The Turnpike rumor mills is on FIRE.
Earlier this week, the Turnpike Troubadours, AKA the greatest band in country music, revealed a “Coming Soon” home page on their website. They also wiped their Instagram clean and made their Twitter account private.
The move appears to be much more significant than routine website maintenance, and has led fans to believe that the return of Turnpike Troubadours is imminent.
Of course, the band went on hiatus in 2019 after it became clear that frontman Evan Felker was battling some personal demons, including some well-documented issues with substance abuse.
Evan is now sober, happier and healthier than ever, and fiddle player Kyle Nix confessed this past summer that he’s now sober as well. When RC Edwards and Hank Early appeared on our podcast, Whiskey Riff Raff, they hinted that the band would most likely reunite someday.
It appears… that time is now.
All over the interwebs, Turnpike fans are speculating as to what “Coming Soon” could mean, with a whole mess of likely, and not-so-likely scenarios, being tossed around.
One Reddit thread has suggested that Turnpike is getting back together with former member John Fullbright as the lead singer. I’ll tell you right now, that ain’t happening…
Another popular theory is that the band is going to reunite at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma on December 4th.
RC Edwards’ solo project, RC & The Ambers, is set to perform AND Kyle Nix’s band, Kyle Nix & The 38s, that night. And while that may sound circumstantial, RC & The Ambers shared an Instagram post with a similar graphic on the Turnpike website:
And what’s more, their December 4th date, the Cain’s show, is in all caps and says “w/” without saying who the “w/” is.
Granted, we know they’re playing with Kyle Nix, and it wouldn’t be the first time they fucked with our heads (remember Hank’s “good news” post on Reddit?), but fans are running wild at the prospect of a reunion.
Will it happen? Who really knows, but either way, if you’re in the Tulsa area next month, RC & The Ambers AND Kyle Nix are performing… and that’s good enough for me to want to attend.
The thought of Evan showing up is just the cherry on top.
Stay tuned for more Turnpike updates.. we’ve heard from some friends in the industry and I’ll tell you this… GREAT things are happening.
We’ll have more details to share soon.