On Aug. 25, country music saw multiple new albums released. One of these albums was Turnpike Troubadours’ “A Cat in the Rain,” coming in with a new 10 songs for country music fans to enjoy after a six-year hiatus.  

Turnpike’s new songs have a drastically different sound than the songs fans know and love, such as ‘Diamonds and Gasoline’ and ‘Pay No Rent.’ 

The album includes a mix of different sounds and emotions. For example, songs like ‘Black Sky’ and ‘Won’t You Give Me One More Chance’ have a bluegrass and folk sound to them, while other songs like ‘Lucille’ have a more traditional country feeling. Turnpike blends the styles together to add a sense of flow into the album. 

One aspect of the album that is similar to their past work is their lyricism. The storytelling tendencies listeners attribute to Turnpike is seen within the songs, giving them a sense of nostalgia towards older music and intriguing them to continue listening to receive the full story. 

Isolating songs, there are some that would appeal to different types of listeners, as expected with any musical collection. Adding the different sounds and different lyrical structures allows for a more various audience to enjoy the music, although it did come as a sort of shock for long-term fans.  

While listeners did expect a similar sound to prior music, ‘A Cat in the Rain’ cannot be compared to the beginning of their career. After such a long hiatus, it is only expected that their sound would be different, and looking upon this album from a solitary perspective, it has the feeling of a country album, just not the usual Turnpike Troubadours album.