New artists dream about the kind of results Josh Turner achieved with his 2003 debut, Long Black Train. Spurred by its haunting, gospel-inflected title track, the album sold a million copies and brought Turner a pair of nominations from the influential Country Music Association, plus a Top New Artist nomination from the Academy of Country Music.
That debut, however, was merely a prelude. Turners sophomore project, Your Man, demonstrates an increased maturity, a better-honed sense of his strengths and a more specific portrait of the singer as both an artist and a man.
Ive really learned a lot, Turner reflects. We were listening to my first record the other day, and I couldnt believe how much my voice has matured and grown from that time.
That much maturation comes as a surprise to many music fans. In his first go-round, he earned a unique place in the sonic marketplace with his rich, masculine resonance. Yet that same voice is even more full-bodied on Your Man than before, awash in earthy wisdom and experience. The sound reflects numerous points of growth for Turner: increased confidence, a better picture of his distinctive place as an artist and a firm understanding that his destiny is tied in great part to his willingness to go to the mat for his work.
I love fighting for my music, he insists. Im out there trying to make a positive impact on people in any kind of way I can, and I like music that makes you think.
In that regard alone, Your Man is a winner. The album covers a range of emotionsfrom romantic devotion to spiritual intimacy to ethereal sillinesswhile paying overt allegiance to many of the musical figures who inspired him. Two of his biggest influences, honky-tonker John Anderson and bluegrass pioneer Ralph Stanley, make guest appearances; a Don Williams hit, Lord Have Mercy On A Country Boy, gets reworked; and the Coal Miners Daughter is even referenced in the title of the inexplicably weird Loretta Lynns Lincoln. If that werent enough, Turner pays tribute to Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Charley Pride and even trucker-ballad specialist Red Sovine. In fact, the last notes Turner sings on the album are an unintentional tribute to a country-gospel master, as the singer recaptures the way on down line from the late J.D. Sumners performance on an Elvis Presley hit.
The depth of heritage and emotion are present, in part, because Turner was in no rush with the album. He recorded the first six songs before Thanksgiving 2004 and then took an additional six months to write or find five appropriate cuts to fill out the project. It was another sign of his increasing maturity and his insistence on quality.
Im really patient, he observes. Sometimes we get caught up in looking at our competition and saying, Man, hes already got his album released or Man, his albums gonna be released before mine. But I dont want to get caught up in that. I just want to make sure that when my album comes out its the best that it possibly can be.
The presence of one of Music Rows hottest young hit-makers, producer Frank Rogers, didnt hurt. Rogers has produced nominated material for the likes of Turner, Brad Paisley and Darryl Worley, and he had a vision of Turner as an artist of consequence.
Hes from Sumter, South Carolina, and Im from the Florence area, which is not far away, Turner notes. So, he and I have a lot of similarities. Were both big country music fans, and on the first record, he produced all of my vocals, so he got to really understand my voice. Hes very musical. He knows how to work with the band, knows how to make me comfortable and just knows how to make a great country record.
One of countrys aged hit-makers also helped Turner add another dimension to Your Man. Eddy Arnold, who once strung together 67 consecutive Top 10 singles, took an interest in Turner and was more than happy to share his time-tested insights. Arnold is still making an impact on popular culturehis Anytime is the first song heard in the Ray Charles biopic Ray, and he co-wrote one of Charles strongest records, You Dont Know Meso Arnolds observations contain obvious value.
Hes given me a lot of advice, Turner says, but the one thing that stuck out in my mind when it came to making this record was when he told me, You go and record some love songs, because thats what people relate to. He said, The relationship between a woman and a man relates to people better than anything else. I wanted to capture that on this record, and we have a good handful of those kinds of songs. I think theyre paying off already.
Those ballads include No Rush, which fans have adopted as the Barry White country song, and two songsAngels Fall Sometimes and Gravitythat Turner wrote in celebration of his wife.
Born and raised in Hannah, South Carolina, Turner got his first exposure to music at the Union Baptist Church. But his introduction to country music came through his fathers mom, who acquainted him with Southern gospel quartets, country stars Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb, and bluegrass legends The Osborne Brothers and The Stanley Brothers.
Ralph Stanley has such a unique voice, and hes really carved a niche for himself, Turner says. Hes kept mountain music and bluegrass music alive, and introduced a lot of new fans to that kind of music, and I was one of those people from a very early age.
Turner had no intention of being anything more than a fan until he reached the age of 14. At that point, his mother signed Josh and his two siblings up, for $25 each, at a church fundraiser called April Fools For Christ. Under the rules, each was required to look foolish in a public manner unless they shelled out $25. None of the kids had $25, and that lack of cash proved quite fruitful for Joshs development.
My brother had to impersonate Steve Urkel (from Family Matters), my sister had to do a tap dance, and mama paid for me to do Diggin Up Bones by Randy Travis, Turner recalls. I did not want to do it. I was just petrified. That was the first time I ever sang a country song in front of a crowd. Of course, I was singing to a track, and a lot of people that night thought that I was lip-synching to Randys version of the song. There was a huge applause when I got through, and that was when the light went off for me. If thats the way this feels, this is what I want to do.
As Turner approached the end of his high school years, he was dating a girl who attended a different high school. She told her choir director about his interest in a country music career, and the instructor in turn suggested he attend Belmont University, a school with a music business program located just a few blocks from the hub of Nashvilles entertainment industry.
After taking some preliminary classes at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina, Turner transferred to Belmont, where he became a vocal performance major. Through a classmate, he was introduced to music publisher Jody Williams, who signed him to a songwriting deal with MCA Music. Williams would, in turn, arrange a meeting at MCA, which ultimately led to a recording contract.
At Belmont, Turner also met his future wife, Jennifer Ford. Josh and Jennifer married in June 2003, four months to the day before the release of Long Black Train, and shes become a backing vocalist and piano player in his road band.
When Belmont honored him in September 2004 with its Curtain Call Award, he expressed profound joy over his collegiate memories: I told them I got more than a degree out of Belmont. I got a record deal and a wife.
After his initial success, Turner was empowered on the second album. He explores more emotional avenues and utilizes the lower end of his identifiable bass/baritone range more frequently. Though it sets him apart from his contemporaries, hes careful not to turn his signature into a novelty. Instead, hes picked material in which his basement tones are a natural enhancement to the messages hes conveying.
When I go down in the lower register, thats just kind of my thing and my style, he explains. The phrase that really describes my kind of music is South Carolina Low Country, which is actually a region in South Carolina, around Charleston and Hilton Head and Beaufort. I kind of took that phrase, South Carolina Low Country, to describe my music.
Still, Turners voice is ultimately an instrument that communicates the deeper influences in his world. His wife, his musical heritage and his deeper understanding of his art all make their presence felt through inspiration or expression on Your Man, an uncommonly seamless sophomore effort. Its clear that calling his award-winning first album a debut was right on the mark: It was merely an introduction to an inspired and evolving artist.
