Album Review: Alan Sparhawk - With Trampled by Turtles

Alan Sparhawk

With Trampled by Turtles

***and1/2 out of *****

Low was an institution. The slowcore, indie rock band from Duluth, MN was the partnership of Alan Sparhawk (guitar and vocals) and his wife Mimi Parker (drums and vocals). Parker passed away in November 2022 and it turned out the next time Sparhawk took the stage was with fellow Duluth friends, the bluegrass outfit Trampled by Turtles.

Full Show Friday: Trampled By Turtles 2013 @ Pizza Luce

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Trampled By Turtles!

Still recovering a bit from our southern adventure at Jazzfest, we are keeping it light and airy for this week, all though in bluegrass circles these fellows play pretty damned hard. We are going back to 2013 for a full Trampled By Turtles show from their hometown of Duluth, MN. There are a few interviews in the show as it was recorded for Public Access TV in their home state. 

We were slightly disappointed in the last Trampled By Turtles disk we reviewed, but they are fun for a live show and fit well for this Full Show Friday.

Enjoy:

Album Review: Trampled By Turtles - Stars and Satellites

Trampled By Turtles

Stars and Satellites

***and1/2 out of *****

More then just a talented bunch of pickers, Trampled By Turtles newest release Stars and Satellites shows off this groups nuanced dynamics and songwriting skills.  That textured touch is evident from the first song "Midnight on the Interstate" which paints a vivid lyrical picture of traveling hearts and minds over a building acoustic network of strings both thick and thin.

"Widowers Heart" also shows growth, with a formulaic folk progression but elevated lyrics that talk about the disintegration of a relationship with a raw openness.  The ease and grace with which "Keys To Paradise" flows out both lyrically and musical is also a highpoint.    

The constant tour-hounds from Duluth, MN still love to cut loose and let the acoustic fur fly as evident on the bluegrass flavored instrumentals "Don't Look Down" and "Risk" however they also combine faced paced musicianship with song writing on the excellent "Walt Whitman".  Acting as the bands first single "Walt Whitman" poetically describes vexing love over motoring acoustic phrasing instantly ringing awesome in the ear.

The band gives its most countrified tune to close the disk with the pleasantly meandering "The Calm and the Crying Wind" to wrap up on a relaxed note.  Cliches abound in "Beautiful" and "Sorry" and some tracks like "Alone" drag, showing the band can still grow, but the bulk of Stars and Satellites is an engaging deep listen that will reward with repeated listens around summer campfires.  

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Trampled By Turtles are a very talented acoustic band out of Duluth, MN, you can grab this album here.  below are a few samples of these tracks, but make sure to support the artist, and definitely catch them live. 

"Midnight on the Interstate"


"Risk"

Live Streams: Trampled By Turtles - Thursday's at First Avenue All Month

With live music on lock down (like everything else currently in New York City) live streams and old concerts have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. While this current state of pandemic separation is in order we will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and you can always check out or weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past. Please support the artists any which way you can. 

Today we highlight: Trampled By Turtles - Trampled By Thursdays @ First Avenue All Month

The bluegrass/folk rock band from Minneapolis will be live streaming every Thursday in February from First Avenue. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Trampled by Turtles (@tbtduluth)

Some of the proceeds will go to #saveourstages. To get in the mood for the shows, check out this tune and preview of the shows from the band.  

Live Streams: Trampled By Turtles @ The Ryman Auditorium

We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 era. Live shows will need to be flexible and live streaming is a great way to keep music going. Streams have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are (hopefully) improving on the pandemic front but live streams will be an option for artists during the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can check out our weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always, please support the artists any which way you can.

Today we highlight: Trampled By Turtles @ The Ryman Auditorium 

The first of two great shows streaming form The Ryman Auditorium this weekend as the folk/bluegrass outfit Trampled By Turtles get it started tonight. RtBE have dug them in the past and this should be a fun night as the band plays this famous hall. 

You can watch it over on Mandolin and peep some video below to get in the mood for the show:

Live Streams: Trampled By Turtles - Live from Red Rocks

We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 era. Live shows will need to be flexible and live streaming is a great way to keep music going. Streams have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are (hopefully) improving on the pandemic front but live streams will be an option for artists during the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can check out our weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always, please support the artists any which way you can.

Today we highlight: Trampled By Turtles - Live from Red Rocks

The bluegrass/folk outfit Trampled By Turtles are playing Red Rocks tonight and you can stream it for free on Relix twitch channel. 

To get in the mood, here is some recent live music from the band:

Album Review: Trampled By Turtles- Wild Animals

Trampled By Turtles

Wild Animals

**and1/2 out of *****

The bluegrass players from Duluth, Minnesota return for their 8th release after having hit number 1 on the bluegrass chart with their last 2 studio albums (with a live disk just missing the top spot). This time the talented 5 piece reign in their soloing tendencies and craft a softer overall album upon which banjos, mandolins and violins mesh and flow.  

The title track on the disk is a melodic harmonizing jaunt that buzzes at the edges and showcases the groups focus on vocal dexterity in the vein of Fleet Foxes, a track that clearly lets you know what you are in for on the rest of the disk. The band keeps 'er easy with the swaying "Repetition" which contains echoing big vocals, the behind seems restrained and haunting on "Lucy" while "Hollow" is breezy pleasant country number.  

When folk/bluegrass/acoustic bands slow down this much a focus gets put directly on details, specifically production values, vocals and lyrics. On the first two of those Wild Animals gets high marks (behind Alan Sparhawk's production and the bands tight vocal arraignments) but on the third the results aren't as hot.

Most songs lyrically leave very little impression, while no clunkers, there are few (if any) whose refrain stick with you. On the better end of things is the Woody Guthrie sounding "Nobody Knows" and the disk closing "Winners". The flip side is "Are You Behind The Shining Star?" which is a moving melodic tune that could have soared even higher with more memorable words. This seems to be a constant issue; gorgeous musicianship and production but nothing that drives the tune home. 

Tracks like the mellow My Morning Jacket-light sounding "Silver Light", "Ghosts" with it's textural buzzing and the speedgrass number "Come Back Home" all reward with multiple listens, the last in particular shows the band hasn't completely abandoned their rollicking ways. 
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Support the band here, buy the album here, see them live here and peep some video below:

Friday Funday: Squidbillies and Whalt Whitman?!?!

A few days ago we posted a review of Trampled By Turtles newest album Stars and Satellites and when we were going to post a few video previews from the album we saw something that blew our minds:

That was amazing!!!  Readers of the site know that our love for Adult Swim runs deep and Squidbillies are easily the top 1 or 2 shows on the network (Venture Brothers are the other one in the mix). When we caught Early Cuyler mixing it up with the Duluth, MN group we were stunned. We knew the group did the theme song for the show, in fact that was RtBE's first exposure to this band:

While that is awesome, a lot of bands have done the theme song.  We had no idea the love on both sides ran so deep though, this is epic AND it includes the patron saint of RtBE with the title of Walt Whitman!!   Hell if there was a Vice-Saint for the site it would probably be Early Cuyler his damn self.

We couldn't ask for anything else on this Friday, we are going to get all shiny like on some brown party liquor, hold up a convenient store and threaten ask out Glen's wife...have a good'en ya'll.