Nathan Mongol Wells
Photo: Josh David Jordan
When this moment in North Texas music history is reflected upon, honky-tonk rockers Ottoman Turks may well stand alone as one of the main fountainheads of talent.
Simply consider that the beloved quartet, a dozen-year veteran of the DFW scene, is on the verge of spawning its third solo career, as lead singer and guitarist Nathan Mongol Wells prepares to strike out on his own with the release of his solo debut LP, From a Dark Corner, this August on State Fair Records.
Wells is following in the footsteps of his bandmates Billy Law and Joshua Ray Walker, the latter of whom helped produce Corner with John Pedigo.
Press materials take care to highlight the band’s elastic sensibility when highlighting the focal points of Walker and Law’s respective solo careers, but describe what Wells is doing as “less raucous, but still packing the internal chaos of the characters he previously created … From a Dark Corner is more autobiographical than Wells’ previous work.”
Wells has also dropped the lead single, “Beulah Land,” complete with a moody video, filmed and edited by Julian Sol Jordan, to accompany it.
“Rather than [being] about a romantic relationship, it’s about a friendship falling apart, which I think in many ways is more devastating,” Wells said in a statement.
Wells upcoming performances include June 16 at the Longhorn Ballroom, as part of the venue’s country music revue, and a June 18 gig at Cafe Momentum’s Sunday Supper concert series.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter (@prestonjones). Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
