‘Life Is Good On The Open Road’ Is The Album Of The Week

Trampled By Turtles have just released their first album in four years.

‘Life Is Good On The Open Road’

This week, our Album Of The Week comes from Duluth, Minnesota indie/bluegrass band Trampled By Turtles. Life Is Good On The Open Road was just released on Banjodad Records. It’s their first album since 2014’s WIld Animals. 

The new album starts out on a frenetic note, calling to mind the old bluegrass stomp “Rocky Top”, with lead singer Dave Simonett all but calling out the crowd at Kelly’s Bar, to which the song is an homage, to take over the place. “I was singin’ like a stone in Red Wing, Minnesota/ In a bar called Kelly’s right next to the train,” he sings, before the stringed section picks up the pace of a freight train. 

This is a bit of a teaser, as the album takes on some more somber tones, like on “We All Get Lonely”, which was a holdover from Dave Simonett’s side project Dead Man Winter.

As for time off, Simonett says it helped Trampled By Turtles grow. He told Billboard, “I think musically, artistically, mentally it was great for everybody to spend some time doing something else,” he said. “We had to get to a point where we missed it, and it was a great feeling knowing we were coming back.”

Mark your calendars: The Colorado Sound Presents… Trampled By Turtles at Red Rocks Amphitheatre July 19. You can still get tickets here.