While Turner Cody’s music may have shifted in shape from his early Anti-Folk Sidewalk Cafe days, the cornerstone of his music still remains to be his lyrics. That same focus can be heard in the music of kindred spirits such as Jeffrey Lewis, Herman Dune, Adam Green and Diane Cluck (all of whom featured on the brilliant 2019 Songs Of Turner Cody: A Tribute Album). His music, like those aforementioned artists, has something of an underground status – that sort of thing finds you, much in the same way a 50/60’s generation did with Ginsberg, Corso and Burroughs…they all just stuck to their guns, stayed true to themselves and kept on writing and creating. That’s why we still have a big genuine love for this music on Folk Radio.
On March 12th, Turner Cody returns with “Boozing and Losing”, the first single for his upcoming album Friends In High Places. Like many of Cody’s best songs, “Boozing and Losing” navigates the line between light and dark, timely and classic. Cody sings “yesterday’s gone up in smoke, tomorrow’s hard to find” and “that same thing is broke in me that’s broke in all mankind“, eloquently describing the alienation and detachment from both future and past of this modern age. Cody’s pathos isn’t only personal, for he also sings “a bitter wind blows throughout the land“, suggesting that his dilemma, in one way or another, affects us all. In the video for the single, directed by Fred Fonteyne, Cody plays both himself as singer and bandleader, and as late-night habitué of a derelict hole-in-the-wall peopled by barflies, comely courtesans, and fellow lonely drinkers down their luck. “Boozing and Losing” was produced by Nicolas Michaux and features Cody’s new backing band The Soldiers Of Love, which includes Michaux along with Clement Nourry, Ted Clark, and Morgan Vigilante.
Boozing and Losing is also our Song of the Day.
Friends In High Places is Turner Cody’s first release by the Belgian music collective Capitane Records. It was produced by Nicolas Michaux and features The Soldiers Of Love. It is a new sonic direction for Cody, now in the hands of Michaux’s combined touch of minimalism, attention to detail, groove, and texture. Friends In High Places will be released worldwide by Capitane Records this spring.