Your Country's Right Here: Trampled by Turtles Launch "Stars and Satellites"

posted in: Country • Features

Trampled by Turtles will release their next album, Stars and Satellites, on April 10 and band member Dave Carroll promises it will truly solidify the band’s bluegrass roots.

The Turtles worked with engineer Tom Herbers (Jayhawks, Low) to take a step back and record an album that sounds something like Turtles’ Unplugged, a true delight of acoustic instrumentation and lush, natural harmonies.

This is a natural step, to do a more organic thing, he said. We’ve always really [gravitated toward music that is] more energy based than technically perfect.

If Stars and Satellites isn’t technically perfect, a listener certainly couldn’t tell. Perhaps that’s because the bandmates play fiddle, banjo and other bluegrass instruments with a loving energy that turns the sound into something soul stirring. That’s no accident. For this record, the band’s sixth studio recording, they gathered with Herbers in a log home outside their native Duluth, Minn. to record an album that takes them out of their comfort zones and back to basics musically.

Although the task might seem daunting”if for no other reason than it presents a very natural sound that lacks many of the rockelements fans may expect”Carroll said he and his bandmates thrived on recording something a bit different in sound and format.

I love the album, said Carroll of such types of recordings. Although the popularity of [albums vs. singles] has been sliding downward lately and shorter things like EPs have been gaining popularity, an album is a singular piece of work, a big thing that takes a lot of time and planning and work. There is a lot of beauty in that. But we love to [create albums] and record.

The band’ last album Palomino boosted the group into the A-list of bluegrass musicians after it spent more than a year on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart. Although it might seem to some that the band would go with a more straightforward bluegrass-rock album to capitalize on the success of Palomino and popularity of other bands such as Mumford & Sons and The Avett Brothers, Carroll said the group had no hesitation about recording a more traditional album.

Even if the sound is a bit different, Turtles’ fans will still be treated to plenty of the high-energy antics at concerts.

Most of us have been in rock bands so that transfers over, said Carroll noting the influence is especially seen in the Turtles’ live shows. Our shows are pretty high energy. We get a lot of reaction [from the crowds] and we really feed off that.

Clearly, the feeling is mutual. The band sold out nearly every show it headlined and played top festivals including Coachella, Newport Folk and Telluride Bluegrass.

For more information about the new album, the band and the new tour, check Trampled by Turtles’ website.