Some albums are destined for road trips. 

Rumours. After the Gold Rush. Anything by Tom Petty. These masterpieces all evoke the freedom of the open road. They’re the backbone of the great American road trip, best experienced on a long, desolate stretch of desert highway with only a loose itinerary ahead and responsibility in the rearview. Undoubtedly, they all saw their fair share of Interstate play as the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many to trade air travel for road trips.

During that same time, Minneapolis and Eau Claire-based Americana trio Turn Turn Turn was hard at work penning more than two dozen new songs. Eleven ultimately made their way onto the band’s latest release, New Rays from an Old Sun, due out January 27. Reminiscent of the Laurel Canyon psychedelic folk and cosmic country scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s, it too is destined to provide the soundtrack to many a great road trip. 

"Whatever we create, we draw from the well of great American music,” notes bass player and vocalist Barb Brynstad. “We try to nod to the past while making something that resonates with the present."

The trio at the core of Turn Turn Turn consists of Brynstad, Savannah Smith (guitar and vocals), and Adam Levy (guitars and vocals). If those names sound familiar, it’s because all three are longtime pillars of the Twin Cities and Eau Claire music scenes. Their collective resumes include work with local and national acts like the Honeydogs, Chastity Brown, Tina Schlieske, Trampled by Turtles, William Elliot Whitmore, and Laura Stevenson, to name a few.

With credentials like that, it’s no surprise that Turn Turn Turn’s debut, Can’t Go Back, received critical acclaim — including a spot on the Current’s Top 89 of 2020 list. New Rays from an Old Sun showcases the country, rock, and soul sensibilities that made its predecessor a hit but adds a bit more swagger, psychedelic flair, and rough edges. 

The album features all the elements that made Turn Turn Turn’s debut stand out in the genre, amplified to create an even larger-sounding musical tapestry. Levy’s fuzzed-out guitar licks thread between Brynstad’s walking basslines and Smith’s unexpected chord changes. The guitar work on “My Eyelids Weigh Mountains” alone is enough to blow anyone’s hair back. All the while, their three distinct voices blend in perfect lush harmonies to create the trio’s “fourth voice.” New Rays fits in well with the likes of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Buffalo Springfield.

Brynstad, Levy, and Smith recorded most of New Rays from an Old Sun in Levy’s St. Paul apartment. To round out the album’s lineup, they enlisted the help of their two live band members: Josh Kaplan on drums and Peter J. Sands on keys.

"When we recorded our first album, we didn't have a band yet, and made up the parts as we went," says Brynstad. "Since then, we've logged hundreds of hours honing our live performances with Josh and Peter.”

Lyrically, New Rays from an Old Sun draws inspiration from personal events, a strong desire for human connection, and the pandemic and political turmoil of the past few years. 

"As a band, we’ve spent a lot of time together making music and hanging out, talking about the world and relationships,” says Smith. “There's a little bit of all of us in these songs."

Brynstad wrote the album’s opening track, "Stranger in a Strange Land," after losing two of her sisters only seven months apart in 2020 and 2021. She says that writing and recording the song helped her process both tragedies while also dealing with the traumas of the pandemic. 

“The song explores making sense of the world when the rules have changed so dramatically that our compass from the past becomes unreliable,” she adds.

The song sets the stage nicely for the rest of the album — catchy guitar leads, a driving bassline, and plenty of “woo-hoo-hoo” singalongs all layered on top of one another. Also in the mix are Sands’ electric harp leads and vibrato-laden Wurlitzer adding a little extra ear candy. The next song, “Powder,” ventures into twangier, more cosmic country-oriented territory that would surely make Gram Parsons proud. 

On "Hymn of the Hater," Levy illustrates the struggles of people grappling with what it means to be an American in today’s turbulent political landscape. The song’s soulful chorus — “They’re camouflaged in glory / They’re prisoners of fate / They think they’re sober as a judge / but they’re just drunk on hate” — cuts to the problem like a knife. Whereas the bridge — “The truth ain’t blind now / I’ve got no time for fairy tales and cheats / Blood on the streets” — cuts right to the chase.

Smith, Levy, and Brynstad tell the story of seven parentless children navigating unknown borders in search of stability and a new life on “7 Kids.” As each sings their verse, they guide the listener along the journey and everything the children encounter along the way, like uprisings and people who no longer believe in science. 

The album’s first single, “Dopamine Blues,” deals with overcoming a breakup while also reveling in that sweet hit of dopamine that comes from mourning that lost love. The song itself feels like a shot of the good stuff as it seems to end at the 3:25 mark before a surprise reprise comes strumming back in.

"The best songwriting is about lived experiences, and we all have full, rich lives with ups and downs,” said Smith. “We’re all born optimists, and with music, we are in the enviable position of using those ups and downs as fodder for some really great art.”

New Rays from an Old Sun has no shortage of lived experience and is one hell of a piece of great art. But it also turns towards the future at times. The album’s title track takes an allegorical approach to explore what it takes to reconcile the past to find a way forward and move on. Smith’s dreamy vocals draw the listener into every word while Levy’s mandolin dances along to Brynstad’s bassline.

“The song is an allegory about a beast living in a desert who loses her children. She baits a murderous and greedy religious demagogue into getting trapped in a beautiful palace, where he dies. The beast escapes into the desert to find a peaceful life elsewhere.” 

As with Can’t Go Back, Turn Turn Turn is self-releasing New Rays from an Old Sun. Since putting out an album that sounds this good doesn’t come cheap, the band launched a Kickstarter campaign to cover some production costs. The campaign was only a few weeks long, but plenty of the band’s fans were more than willing to help them reach their $13,000 goal (which they did!). But really, how can you not contribute when pledge rewards like a dinner cooked by Levy, room decluttering by Brynstad, or thrifting with Smith are on the line?

A big part of the lived experiences that drive Turn Turn Turn’s songwriting happens outside their musical lives. Shortly after tracking New Rays, all three experienced significant and exciting changes in their professional lives. For Brynstad, that change was taking on a new role in marketing leadership for a healthcare startup. For Smith, it meant expanding her vintage store’s operations. For Levy? He accepted a full-time teaching gig at a performing arts high school.

With a new record already tracked and so many major life changes happening all at once, it would be easy to release New Rays and take a breather (or even go on a road trip). But “breather” doesn’t seem to be in Turn Turn Turn’s vocabulary. The band is already working on new material for a follow-up to New Rays.

"This band continues to evolve,” sums up Levy. “We're all influencing each other. Why do the same thing twice? I can't wait for people to hear where we go next."

If the progression from Can’t Go Back to New Rays from an Old Sun is any indicator, album three should be more than worth the wait.

See Turn Turn Turn perform songs from New Rays from an Old Sun at the Dakota on January 20 for their album release show. And if you like what you hear, pick up a copy when it’s released on January 27.