Americana trio Turn Turn Turn have ties in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but on All Hat No Cattle, their third album, their feet are firmly planted in country. “We just kind of leaned into the country and folk stuff on this,” Turn Turn Turn’s Adam Levy says. “So more acoustic-y, rural, whatever you want to call it.”

The 11 new songs on the album not only showcase the band’s country stylings, they also share the wealth in terms of songwriting and who sings lead. “I think the longer we do this, the more it becomes a ‘we’ kind of project,” Levy says. “So that's what we've always aimed for.”

Around the time of the album’s release, Turn Turn Turn visited The Current studio to record a session with Mike Pengra of Radio Heartland. Watch and listen to the full session above.

Interview Highlights

On the band’s sound

Mike Pengra: I love how you sound as a trio. Also, I love how you sound with a rhythm section, too, but it brings up memories of Crosby Stills and Nash and Young, you know, Mamas and Papas.

Adam Levy: There's worse comparisons!

Mike Pengra: Yeah, right! What's up next for you guys? This is a little ... so you've gone from the first two albums to this, as we mentioned, is a little more folky. Is there another turn of the road up the channel a bit?

Barb Brynstad: No, I've been, I've been asking about doing funkier stuff or more soulful stuff. So we definitely are exploring all parts of music that we love. And so I know Adam and Savannah have a deep history with country. Me, not so much, but I've learned to really love the genre and — but as a bass player, of course, I would love to do some more soulful kind of stuff, so we'll see.

Adam Levy: I'm sure. I'm sure.

Barb Brynstad: It's either Swedish death metal or funk.

Mike Pengra: I love it.

Savannah Smith: That's, I feel like that's been part of the beauty of this band, is we're all kind of bringing different influences in and exploring and expanding on that. So I'm, I'm excited. I'm not well versed in funk, so the idea of a funk record is exciting. Barb, teach me!

Mike Pengra: You weren't kidding when you said "funk."

Savannah Smith: Well, elements of funk.

Adam Levy: It's more country soul. You know?

Barb Brynstad: Yeah.

Adam Levy: I played in Hookers and Blow for years, and so that's like, in my bloodstream, too. I love that kind of music, and I think it does kind of make it into a lot of the first two records. It's sort of in there a little bit. But I think we're talking about maybe making it a little more explicit this time around. You know, Muscle Shoals, that kind of like, yeah, funky soul.

Barb Brynstad: I mean, they're always, the core of what we do will always be really listenable sort of pop, you know? So, and I know we've got a couple songs waiting in the wings for the next album, and so that Laurel Canyon sound, that will always be part of who we are, but we're, you know, we're exploring ways of tweaking the songs a little bit to make them more interesting to us and hopefully to the people who listen to them.

On their residency at Icehouse in Minneapolis in February ‘26

Barb Brynstad: It was a joy. We, you know, rather than have a big record-release party, we decided to spread out the celebration over a month. And as it turns out, we didn't even have the merchandise, all of the merch, you know, until, I think, shortly after the residency. But that's OK, you know. We just wanted to do things a little differently, and it was such a pleasure playing with the openers. They not only opened for us, but we asked them to join us for a couple of songs, because, as you know, we started as a cover band, and so we gave them a whole list of all of the covers that we played, and they could pick two, two to three. And they came up and they performed with us, and that was super fun.

Adam Levy: Yeah, I mean, we were kind of getting to know these songs in those shows. We'd never played three-quarters of them live before. And each show is different. You know, like we started out sitting down in chairs, and then we stood up the next week, and then it was drums and pedal steel the next week, and drums, so each show is just different. We tried not to duplicate set lists each time. So it was, there's a lot of repeat fans that came to the shows. It was really fun, and it was also kind of meaningful. I thought being about 100 yards from where Alex Pretti was murdered, that sort of weighed on us a little bit, but there's just a sense in our community of togetherness right now, and how in spite of all of this adversity, people have really come together. And I also think, like, art has a real special place during times like this.

Mike Pengra: Speaking of what's been happening in this city lately, any of that affecting your songwriting? Anything coming out about that or ...?

Adam Levy: Yeah, I mean, I've written, I've written a few songs, I'd say, responding to what's going on right now. I think I always, like my writing always reflects what's going on, whether it's like, personal or political or, you know, relational. But yeah, I mean, I'd say that it's definitely great songwriting grist right now. I guess the thing that strikes me, too, is a lot of the things that we wrote a few years ago, still have a kind of resonance right now, or an additional resonance with what's been going on.

Barb Brynstad: Especially now.

Savannah Smith: I think "7 Kids," is so, I mean, just it's taken on a whole new meaning.

Adam Levy: Yeah, it's a song about immigrants, and a story about immigrants. And yeah, it definitely has, every time I play it, it feels like ...

Savannah Smith: Sheds a whole new light on it, I think, now.

Barb Brynstad: And "Cities," the song, the last song we played. Obviously, Adam wrote that — what? — a couple years ago, I think. But when we played it at Icehouse for the first time, people kind of went nuts over it and loved it, just because, you know, it sort of talks a little bit about our love affair with living in a city which was undergoing, you know, it was such a stressful time for everybody, and we still love all aspects of it, and love it even more, probably, as a result.

Video Segments

00:00:05 Hungry Ghosts
00:04:23 Interview with host Mike Pengra, part 1
00:11:15 Magnolia Tree
00:14:17 Interview with host Mike Pengra, part 2
00:18:10 Cities

All songs from Turn Turn Turn’s 2026 album, All Hat No Cattle, available on Simon Recordings.

Musicians

Adam Levy - acoustic guitar, vocals
Savannah Smith - acoustic guitar, vocals
Barb Brynstad - Electric bass, vocals

Credits

Guests – Turn Turn Turn
Host/Producer – Mike Pengra
Video – Evan Clark
Audio – Josh Sauvageau
Graphics – Natalia Toledo
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor

External Link

Turn Turn Turn – official site