Tackling tunes

By Shea Conner St. Joseph News-Press

Kyle Turley may have traded in his cleats and pads for a microphone and a guitar, but he clearly hasn’t left the game behind.

“It’s every bit of who I am as everything else is,” Turley says. “I’m 6’5”, I’m huge, I have tattoos and I played in the NFL. I can’t get away from that.”

In fact, the former all-pro offensive tackle — who ended his career with the Kansas City Chiefs after playing for the New Orleans Saints and St. Louis Rams — is using his music to embrace his athletic legacy.

Turley writes all of his own songs, and football clearly remains one of his favorite subjects. In the ballad “Final Drive,” Turley discusses the pressure and pain of giving up the game. Meanwhile, “My Soul Bleeds Black and Gold” is his tribute to the Saints, the Superdome and New Orleans, where he spent the majority of his playing career.

However, no song has been more controversial than “Flying Helmets,” named after a 2001 incident in which Turley viciously grabbed the face mask of New York Jets defender Damien Robinson’s helmet in a scrum, ripped the helmet off and tossed it across the field before introducing the Jets to his middle finger. Like it or not, it was a moment that defined Turley’s NFL career.

The song, however, was an outlet for Turley to vent his frustrations with some of his football rivals. He calls out former Rams offensive coordinator Mike Martz, former Minnesota Vikings running back Robert Smith and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in “Flying Helmets” and Turley says he hopes they hear the song at some point in their lives.

“My 10-year experience in the NFL is summed up into that three- or four-minute song,” Turley says. “Believe me, I’d love for the song to go platinum and for everyone else to know who those guys really are.”

But Turley’s debut album, “Anger Management,” contains much more than gridiron grudges. The record features a sound that he calls “power country,” a hefty dose of outlaw country with a hint of heavy metal. Turley says “power country” came to him naturally because he grew up with his dad’s Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings records but ventured into the punk and metal genres as he got older. Even in his NFL days, he played drums for a metal band in Arizona and guitar for a country cover band in New Orleans when he wasn’t arranging his own benefit concerts.

No song fits the “power country” mold better than “Another Whiskey.” The song tells the tale of a bandit on the run. Turley says the track was inspired by life experiences that put him into “some crazy places and situations.”

“If you listen hard enough, you could gather some interesting perspectives of who I am,” Turley says.

Turley’s debut continues to gain notoriety as he has opened for Hank III, Eric Church and Kansas in the last year and already has an upcoming gig in Sturgis, S.D., with .38 Special scheduled.

Turley adds that he has met with several major labels, but he refuses to sign with one because they want to change the kind of musician he is.

“They all believe that I have what it takes to be the next Trace Adkins or Toby Keith, but at the same time, they don’t give my music the same acclaim the fans are giving it,” Turley says.

“The Nashville machine wants you to conform to their brand, and I’m not going to do it.” “I’m putting real music out,” he adds. “Songs should be about real stories and real life, not these little hooks and jingles.”

Turley will start his Outlaw Roll to the Bowl tour at 7 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Beaumont Club in Kansas City. The tour will go across the country before ending at the Super Bowl in Dallas in February. Proceeds from the tour go to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, of which Turley and his good friend and former coaching legend Mike Ditka are greatly involved.

And because the Chiefs will be playing a home playoff game the following weekend, Turley says he expects several former and current Chiefs players to make an appearance at the show.

“We’re going to make it a good experience for the fans that come out — whether they like country music or the Chiefs or both,” Turley says.