Feb 03, 2023

By Caleb Campbell

Photography by Jim Herrington

Nashville-based indie folk singer/songwriter Ellie Turner has had a long and winding road to the release of her debut LP, When The Trouble’s All Done. Though Turner has long held a deep passion for music, she initially spent her early adulthood in corporate gigs, hesitant to pursue her songwriting. At long last, Turner threw herself into her music when she packed up and moved to Nashville in 2018, and she finally introduced her potent and pastoral songwriting voice in 2020 with a trio of new singles.

When The Trouble’s All Done reflects that same meditative pace, offering a warm and winding tour through Turner’s world. Recorded live to tape with musician and producer Jack Schneider, Turner took pains to find the truest and most vulnerable version of each performance, blemishes and all. It’s a disarmingly simple approach, but one that captures an easy charm innate to Turner’s songwriting, bringing out the honest core that runs within the best folk music.

Today, along with news of the LP, Turner is also sharing the record’s lead single, “One More Day,” along with an accompanying video, premiering with Under the Radar.

“One More Day” acts as a bucolic introduction to the record and to Turner herself, opening with some folk harmonica before settling into a loping acoustic groove. The track’s effortless strolling tempo lends it a reflective undertone, one tinged with both peace and melancholy at once. Similarly, Turner’s pillowy vocals and honeyed melodies are grounded by Schneider’s low harmony. Together, Schneider and Turner offer a pitch-perfect marriage of nostalgia and sorrow, with the lyrics framing the pair as two estranged lovers thinking over the times they had together: “Just one more day until tomorrow/One more day you’re on my mind/Just one more day pack up my sorrow/Give me one more day behind.”

Turner explains of the song: “This first track on the album was actually the last song to be written. We had already tracked eight songs during our first recording session at Sound Emporium in November of 2020. If I remember correctly, we ended up using 5 of the takes we had tracked that day on the album. Our next session was scheduled for early February. Four of the remaining tracks would come from that second session, but leading up to that day, I knew we still needed one more song to complete the album. And not just to make it a nice even 10-song record (though I admit I do I love that). No, more importantly, I knew that the story was not yet finished. The ‘final page,’ if you will, had not yet been written. Or perhaps discovered is a better word to use; I believe it was written long ago. It simply needed to be uncovered.

Sometimes when I’m reading a good book, I put off reading the last page because I don’t want the story to end quite yet. ‘One More Day’ felt a little bit like that. Thinking back on it, I don’t think this song could have been written any sooner. This song is the end of the story, the bird’s eye view, the picture in full focus. It’s a song of acceptance and about learning how to hold joy and sorrow in a single hand’s grip. It’s about choosing to take another step forward while simultaneously mourning what was left behind. Life is anything but black and white, and this song is a surrendered recognition of the gray.”

Check out the song and video below. When The Trouble’s All Done is out everywhere on March 24th.