Jayce Turley has the stories of someone twice his age. The 19-year-old Greenup County, Kentucky, native has already been entrenched in his state’s storied music scene for years.
Turley attended his first concert at the age of two and estimates that he’d been to hundreds of shows by the time he hit double digits. He has stories about seeing the SteelDrivers — the Grammy-winning bluegrass band formerly fronted by Chris Stapleton — live dozens of times and about catching Tyler Childers shows “when I was pretty young, and when Tyler was about where I am now.” Even these days, despite his own touring schedule that has seen him sharing bills with Jason Eady, Marty Stuart, Town Mountain, Morgan Wade, Joshua Ray Walker, and more, he still tries to catch others’ concerts as often as possible.
Broke Down, due out May 24th, mixes blues and honky-tonk sounds with genuine songwriting that offers a glimpse at Turley’s bluegrass past across seven song. His “truly Appalachian” vibe “represents the upcoming generation’s eyes forward” while “drawing inspiration from both modern musicians inspired by vintage sounds and the vintage sounds that paved the road for those influences” (The AMP).
“This album was not something that was only my doing,” Turley says. “I owe my band members in Cardinal Point, along with Jason, Ella, and Logan a huge part in it. At the end of the day, I put my all into this thing, but my part was just one of many that brought it all together. Through our combined ideas, ambition, and countless hours of work, everybody really helped bring it to life. In a totally literal sense, blood, sweat, and tears really went into this record. I hope the listener feels that when they hear it.”
Today Glide is premiering the album’s lead track “Rust (PRE-ORDER),” which sneaks the fallout from a nasty breakup into a song that’s disarmingly upbeat. Opening with a solemn piano solo, the song quickly picks up steam as a tried and true work of country-Americana complete with twangy pedal steel and fiddle. With a voice that feels haunting and wisened, it’s clear from this tune that Turley possesses a musical sensibility beyond his years.
Listen to the track and read our conversation with Jayce Turley below…
What is the story behind this song? How did it come together? What is it about?
“Rust” was written late-summer of 2023 about a breakup. I had been playing music out back of my house with my guitar player, Dale Blankenship. He started playing the guitar riff you hear in the song, and I fell in love with the sound. I started freestyling off lyrics just to see what would come of it, and from there came up with the first few verses. The rest of the song didn’t come up until much later in the year; the song was stuck on repeat in my head. I fought with the chorus for a long time, switching back in between different words to express what I really felt was fitting of my mood. It came to be about feeling like the bad guy, when that may not be the case. A breakup song that doesn’t necessarily sound sad, more of a breakup party anthem.
Are there any lyric lines that you really love or that really speak to you? What do you feel makes them resonate?
Straight out of the gate you hear, “I ain’t good at this, I guess I never really have been.” When I wrote the song going through the breakup, I really felt this way. I had been down this road before, and never understood the proper way to deal with it. I realize now that there isn’t a proper way to deal with it, and everyone is different. I feel many people will understand and resonate with this the same way.
If listeners can take away one thing from having heard this song, what do you hope that is?
We all head down dark paths, and it’s not always your fault. No matter how other people paint you, you are the ruler of your own world, and your self-image matters more than anything else.
How does this song fit in among the others on the forthcoming album? How is it similar or different?
This song fits in with one other song on the album, “Pretty Lies.” The difference in this song is the upbeat manner hiding the darker message behind the lyrics.
If you could use only three words to describe your music, what would they be and why?
Genuine, relatable, and Appalachian. I feel in the genuine and relatable categories, this really rings true. I want to write songs that people can understand and that may get them through a tough time. In the Appalachian sense, I feel that where I came from is very evident in my music.
