Evan Felker Emerges Performing at Benefit with Teague Brothers

photo via Jennifer Redding

There was a big Evan Felker sighting on Saturday, February 27th, as the longtime frontman and songwriter of the Turnpike Troubadours turned up playing with The Teague Brothers at a benefit concert in Texas.

The Teague Brothers Band performed a socially distanced show at the Pipkin Ranch Lodge near Beaumont, TX on Saturday at about 1:30 in the afternoon, and surprised many when Evan Felker jumped up on stage to front the band. The location is not far from the Canada Ranch in Oak Island, TX that Evan Felker was photographed at in May of 2020.

Though the appearance was unexpected, music promoter Jennifer Redding was there with camera in hand to capture much of the set. With the Teague Brothers backing him up and while sporting a full-blown mustache, Evan Felker performed “7&7,” “Gin, Smoke, Lies,” “Good Lord, Lorrie,” and “Every Girl.”

The performance was to benefit Eric Neal, who was diagnosed with Sclerosing Epitheloid Fibrosarcoma in 2018, and had surgery to amputate his right leg. He’s also gone through multiple rounds of chemotherapy radiation, and had an additional surgery on his back. The husband, son, and brother is a Texas A&M alum, and a valued member of the community. Folks who want to donate to Eric Neal can do so via Paypal at “rehatcher16 at gmail dot com”.

The Turnpike Troubadours went on an indefinite hiatus on May 31st, 2019 after multiple cancellations of shows over a prolonged period. Though at the time, no specific reasons were cited for the cancellations beyond personal issues not attributed to any specific member of the band, it was believed Evan Felker was dealing with personal problems throughout the time.

Then in August of 2020, Evan Felker said, “The past year has been some of the best moments and best parts of my life. First and foremost, I found sobriety and recovery. And I stepped away from the road and got a clearer view of the world. I got back to just being me. I could not have ever done that while we were touring like we were. I had initially blamed everything on being on the road. But it’s only when you take the road out of the equation that you see you’ve still got problems. I was able to start fixing those.”

Meanwhile the Teague Brothers Band have been making their own waves in Texas, releasing their debut album Harvest Day in 2019. They also just released a new single called “American Folk Song.” Evan Felker and John Teague are said to be good friends.

Photos and video below by Ray Redding.

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