Turnpike Troubadours did not announce a permanent breakup in 2019. After abruptly canceling shows, the band said it would take an indefinite hiatus. Years later, frontman Evan Felker described his drinking, its effect on his performances, and an exhausting touring pace as central parts of what went wrong. His account adds personal detail to the band’s broader public statement; it does not establish a single explanation adopted by every member.
What the band said in 2019
On June 3, 2019, following abrupt show cancellations, Turnpike Troubadours announced an indefinite hiatus. The band apologized and said the situation was outside its control, while expressing a need for time to heal. Its statement, reproduced by B104 WBWN-FM, said: “Turnpike Troubadours will go on an indefinite hiatus until a time we feel that everyone is of strong mind, body and spirit and can deliver what our fans deserve.”
The statement did not name a member, identify alcohol as a cause, or give a diagnosis. It described a band-wide pause until the group felt ready to perform to the standard its fans deserved.
What Evan Felker later said about the break
In a 2025 Bear Grease interview, frontman Evan Felker gave a more personal account. Discussing the break, he said, “I knew that there was a problem. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure it was me. Turns out it was.” In the same interview, he said he kept drinking and that alcohol was affecting his ability to perform and keep his act together. The Bear Grease interview transcript records his account.
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Felker also described the band’s relentless touring as a pressure: it felt as though the schedule would never let him or the band breathe. Taken together, his account points to alcohol-related problems and the strain of constant touring as central factors. That is his retrospective explanation, not a diagnosis issued by the band in 2019 or evidence that every member described the cause in the same way.
Hiatus, recovery, and return
- June 2019: The band announced an indefinite hiatus after abrupt cancellations.
- During the hiatus: Felker later said he took a clean break from music and turned his attention to other parts of life. A 2023 American Songwriter interview reported that he found sobriety during this period.
- 2022: The band returned, according to CBS News.
- 2023: Turnpike Troubadours released A Cat in the Rain, its first new album since 2017, as reported by the Associated Press.
Was the hiatus simply a break so Felker could get sober?
That shorthand leaves out both what the band said and what Felker later described. The 2019 announcement spoke generally about healing and being able to meet the band’s obligations to fans; it did not mention Felker or sobriety. Felker’s later account connected his drinking to performance problems, while the 2023 interview also described stepping away from music, reprioritizing other parts of life, and finding sobriety. The available statements support that fuller account without reducing the hiatus to a single official cause.
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