Alphabet Beats #137: T is for...Trampled By Turtles

T is for....

After a few days away down on the coast of Ayrshire we are back in business again with Alphabet Beats.

Prior to July 2014 if you had asked me a question regarding Duluth, Minnesota I would have told you that the only thing I knew about the place was that between 1923-27 that it had a professional football team called firstly the Kelley Duluths (named after the Kelley Duluth Hardware Store) from 1923-1925 and then the Duluth Eskimos between 1926-27 in the young National Football League (which had formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association before renaming itself the NFL in 1923). Due to the harsh winters of Minnesota they were unable to play at home and therefore were mainly a road team, and in 1926 they played their only home game at the start of the season. After folding at the end of the 1927 season they had amassed a W16 L20 T3 record. Their best position in the league was 4th in 1924 with a 5-1 record.

After July 2014 if you had asked me about Duluth, Minnesota I would have been able to tell you all of the above and the fact that there was a band from there who I had recently begun listening to with one of the most wonderful names ever for a group - Trampled By Turtles! And it is they who are the under the spotlight today on Alphabet Beats.

So, we have established that they are from Duluth, Minnesota, and for the record they play Bluegrass and infact play it very well! Click on the links to listen.

 Trampled By Turtles are:
    Dave Simonett – guitar, lead vocals, harmonica
    Tim Saxhaug – bass, backing vocals
    Dave Carroll – banjo, backing vocals
    Erik Berry – mandolin, backing vocals
    Ryan Young – fiddle, backing vocals 

The Music

Songs From A Ghost Town (2004)

Blue Sky and the Devil (2005)

Trouble (2007)

Duluth (2008)

Palomino (2010)*

Stars and Satellites (2012)

Live at First Avenue (2013)

Wild Animals (2014)

*incomplete

More Trampled By Turtles

Live at KEXP (2013).

Live on KEXP (2014).

Stage on Sixth - Austin, Texas (2011).

40th Telluride Bluegrass Festival (2013).

Pandora Live at 25th Street Recording (2014).