A Win For the Good Guys: The Turnpike Troubadours Make Waves on the Country Charts
Granted, it is a different day in the music business, and independent country bands are appearing on the country album charts more and more often. But still, to behold the steady rise of the Turnpike Troubadours from a bar band from Oklahoma to the top of the country music charts without ever having to reshape their sound or sign their life away to a major label is an incredible feat that should be celebrated by the band and their dedicated fans, and by country music fans hoping for a greater turnaround for the genre.
The Turnpike Troubadours’ latest, self-titled release debuted at #3 on Billboard’s Country Albums Chart, and even reached the Top 20 in Billboard’s Top 200 chart, coming in at #17 with a total of 19,400 albums sold. To put that in perspective, they were just slightly behind Country Music Hall of Famers Alabama for the #2 spot. Southern Drawl was Alabama’s first original studio album in 15 years, and only bested the Troubadours record by 1,500 units. Luke Bryan and his dumb album Kill The Lights took the top spot on the week.
The new Troubadours record also comes in at #2 on Billboard’s Folk chart, and #5 on the Rock chart.
Previously, the best chart performance for the Turnpike Troubadours was #14 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart, and #57 on the Top 200 with their 2012 release Goodbye Normal Street.
In 2015, country music has seen independent and aging artists consistently prove their selling power over mainstream rivals on the album charts. Aaron Watson, Blackberry Smoke, Jason Isbell, Alan Jackson, and Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard have all registered #1 records in 2015 without mainstream radio play. While streaming becomes the norm for many mainstream listeners, a silent majority of country music fans are still willing to purchase albums from the artists they love, resulting in greater revenues for the artists, and better exposure through album charts. Similar to the recent #1 albums from Aaron Watson and Jason Isbell, Turnpike Troubadours was released through Thirty Tigers.
Early numbers for next week’s Country Albums chart show new albums from both George Strait and Don Henley leading Thomas Rhett’s Tangled Up by over 7,000 records, with Henley coming in slightly above Strait at the moment. George Strait and Don Henley also are responsible for the #1 and #2 spots in all of music on the building charts. Those numbers will be finalized next Monday.
jeffro
September 29, 2015 @ 6:33 pm
Their best album yet. Slaying me.
Fuzzy TwoShirts
September 29, 2015 @ 7:49 pm
I’m sure the upper big bagels on Music Row saw this, Aaron Watson, Isbell, and Django and Jimmie all go to the top, then promptly plugged their ears and said “lalala I can’t hear you Country has to evolve I’m not listening lalalalala”
BGinVTA
September 29, 2015 @ 7:56 pm
New here and I am not much for commenting on a lot of stuff, but seeing this I just wanted to say good for them, if anyone deserves it they do.
musicfan
September 29, 2015 @ 8:12 pm
Damn straight!
the pistolero
September 29, 2015 @ 8:36 pm
But remember, kids, if you’re not played on “country” radio, you don’t exist!
Megan Conley
September 29, 2015 @ 9:06 pm
Good day for these guys and my home state! Also, glad to see Strait and Henley ahead of the pile of crap Thomas Rhett unleashed on the world Friday.
the pistolero
September 30, 2015 @ 8:19 am
Also, glad to see Strait and Henley ahead of the pile of crap Thomas Rhett unleashed on the world Friday.
Yep, and that’s good for my home state too. 😀
Henley was actually raised about 40 miles south of where I was. I thought it was insanely cool that he listened to KWKH out of Shreveport just like I did.
And yeah, this new TT album is really, really good. I wasn’t sure how it would do, but I am glad to see them doing this well.
Brandon
September 29, 2015 @ 11:04 pm
I can see this still selling well in 10-15 years or even 60 years from now , while the mainstream stuff will be gone in 5
Acca Dacca
September 29, 2015 @ 11:08 pm
Where is it looking like Clint Black will place on the charts?
Trigger
September 29, 2015 @ 11:13 pm
I’m not seeing any data on him at the moment from HITS Daily Double. That happens sometimes with the building charts.
Acca Dacca
September 30, 2015 @ 10:20 am
Hmm, guess you were right about him being overshadowed. Not to mention his long hiatus has pretty much killed his brand recognition.
By the way, no George Strait or Alabama album reviews?
Trigger
September 30, 2015 @ 10:30 am
Haven’t ruled out album reviews for either of those projects. George Strait’s album was released on a very busy week with no lead time.
Acca Dacca
September 30, 2015 @ 10:42 am
I figured as much. Both are artists that you’ve said you aren’t too high on, so I assumed you just didn’t have anything to say like with other such albums. I assume George’s sounds like his albums always sound, whereas Alabama’s probably has a few screaming duds and a dearth of mediocre material that tries to recall their glory days. I’m not a big Strait fan so I’m not horribly interested in that offering, and the Alabama album would probably send me into a depression. Used to like them a lot.
the pistolero
September 30, 2015 @ 11:10 am
I assume George”™s sounds like his albums always sound
That’s a pretty fair assumption, so it all hinges on how much you like him. I’m still not sure where it sits in his oeuvre as far as greatness goes, but I will say that I do enjoy it a lot and that it has held up very well to repeated listens.
But then this is the 19th straight year that I have picked up a George Strait album on the day of release, so take that for what you think it is worth. 😀
alan megli
September 30, 2015 @ 2:38 am
Good job, Troubs….used to watch them in a bar in Tulsa as an opener…for 50 or so people….well deserved rewards…
DimM
September 30, 2015 @ 2:40 am
This is the right time to Jason Boland to top the charts in the next few weeks!
Silver24ado
September 30, 2015 @ 6:53 am
I’m still a collector of CD’s, and while I was able to pick up the Henley and Strait albums at the local Wally World, the Black and Turnpike albums are no where to be found in my one horse town (even though there was an ad for the new CB album playing on Walmart’s TV’s; the associate looked at me with a quizical look when I asked if they had a copy. I didn’t even attempt to ask about the TT’s).
Thanks Trigger for turning me on to the Turnpike Troubadours. While I’ll probably have to resort to Amamzon to get a copy of their new record, I’ve been wearing out my Wi-Fi listening to their back catalog through Prime.
Trigger
September 30, 2015 @ 8:52 am
That’s one of the shortcomings of Thirty Tigers, who released both of those records. There’s still benefits to being signed to a major label, and one of them is full physical distribution. You can find the Black, TT albums in certain stores, but Wal-Mart is not going to be one of them.
Matt B.
September 30, 2015 @ 12:57 pm
It just depends on markets for those records at Walmart. The merchandisers order based on genre sales so a record in Tuscaloosa may not be in a store in Sheboygan.
the pistolero
September 30, 2015 @ 11:26 am
Yeah, I didn’t think any Walmart would have had the Turnpike Troubadours album in stock. I actually pre-ordered that one from their website.
TX MusicJim
September 30, 2015 @ 7:12 am
Greatness! Well deserved. Congrats to the Turnpike Troubadours!!!
Ryan
September 30, 2015 @ 7:23 am
The band completely deserves this. I saw them play all around Tulsa, Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri for small crowds in their early days. They put as much passion into those tiny shows as they do today.
I will say, I’m having a hard time fully getting into this new album. There are some gems (which will always happen with a writer of Felker’s talent), but something about the full package isn’t doing it for me.
Diamonds & Gasoline and Goodbye Normal Street are hard to top.
It could just be an album that slowly grows on me. It’s happened in the past. I’ll keep listening and I’ll definitely be in the crowd when they come around again.
Regardless, any success they achieve is fully deserved and a good sign for country/Americana music.
JF
September 30, 2015 @ 7:36 am
Just imagine how much they could sell if they wore suits and added some EDM influences on the next one! 😉
Seriously, damn great band. Love to see them get success on their own terms.
CountryKnight
September 30, 2015 @ 9:18 am
Turnpike Troubadours= best band name ever.
Fuzzy TwoShirts
September 30, 2015 @ 10:55 am
Nah, I would say the best band name goes to “Blue Oyester Cult,” “The Flying Burrito Brothers,” or “The Liverpool Fishermen.”
CountryKnight
September 30, 2015 @ 11:18 am
I’m a medieval history scholar and a road geek, so the Turnpike Troubadours hits my interests.
martha
September 30, 2015 @ 11:09 am
I’ve heard some of their songs on Sirius. I like what I’m hearing and need to buy this soon. Speaking of awesome band names, my favorite is Dropkick Murphy’s.
CountryKnight
September 30, 2015 @ 11:19 am
This might not be kosher for the site, but I always thought Florida Georgia Line was a great band name.
Andy Demetri
September 30, 2015 @ 11:33 am
No. Its stupid by association…
CountryKnight
September 30, 2015 @ 11:36 am
That is patently ridiculous, a band’s music shouldn’t affect your opinion of their name.
Fuzzy TwoShirts
September 30, 2015 @ 1:45 pm
Dropkick Murphy’s are an amazing band!
TheRealBobCephus
September 30, 2015 @ 9:52 am
What actual significance does album sales have anymore? I am starting to believe its a flawed metric. Only a small group of consumers still buy albums, and not singles. Most people just listen to spotify. I think I am one of the only people I know (especially my age, I’m in college) that still actually buys albums. I want to be happy for these guys, but I have a hard time celebrating 19,000 sold records. It sounds small to me.
Trigger
September 30, 2015 @ 10:34 am
There was a story just today about how the revenue for artists from vinyl outpaces the revenue from Spotify and YouTube combined. Though the numbers may be low, that’s money going directly into the pockets of the artists, especially for the Turnpike Troubadours since they’re signed to Thirty Tigers which only takes 10%.
http://www.businessinsider.com/vinyl-sales-do-better-than-free-streaming-services-2015-9
musicfan
September 30, 2015 @ 11:06 am
The album just came available on vinyl today according to their website/FB page.
Mike W.
September 30, 2015 @ 12:53 pm
I read that story as well, but I think it shows more than anything that the “freemium” model is about to be put down. Googly is apparently already floating the idea of a paid version of YouTube coming sometime this year or next and I pretty much guarantee that whenever Spotify’s contracts start running out with the major labels that those same labels are going to push like hell to have the free version of Spotify killed off.
Donny
September 30, 2015 @ 10:39 am
. . . there’s square hay on the meadow, second cutting of the year ….. Good job Boys!
musicfan
September 30, 2015 @ 11:10 am
This seems like as good a place as any to add that I attended the Medicine Stone festival in their hometown of Tahlequah, OK this past weekend. They played nearly every song from the new album and the new tunes sound great live. At various times, they were joined on stage by John Fullbright, Thomas Trapp, BJ Barham, Jamie Lin Wilson and some others whose names I didn’t catch. They closed out the 3-day festival about 12:15am Sunday morning.
Trigger
September 30, 2015 @ 11:41 am
Hoping to attend that some year. Sounds like a great time.
Norrie
September 30, 2015 @ 12:12 pm
Got the Troubadours album on pre order,not out till 30 Oct on Amazon UK.Making do with Don Henley,Clint Black and the brilliant Panhandle Rambler by Joe Ely.Review Trigger ?
Cameron
September 30, 2015 @ 1:31 pm
Great news. Love these guys and their music
Steve B.
September 30, 2015 @ 3:20 pm
Great CD. It’s been on frequent rotation since I picked it up last weekend.
Jake
September 30, 2015 @ 7:50 pm
Fabulous band and album. I’ve never heard of them before you reviewed it. Would like to see a review of the great new Bellfuries record, if possible.
Trigger
September 30, 2015 @ 8:10 pm
Been a ton of releases worth reviewing lately and I’m reviewing them as best I can. Bellfuries are definitely on the radar.
Tiffany
October 4, 2015 @ 5:50 pm
Thanks for turning me on to these guys, Trigger. I definitely enjoy their music, and I am happy for their success as well. Hopefully, bands like this will give the artists that are on the mainstream charts something to think about. Meaning that you can still make good country music and it can still sell without having a manufactured feel to it, example that EDM crap that artists like Zac Brown and a few other artists are trying to do.