Dave Simonett has strayed away from Trampled By Turtles in the past, mostly via his side project Dead Man Winter. But Red Tail, out March 13 and premiering exclusively on Billboard one day early (March 12), marks the first time Simonett has stepped out under his own name -- a prospect that became more palatable over time.
"Dead Man Winter was supposed to be, in my mind, an umbrella for all my solo work, but as it's progressed it's become a band in itself," Simonett tells Billboard. "This time I knew I wanted to do another solo album, and initially I was just going to do it by myself and explore maybe a little different of a sonic landscape. Once I decided what was going to be on the record I decided to put it under my own name so it wasn't confusing to me or other people."
Simonett actually planned to make Red Tail as a one-man band, working at his home studio in Minneapolis-St. Paul -- a method still clear on tracks such as "Pisces, Queen of Hearts," "By the Light of The Moon" and "It Comes and Goes." But he subsequently recruited a trio of musician friends from the area to help him work on arrangements that became more ethereal and spacious, taking those songs into Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minn., to finish.