Evan Felker On Making The “Scary” Leap To Get Sober: “I Didn’t Trust People Who Didn’t Drink”

If there has even been a picture of how bad alcohol can ruin your life, and simultaneously how much sobriety can enrich it… it’s Turnpike frontman Evan Felker.

The Turnpike Troubadours are riding a high after releasing their surprise album The Price of Admission. However, die-hard fans know that it was a long road to get back to this point, defining their sound after taking an indefinite hiatus in 2019. After sudden cancellations, and a number of on-stage drunken incidents, the band took an indefinite break while Evan Felker got his drinking habits under control. Fans never lost hope… but we didn’t know if Turnpike would ever take the stage again.

Evan says:

“A lot of it was just me drinking every day, and then that ramping up to just being drunk all the time. The party didn’t end.”

However, in a recent interview with CBS Saturday Mornings, his first national TV interview, Felker revealed that he didn’t realize he had an issue with drinking until after the band broke up. He attributed the break-up to the “negativity” in the world and shared that he was not conflicted about taking the hiatus.

“I think that there was enough negativity in the world that I was ready to get out of dodge. And then I realized that I was an alcoholic.” 

After his marriage faced the effects of his addiction, Felker checked himself into rehab. He admitted that taking that leap of faith was terrifying to better himself.

“It was scary at that point in time because everybody… I didn’t know a life where people didn’t drink. I was a regular blue-collar dude, and drinking was a part of life. I didn’t trust people that didn’t drink.”

In 2021, a sober Evan Felker and the Turnpike Troubadours made their triumphant return to the stage.

Since returning to the limelight, the group has released two records, A Cat in the Rain and, most recently, The Price of Admission. While the band’s sound is slightly different now, this new chapter of music and this new chapter of life outside of music, Felker also pieced back together aspects of his personal life.

He reconciled with his wife, Staci, and the couple now has two children. Felker now lives on a farm raising cattle and touring, which has kept him grounded in this chapter of his career — a cowboy and a musician.

“I think a lot of my friends would not call me a cowboy. It’s a good way for your mind and your body to be in the same place. It makes for a really great life balance where I feel like I’m going on vacation when I leave the ranch, and I feel like I’m going on vacation when I leave the road.

The life I have right now is a pretty great thing. I count my blessings to be to do this stuff.”

Selfishly, I’m so glad that Felker took some time away from the music scene because I’d rather have a few years of the band not being together over never getting music again from the group. It takes a real man to step away to work on himself and fight for those he loves, which is precisely what Felker did. It also takes an incredible woman to still be there when the dust clears so props to Staci as well.

But even fans who’ve been with Turnpike for a while know that Evan has never looked better… you can see it in his eyes, you can see it in his expression, hell even in his skin… the dude just glows these days. It’s truly an epic story of redemption and reconciliation, healing and hope… and it seems like a lot of us could use a little more hope these days.

Long live the Turnpike Troubadours.

The post Evan Felker On Making The “Scary” Leap To Get Sober: “I Didn’t Trust People Who Didn’t Drink” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.