Local nonprofits Band Together and United Way of the Greater Triangle announced that Oklahoma-based country music band Turnpike Troubadours will headline a benefit concert in Raleigh this October to support housing accessibility in the Triangle.
The show, slated for October 28 at the Red Hat Amphitheater, will be the second in a two-part “Mighty Giveback” event benefiting 11 Triangle nonprofits; the first performance, on October 2, will be headlined by Grammy-nominated band Black Pumas.
“We are committed to our mission of eradicating poverty and increasing social mobility through the power of partnerships,” Eric Guckian, president and CEO of United Way of the Greater Triangle, said in a news release. “Safe and affordable housing is a critical part of that story.”
The Turnpike Troubadours recently performed their first concert in three years. In 2019, shortly after lead singer Evan Felker’s struggles with addiction were made public by way of his being visibly drunk on stage, the band announced that it would be taking an “indefinite hiatus.” Last fall, Felker told Rolling Stone that he had “found sobriety and recovery” and confirmed that the band would be getting back together.
At their reunion show in Tulsa, Rolling Stone reported, grown men in the audience were moved to tears.
The Troubadours are widely recognized as one of the greatest roots acts of the past two decades. Founded in 2005, the six-piece group is known for both its musicianship and storytelling prowess; their songs often crescendo into unrestrained, fiddle-heavy instrumental breaks but are brought back to back to earth by foot-stomping drum beats, syncopated guitar strums, and spirited, picture-painting verses.
In a fast-paced 2012 track reminiscent of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” called “Before The Devil Knows We’re Dead,” Felker belts: “They were drinking on the big bluff across the river from the field / Well he walked up to the edge and threw a stone in and he kneeled / And he looked down at the water, he said boys I’m going in / They were cheering when he jumped but he did not come up again.”
At their string of upcoming sold-out shows and at the benefit concert in October, fans will be able to see for themselves that the last line is purely fictional—they spent the last three years cheering for Felkin’s return, and wouldn’t you have it, he did come up again.
Tickets for the concert go on sale this Friday, May 13 at 10 a.m.
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