Finding Lorrie: Are All Turnpike Troubadours Songs Tied Together?
If you’re looking for something to ponder to help get you through the prolonged hiatus Oklahoma’s Turnpike Troubadours are currently in the midst of, an industrious YouTuber has just posed an interesting theory.
Any Turnpike Troubadours fan worth their salt already knows all about the lineage of the girl named Lorrie through multiple Turnpike Troubadours songs. Appearing directly in “Good Lord Lorrie,” “The Mercury,” and “The Housefire,” Lorrie has become almost like a mascot and a muse for the band, tying the songs and albums together as a recurring character, and becoming synonymous with Turnpike itself. Saying “Good Lord Lorrie” has become a colloquialism and catchphrase for many fans of Texas and Red Dirt music.
Lorrie is not the only recurring character in the Turnpike Troubadours universe though. There’s also Jimmy, who appears directly in the songs “The Funeral” and “The Mercury.” There’s “Doreen,” who has her own song, and may appear in others. And appearing in multiple Turnpike Troubadours songs isn’t just relegated to people. There’s also the Browning Auto 5 shotgun that appears in both “The Bird Hunters” and “The Housefire.” This is all the genius of Turnpike’s frontman and primary songwriter Evan Felker, who has proven over the years to be one of our generation’s most inspired, inspiring, and industrious songwriters.
Saving Country Music tried to map out the lineage of Lorrie a few years ago, concluding, “Is Lorrie the subject of other Turnpike songs? Is she based off of a real person? What other characters might be recurring? In the end we still don’t know much about Lorrie, and that’s probably how it should stay, so that she can become whomever she needs to be to each of us, fulfilling an archetype and giving us someone to follow as we listen to wherever the next Turnpike Troubadours song takes us in time, place, mood, and character. We care about Lorrie, and are curious about her fate. And that’s what makes a new Turnpike song something more than just another recitation about people we don’t know.”
New Slang has also delved into the subject in the past.
Christine of the YouTube channel The Backroad goes even further in a new video, extrapolating out all the Turnpike Troubadours songs, and asking if they’re all tied together through Lorrie and the other recurring themes and characters. She cites a total of 20 songs that could be tied to Lorrie alone, including some of Turnpike’s best-known tracks. Could Lorrie be the subject of “Every Girl”? Could she be the girl that makes Evan Felker turn his shopping cart around in “7&7”? Could it be her tan legs checkered from the folding chair in “A Tornado Warning”?
It’s probably worth noting that Evan Felker is not the only writer in the Turnpike Troubadours. Bass player RC Edwards has also penned multiple tunes, sometimes with Felker, and sometimes on his own like the song “Morgan Street.” Jonny Burke is someone both Evan and RC Edwards have written with for Turnpike records. Former Turnpike member John Fullbright also appears in songwriting credits. One of the band’s biggest songs “Long Hot Summer Day” is an old John Hartford tune, while “Doreen” was actually written by Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller. Jamie Lin Wilson wrote “Oklahoma Stars” with Evan Felker. But that doesn’t exclude the possibility that all the songs still don’t sit in the same universe, and were either written or selected to do so, especially since Evan Felker does still own the lion’s share of the band’s written material.
Whether every Turnpike Troubadours song is meant to fit together or not, it all underscores just what a gift the music of the Turnpike Troubadours is, where the intrigue of the recurring themes and characters sucks you in, and keeps you engaged from never really knowing all the possible tie-ins and conclusions. Each of us fall on different interpretations of not just the individual songs, but how they may all fit together. But most everyone agrees the depth of storytelling results in something much more than just a string of songs and music compiled into albums not meant to represent anything more than the enumerated tracks.
Speedlimit9
July 10, 2019 @ 10:59 am
Thomas Mooney from New Slang has explored this theory pretty extensively as well.
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
July 10, 2019 @ 10:59 am
I’ve personally been more curious to find out where Jimmy’s arc goes. Hopefully we’ll learn more about both of them on the next record, should there be one.
CBJ
July 10, 2019 @ 3:17 pm
He also tied it all in using, you know, quotes and information from the actual band, not a, uh, YouTube video.
thebugman10
July 10, 2019 @ 11:09 am
I’d like to think that The Housefire takes place after The Birdhunters. I’ve seen people theorize the opposite, that Lorrie is the unnamed woman in The Birdhunters who breaks up with The Birdhunter.
I like to think that The Bird Hunter met Lorrie after returning home and settled down with her and had a kid. I think Jimmy might be the narrator of Good Lord Lorrie. I don’t think Lorrie is with Jimmy in The Funeral. So I’d say the timelines might be this:
Good Lord Lorrie -> The Mercury -> The Funeral -> The Birdhunters -> The Housefire
Unless you think the narrator of The Mercury might also be The Bird Hunter then it could go something like this:
Good Lord Lorrie -> The Funeral -> The Birdhunters -> The Mercury -> The Housefire
Or we could have multiple suitors for Lorrie besides Jimmy and The Bird Hunter. Jimmy, The Bird Hunter, GLL Narrator, The Mercury Narrator.
I like to think about this sometimes.
RCB
July 10, 2019 @ 11:27 am
It seems to me that Birdhunters almost has to come before Housefire in our Turnpike Troubadours Lyrical Universe Timeline.
The protagonist of Housefire has a kid with Lorrie; it would be very odd for that not to have been mentioned in Birdhunters, given the context of the song.
Jared S.
July 10, 2019 @ 12:08 pm
“Unless you think the narrator of The Mercury might also be The Bird Hunter then it could go something like this:
Good Lord Lorrie -> The Funeral -> The Birdhunters -> The Mercury -> The Housefire”
That’s my guess. Lorrie went with Jimmy to the funeral, then they had a fight, and Lorrie met the bird hunter at the Mercury (“Jimmy’s storming out the front door, you’d think someone had died.”) During The Bird Hunter, he’s broken up with Lorrie, but wants to get back together with her on the 4th of July. They start a life together, then they have a house fire.
Jared S.
July 10, 2019 @ 12:20 pm
Although, I guess my order would be:
The Funeral (Jimmy and Lorrie are together) -> The Mercury (Lorrie leaves Jimmy – hooks up with Bird Hunter) -> Good Lord Lorrie (Lorrie and BirdHunter break up) -> The Birdhunters (BirdHunter mourns breakup – dreams of getting back together) -> House Fire (Lorrie and BirdHunter are married with kid)
Richard
January 11, 2022 @ 12:24 pm
I think ‘The Mercury’ is just before ‘The Funeral’.
“Hayseed dressed up like James Dean” in Mercury ties in with, “Like a counterfeit James Dean” from Funeral.
Likewise, “Never seen Jimmy in that old Corvette” from Mercury could be tied to, “Comin’ in from Okie City in a slightly stolen car” from Funeral.
And in Mercury, “Lottie’s over by the jukebox dancing to Twist and Shout” while “Jimmy’s storming out the front door like you’d think someone had died”
I think in ‘The Mercury’s Evan is describing a fight between Lorrie and Jimmy over his going to his Dad’s funeral, Her flirting with Evan, “Lorrie talkin’ just a little too sweet to me and Jimmy’s on the next barstool” is Jimmy’s last straw, so he storms off and picks up someone else to go to ‘The Funeral’. Could the unnamed, “burned out Betty Page” who, “Might have been pretty if she was half her age” be Doreen, who could bean older woman?
Jeff S
July 10, 2019 @ 3:25 pm
I just can’t see Lorrie being the girl in the Funeral. In my mind, she’s cute as she can be – not a girl who “might have been pretty if she was half her age.” Just sayin.
Jared S.
July 10, 2019 @ 4:46 pm
In the funeral, “she” looks like a burned out Bettie Page. In the Mercury, Lorrie has raven hair and sleeve tattoos. I think that’s describing the same person.
Turnstick
September 19, 2019 @ 7:39 am
Not to throw a kink in all this, but I’d like to point out the Birdhunters talks about “his time in Tulsa” with a girl. The Mercury Lounge is in Tulsa, so I first thought it could be Lorrie. BUT the Birdhunters takes place in Cherokee county, and talks about how she will be “home” on the fourth of July meaning the girl he was with is from Cherokee County, Ok. Unfortunately, we know Lorrie is “dark haired daughter of southwest Arkansas” from “Good Lord Lorrie”.
Lorrie
November 8, 2022 @ 9:25 am
Maybe lorrie moved.
Jamo
July 11, 2019 @ 7:34 am
It’s gotta be her in the Birdhunter, right? She had the snotty, stuck up family and It’s said that he dodged a bullet by not marrying her because of her family.
Rita
July 10, 2019 @ 11:27 am
Lorrie is Illuminati. Clearly.
Brian
July 10, 2019 @ 11:39 am
Based on the timeline and premise of the video, it would be cool to have a playlist in chronological order assuming all of the songs are about the same guy and his struggles and listen to them play out.
Hank
July 10, 2019 @ 11:40 am
I know someone who graduated from the same high-school as even Felker (albiet a couple years younger) and whose family live in the same town. He told me that most of the characters are based off of real people (Something that Felker has said himself in interviews) and that interestingly some people in the community are a little pissed at Felker for hitting a little close to home. Reminds me a bit of Thomas Wolfe and his book “Look Homeward Angel” which was such an accurate and biting portrayal of his hometown Ashville NC, and its inhabitants, that he was for all intense-and-purposes, ostracized and kicked out of his family and town.
***I can’t say for certain this is true, but thats what I was told
Kross
July 10, 2019 @ 11:44 am
Evan Felker is the Tim Sandlin of song writers.
Rob
July 10, 2019 @ 11:50 am
Connected universes
Tarantino > Turnpike Troubadours > Marvel
Ledoux
July 10, 2019 @ 12:05 pm
I’ve wanted to do an actual breakdown of this for so long! I’ve always thought the girl in “The Birdhunters” was Katie from “Kansas City Southern” since they both reference going to dances and 4th of July.
It’s just fun as hell the way they have created a universe but I hope it never really gets explained in any way!
Cap'n Jack
July 10, 2019 @ 1:17 pm
I’m pretty sure Every Girl was written about Evan’s sister.
Sana Mello
July 10, 2019 @ 1:30 pm
I hear Lorrie in “The Shape” which was on their first CD “Bossier City”. She is clearly the girl, the narrator (Evan) calls on a payphone, and says he’ll use his last bit of gas to go see. I think this “could” be Lorrie’s starting point song-wise..
SameOld
July 10, 2019 @ 1:39 pm
Just goes to show what a talented songwriter Evan is. Not just a narrative in one album but through all their albums. Hopefully he can overcome his demons and come finish the story.
Bobby
July 10, 2019 @ 3:28 pm
Here’s a wild card: Jimmy is the antagonist in “Winding Stair Mountain Blues.” Anytime I listen to it I just think of the bad boy brother figure Jimmy is made out to be. Maybe a stretch but I think it subtly fits in the “Lorrie-Jimmy-rifle” universe.
Teresa Havens
July 12, 2019 @ 1:51 pm
I always wondered if it was Danny from Bird Hunters.
ScottG
July 10, 2019 @ 4:33 pm
I like her video and enthusiasm for the band. Some visuals in mapping this out would be helpful, maybe outlining the chronology as some have done above.
Thanks for sharing this, it’s fun.
Randy
July 10, 2019 @ 7:31 pm
OR…maybe they’re just not talented enough to come up with something original with each song and they have to keep repeating the same thing over and over again. Possibly? Nah, they’re genius’s
Trainwreck92
July 11, 2019 @ 10:11 am
Oh, I didn’t realize it was Dumb Opinion Wednesday. Each of these songs is an impressive feat of songwriting, whether connected or not. I don’t understand how all these short stories being connected at all lessens their value from a songwriting point of view.
Doug T
July 10, 2019 @ 7:33 pm
Fullbright dated Evan’s sister and co-wrote Every Girl. Right?
Also a recurring theme in many of Evan’s songs is alcohol. Foreshadowing?
Matt
July 11, 2019 @ 5:31 am
Fun and thoughtful article! One note though, Doreen wasn’t written by Troubadours, it’s an Old 97s cover.
SnarkyAnarky
July 11, 2019 @ 6:32 am
…isn’t ‘Doreen’ a cover of an Old97s song??
that said, i love Lorrie and always find myself looking for the connections anytime i listen to Turnpike
SnarkyAnarky
July 11, 2019 @ 6:34 am
ah. Doreen/Old97s mentioned later in the article. should read the whole thing first. #fail
SnarkyAnarky
July 11, 2019 @ 6:36 am
I need to read better
Melanie Martin
July 11, 2019 @ 11:55 am
So who is the woman in , “Empty As a Drum”?
I have been pondering this for several years.
April Hartwick
July 11, 2019 @ 2:29 pm
No one mentioned “Easton and Main” or the girl from the Cain’s Ballroom, afterall, it is this girl who caused….the troubadour…to leave his heart in Tulsa.
I swear One day… I’m gonna find a boy who will make Me see…”what a girl like [Me] would wanna do with a country boy like…me” LOL
LG
July 11, 2019 @ 4:00 pm
I think RC wrote that one (one of my faves either way).
April
July 11, 2019 @ 3:09 pm
lol…and today is smart pants Thursday…I think tied or knot…most the Turnpike songs are telling a story…who knows maybe someday..someone will solve the puzzle..until then I say let’s just call a spade a spade… shake the shit off our boots…and EnJoy
CountryKnight
July 12, 2019 @ 10:37 am
I like the whole ideal of connecting the songs, I just caution that these exercises can rapidly fall into retroactive territory. It is easy for songwriters and fans to retroactively fit the pieces together.
Marky Mark
July 12, 2019 @ 10:56 am
I can’t comment on the connection between the songs and the characters with any detail, because I am just now really digging in to their music. I started with Gasoline and now I am working through Normal Street, with Self Titled waiting in the wings. All I can say is that I am blown away by the first two major label releases (I am excluding Bossier since I can’t find it to download thus far). Normally too much fiddle kills my interest (I am an unrepentant rocker) but they balance it so nicely with the strong guitar leads, all within the context of such meaningful lyrics and catchy songs, that I am just blown away. Such a shame about Even Felker’s condition. Usually this type of story seems to end with rehab, the break up of the band and then solo output (a la Jason isabel’s departure from Drive by Truckers), which, while I am sure would result in some good music from Felker as a singer songwriter, probably won’t be quite same as that which he would have made with this fantastic band. I suppose my example is distinguishable, Isabel was not an original member of DBT, was not the sole lead singer or most significant songwriter in DBT, and DBT didn’t seem to be the tight nit collective that TT is, so maybe the nature of TT as a band of brothers will prevail in this case. While I will cross my fingers they will get it together again, I am so sad that I discovered them at what might be the end of the road for TT rather than the beginning, but here is hoping he pulls out of his spiral and the band gets back on track.
As always, thanks to Trigger and this website for turning me on to the Turnpike Troubadours in the first place. SCM has been my go to for new music for a while now. In addition to TT, I have Trig to thank for Whiskey Meyers, Blackberry Smoke, Chris Stapleton, Will Hoge, and more recently The Steel Woods. I am sure there are a few others I am not thinking of right now. Keep up the good work on spreading the word on good music made by real people.
CountryKnight
July 12, 2019 @ 2:09 pm
I believe Waterloo Records might have Bossier City available for download.
Marky Mark
July 13, 2019 @ 5:12 am
Thanks! I’ll try that.
Lorrie
December 10, 2019 @ 2:21 am
I am named “Lorrie”. Same spelling, so this is awesome! I live in Franklin now right outside Nashville & had never followed the group or read the song lyrics, but I now I LOVE this so much. (The only other “Lorrie”- Lorrie Morgan had Keith Whitley’s “Tell Lorrie I Love Her”, and that didn’t sound like an actual studio recording. A stalker used to give me that CD over 15 years ago.) So, I will listen fondly hoping it is me. God knows the lyrics I saw fit. Green eyes are not that common, many country songs could tell the story of my life. So, whoever this woman is, God Bless Her and Keep Her for inspiring amazing artists, beautiful lyrics, and a discussion about Country Music. I think there is a little bit of Lorrie in every woman- they just do not habe my same name.
Ben from TX
April 24, 2020 @ 8:18 am
I am a very late comer to the TT and this thread is old but I would like to propose a hypothesis about Lorrie and I don’t know where else to do it. Here goes: Evan’s father is a cowboy by occupation I am told. This group is from OK, land of cowboys. Every cowboy’s favorite movie is Lonesome Dove. Lonesome Dove The movie is based on the Larry McMurtry book of the same name, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in the early 1980’s. Lorrie is a major character in the book. She is Gus’ girl and the dream girl of every other cowboy in the movie. She is “every girl” they have ever known. She is so beautiful as to be unattainable but so broken inside as to be un-understandable – a complete mystery. Lorrie is a call girl at the local saloon when the movie opens. In some sense every cowboy’s dream girl is Lorrie.
just another texan
April 3, 2021 @ 7:01 pm
One of my friends dated him and apparently he never got over his ex. Almost every song is about the same girl and he uses Lorie as an analogy for her. Also most of the other girls like Evangeline in his songs are about the same girl too.
Cory Brown
December 19, 2021 @ 1:19 am
its Lorrie, Good god…..
She’s every girl I’ve ever known
….
Craig
October 17, 2023 @ 6:26 am
In the new record, is Lucille Lorrie’s real name and as he is older and reflecting on things, see her differently?