Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Country: USA
Genre: Alt country
Full length: What I’m Doing Here
Format: Digital
Label: Signature Sounds Recordings
Release date: November 13, 2026
Eric Turner, a Tennessee singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and troubadour, has spent a good number of years on the road, gathering grit and road dust on his boots while carving out a career with a singular style synthesizing indie rock, alt-country and southern rock.
His grueling process of establishing himself as a solo performer and a member of notable bands has earned him recognition in the fields of indie, underground/outlaw country, and bluegrass. His live experience with Daniel Donato, Roger Alan Wade, the Raelyn Nelson Band and others, and consistent tours of the East Coast and Southeast, seems to have seeped into his bones, contributing to his sharp-edged musicianship and “gas-gargling” vocal drawl.
Turner seems to have found his niche without the benefit of mainstream video channels or radio, as the advance single from his upcoming album, “What I’m Doing Here,” shows. Released last August, the acoustic-guitar-driven “What Is Taking So Long” is an introspective exploration of existential patience and anticipation. It’s written about being stuck in the same place indefinitely, waiting for professional clarity, personal healing, or answers to life’s questions.
The song is more of a narrative, translated into a promotional video filmed and directed by multi-instrumentalist, producer and digital creator Matt Bohannon. It plays like a surreal seventies film, with fragmented images against city and highway scenes. With his brother Marty, Bohannon has been a key fixture in Chattanooga, Tennessee, perfecting a stripped-down form of country that’s equally acoustic-driven and edged with psychedelia. His long background helps elevate Turner’s bohemian drawl and the well-traveled vibe of his songwriting, maturing into an album with a weathered quality you can feel, and a lineage you can trace all the way to the seventies.
Working together at Kudzu Studio in Chattanooga, Turner and Bohannon gave the single an intensity that revitalizes country in the vein of Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels, Willie Nelson and Hank Williams III, charging it with an energy you don’t hear on channels like CMT. In this sense, Turner’s musicianship has more in common with hardcore punk and classic thrash metal, even though the musical structures are worlds apart.
Mainstream country glorifies open highways and road trips, while outlaw country strips away the glamour to reveal the earthier realities of transient lifestyles. In “What Is Taking So Long,” Turner takes outlaw country’s roughness further than most artists in the genre. The song and video feel edgy and chaotic, setting them apart from both mainstream and outlaw country. They personalize the journey, imagining what life is like nearing the journey’s end, as the speaker runs low on time, luck, and patience while searching for someone close to him who has disappeared into parts unknown.
Listeners of outlaw country searching for something deeper and more profound can experience this part of the journey when “What I’m Doing Here” comes out in November. –Dave Wolff
Track list:
1. Bumper Stickers Are Road Signs
2. Less Than First
3. I Win Again
4. It Is What It Is (Aint It)
5. What I’m Doing Here
6. The Walk
7. What Is Taking So Long
8. Harder Than Hell
9. She’s Just Trying To Survive
10. Heaven In Hell
11. Truck Keys + Black Diamond Sex Head
No comments:
Post a Comment