Cat In The Rain

Returning after a half-decade hiatus, one prompted by leader Evan Felker taking the time to address personal problems, Turnpike Troubadours do sound older and wiser on A Cat in the Rain, their first album since 2017s A Long Way from Your Heart. Felker spends a fair amount of time alluding to recovery and rebirth throughout A Cat in the Rain, opening the album lamenting the empty promises hes given and later claiming "I dont miss the taste of liquor" on "The Rut," a song that proceeds at the weary gait yet still carries a hint of hope. Itd be a mistake to think of the album as autobiographical, though: the closing "Wont You Give Me One More Chance," a tender campfire singalong that could be interpreted as a love letter to the wife he divorced and remarried during the time his band was away from the spotlight, but its not a Felker original, its a Jerry Jeff Walker cover. A Cat in the Rain is also not the work of a singer/songwriter masquerading as a band. Co-founder R.C. Edwards wrote "Chipping Mill," perhaps the records purest blast of Red Dirt Country, and former member John Fulbright penned "Three More Days," a loping love song accentuated by candied vocal harmonies. "Three More Days" illustrates how producer Shooter Jennings helps Turnpike Troubadours paint upon a broader canvas, finding the right shades of dirt to add grit to the earthy rambles "Mean Old Sun" and "Black Sky," while letting the quieter moments feel intimate, almost overheard. The expanded palette -- which is as much emotional as it is musical -- feels especially vibrant because A Cat in the Rain is the groups tightest record, lacking the amiable detours that gave previous albums character, sometimes at the expense of the overall impact. Here, Turnpike Troubadours feel determined to deliver a forceful comeback that accentuates all their strengths, and A Cat in the Rain is precisely that: an album designed for wide-open vistas but is aimed directly at the heart. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine