summertime and living out in the countryside of Oklahoma. The song has a slower vibe to it, but is still upbeat in the sense of the background instruments. This song is in my top three for favorite songs in the album.
The next track is “Searching for a light,” compared to the first song it has a different vibe to it. The song is more upbeat and fast tempo compared to “On the Red River,” but is very good. The song’s main meaning is about finding a purpose and meaning in a world that can feel blank and empty. This song is a very good summer song and has some of the best lyrics in the album such as “Searching for a light, I never thought would go away.”
“Forgiving you” is personally one of my least favorite songs on the album. I just don’t really like the lyrics in the song as well as the pace of the song continues to switch back and forth from faster to slow with instrumental. The next song “Be here” is also similar to “forgiving you” in the fact that they both aren’t my favorites and are fast paced songs. The lyrics in this song are very good, but personally I don’t think they match the pace of the song very well.
On the other hand the next song “Heaven Passing Through” is my second favorite song in the album. Following the last two songs this revives the album in my opinion. Some of the lyrics in the song are my favorite such as “Hold onto the moment like it’s Heaven Passing Through” and “Don’t take it personally the world doesn’t turn around you.”The lyrics and the tempo fit perfectly for this song, which makes it one of my favorites.
The next song is “The Devil plies his trade.” This song is decent and has a good instrumental because of the use of the banjo. There are a handful of lyrics that are very good in this song, but others aren’t my favorite. I would probably rate this song in the middle of the rest of the songs in the album. The next track is “A lie Agreed upon” and is similar to the last song in the fact that the lyrics are good, but some of the lyrics don’t make sense to me. The lyrics and the instruments in this song go hand and hand and are very appealing to my ears.
“Ruby Ann” is a masterpiece of a song. The lyrics “I’d burn this whole town down just to prove I was enough” and “I’ll love you ‘til the morning if you hold me through the night” are very good and some of the best in the album. I wouldn’t put it in my top three favorite songs of the album, but I would put it in the top five and I would recommend this song to people who like country and fast paced music.
The next tracks are “What was Advertised” and “Leaving Town” both of these songs are appealing and are some of my favorite songs in the album. I favor “Leaving Town” over “What are Advertised” because the tone of the song is great and the lyrics match the instruments being played. The final song in the album is “Nothing you can do,” this song is different from the rest of the songs in the fact that it sounds more like a Kentucky folk song than the rest of tracks in the album. This song is good though because of the pace of the song being fast and with the folk sounding music the instruments of choice are perfect.
I give this album a ⅘, it was great to be able to listen to this album and much of these songs I will be playing all summer long. I would recommend this song to anyone who enjoys older country music and just overall good music.
