Turn Turn Turn are an Americana trio of singer-songwriters based in Minneapolis, MN, and Eau Claire, WI, featuring Savannah Smith (vocals, guitar), Barb Brynstad (vocals, bass), and Adam Levy (vocals, guitar), and are known particularly for their close harmonies and inventive interpretations of American roots traditions. They’ve been performing since 2019 and are just about to release their third album All Hat No Cattle, which hits the streets on March 6th. As well as a slight dig at weekend cowboys in the album’s title, there’s also a more evolved sound to the new collection of songs as Barb Brynstad explains: “We wanted the music from our third album to feel like a road trip across time and place in America. Expect echoes of Dylan, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, George Jones, The Louvins, Emmylou Harris, and Gram Parsons—but with a fresh, original twist.” And that slight dig? Well, Savannah Smith is the first to laughingly admit that “None of us have horses or farms.”
The first song on the album, which we feature here today, is something of a history lesson, drawing on the events of the American Civil War, with a tale that eschews any victorious flag waving. True, Antietam was a major turning point that put the armies of the Union into the ascendant, but the narrator of this song saw only the blood and the gore – working as a nurse in a battlefield hospital. There’s not a lot of glory in amputating wounded men, or easing their pain with morphine on the way to their death. It’s a grim, and unusual, story that unfolds – and musically it mixes bluegrass and folk moods with just a little of modern production. The album was recorded in Adam Levy’s home studio with contributions from drummer Josh Kaplan, pedal steel player Joe Savage, and keyboardist Peter J. Sands. “I wanted this record to feel fresh and not overproduced,” Levy explains about his production approach. “It’s very much au naturel; mistakes were left in. It has a rustic feel, like many of my favorite records. Chris Furst did a magnificent job mixing it.”
