On Feb. 6, the Turnpike Troubadours took their Wild America 2026 Tour to Uncasville, Connecticut, for a great night of country music.
Before the Troubadours came on stage, Robert Earl Keen opened the show. The 70-year-old country artist still has it, playing 10 songs, including “The Road Goes On Forever.”
The Troubadours walked onto the stage around 9 p.m. and played a quick but memorable set. They opened their show with “The Bird Hunters” before pivoting to “Kansas City Southern” and “Gin, Smoke, Lies.” The latter sounded really good and was one of the songs I was keeping my eyes on when prepping for this concert.
Another song I paid attention to was “Before The Devil Knows We’re Dead,” which they played early in the show. Easily the coolest part about this song was the map graphic they had projected behind them. It started as a street map, then became topographic, and as the song went on, it slowly turned into a wild, jaw-breaker-like design.
After that was “On The Red River,” one of the best songs of the night and my personal favorite. I discovered this song last semester, and it was one main reasons behind my wanting to see them live. Let me just say… it delivered. Evan Felker, the lead singer, was one of the most unique voices I’ve ever heard live, in a good way. He brought every song to life, and still manages to sound as good as he did more than 15 years ago.
The stretch of songs from “Whole Damn Town” to “Every Girl” was probably my favorite of the show. Their violinist crushed “Whole Damn Town” and took a good minute of the song for a solo.
Easily the most exciting part of the show, though, was when the band began the strum to “Good Lord Lorrie.” The song is one of their most recognizable, and just the first few chords were enough to get the audience riled. Another one of my favorite songs by the band, this song rocked in concert, and having the crowd invested made it that much better. The harmonica in the middle of the song was like a shot of serotonin in my veins, as the instrument makes any song better.
After that stretch of songs, some of my favorites were “Heaven Passing Through,” the most recognizable song on their newest record, “Ruby Ann,” and Felker’s cover of Earl Keen’s “Feelin’ Good Again.”
The band closed out the show with “Long Hot Summer Day,” their most popular song, “Pay No Rent” and “Evangeline,” all of which are very popular among fans. Overall, I had a great time at this show, as short as it may have seemed. The band got up on stage, played all their songs in a timely manner and crushed all of them.
I respect and appreciate bands and artists that just hop on stage to play music, with little to no theatrics, and the Troubadours seemed like one of those bands. All in all, a great night of country music!
