Former New Orleans Saint brings his tour to Houma

Former New Orleans Saints offensive lineman Kyle Turley never played in the Super Bowl in his nine seasons in the NFL.

But Turley will get there as a guitar player this season as his band’s 15-city, “Outlaw Roll to the Bowl” tour brushes the gulf coast before stopping in Miami to perform at the Eats Beats and Cleats Gridiron Festival and Mike Ditka’s Gridiron Greats Night of Champions the week of the Super Bowl.

“I’ve always been into music,” Turley said. “And after football, that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been involved with the Gridiron Greats Organization since 2007, so I just thought it was a great chance for me to help. We were already booked to play at the Gridiron Greats event in Miami, so we decided that we have to drive down there anyway, so we might as well book a mini-tour along the way.”

Turley’s tour will make a stop at the City Club in Houma on Jan. 28. Tickets for the show are $12 and proceeds for the tour will go to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, which seeks to aid retired former NFL players.

According to Turley and Chris Recinos with the City Club of Houma, ticket sales for the show are “doing well”.

“Houma is a difficult market to gauge, because we’re mainly a walk-in market,” he said. “We sometimes see 300-400 people walk into a show on the night of, so you can never know for sure, but it’s definitely on track to do well.”

Recinos said the City Club is “stoked” to welcome the former NFL player to Houma.

“We’re all Saints fans,” he said. “For him to have such a memorable role in Saints’ history, it’s really nice to have that incorporated into music. It’s a huge deal and we’re excited to have him.”

Born in Provo, Utah, Turley said he developed a love for music at an early age.

Following his retirement from the NFL in 2007, Turley relocated to Nashville and started to create a band.

Turley said his time spent in New Orleans gave him a new appreciation and understanding for music.

“When I was down there, I’d always put on a bunch of charity concerts where I’d get on the stage and play with all of my buddies,” he said. “I made friends with all of the great, original bands out there, because they’re all Saints fans, so going to New Orleans was the best thing that ever happened to me in terms of my music.”

Turley said his band will play all original music at the show and he described his band’s style as a “country and rock blend.”

“I grew up on old-school country and heavy metal and classic rock,” he said. “So I tried to blend a little bit of all of it in there.”

The tour comes in advance of the musician’s debut album, Anger Management, which is set to hit stores this summer.

The album will feature tracks titled “Final Drive,” “With the Devil,” and “Fly’N Helmets,” which is dedicated to when Turley ripped off a Jets’ defender’s helmet and threw it into the air during the 2001 season.

Turley said a lot of his football mentality blended into the album.

“It was really similar to preparing for a football game with the way we’re going about developing it,” he said. “We’ve studied all of the different kinds of music we’ve seen and have tried to take notes on all that we’ve seen and incorporate it all into our songs.”

Turley said the album would allow his fans to see deeper into his personality than they were able to when he was the brash and sometimes controversial NFL star.

“This will tell all of my life stories – where I’m from and where I’ve been,” he said. “All of the loves and the losses and the wins. It’s just a compilation and it’s my balled and I really think people.”

Following the completion of the tour, Turley said his band would open for Hank Williams III during a west coast tour that will begin in April.

“My music is my focus,” he said. “Whatever I can do with that to help out and raise some funds, that’s what I’d consider a great life as far as it concerns me.”

Gridiron Rock Star Kyle Turley