#510 (Traditional Country) in Country DDS.
If you’re compiling a list of the greatest country singers of our time, you’d better make sure Josh Turner is at the top, or at least at the top, or you’ll render the whole exercise irrelevant and uninformed. It’s not just the way he grips the bass notes with authority. It’s the woody, earthy tone they bring and the conviction behind his voice that makes him elite.
One of country music’s greatest sins over the past dozen years has been letting some of the best years of Josh Turner’s career pass without much productivity. Much like Joe Nichols, Gary Allan, and a whole host of artists like Sunny Sweeney, these major country stars were put into an “artist protection program” at the onset of the bro-country era, where they were virtually ignored by their labels or twisted and turned to chase the hot sound of the day.
Josh Turner may have had it the worst. There was a full five-year break between Turner’s 2012 album Punching bagand 2017 Deep South when MCA Nashville tried to figure out what to do with a traditionalist leftover from the 2000s. Even after that five-year wait, few were impressed with the results. Deep South when pop and bro-country elements were incorporated into both the writing and production. It wasn’t terrible, but it was a far cry from Turner’s great classic country tunes like “Your Man” or “Would You Go With Me.”
The good news is that Josh Turner’s move away from radio relevance allowed MCA Nashville to loosen the reins and gave Turner the opportunity to finally do what he wanted, resulting in the 2018 gospel album I serve a Saviora cover album with country classics State of mind of the countryand a Christmas record in 2021, King Size Crib.
This country music thing is Turner’s first truly original album in five years, and thankfully it doesn’t try to be anything it shouldn’t be. It’s just Josh Turner singing eleven country songs with a voice that makes everything sound better and shows an artist doing things other country singers just can’t. Hear him singing the title of the opening song, “Down In Georgia,” and you’re instantly catapulted high into country music heaven.
It is certainly country and probably more traditional than contemporary. But This country music thing is also not representative of the trendy classic 90s country sound that artists young and old are currently embracing. Josh Turner is not a 90s guy, he’s a 00s guy. But there’s a fear that this puts him in a kind of country music no man’s land where neither mainstream radio stations nor the younger generation understand what he’s doing.
An artist like Josh Turner may also no longer be spoiled for choice when it comes to songs. The songs on the new album have an “always good, never great” aspect, but still offer some bright spots. “Somewhere With Her” is really successful for Turner, and the few songs he wrote himself also stand out, namely the autobiographical title track and the final song “Unsung Hero”, which comes across as very personal to Turner and conveys the “Support the Troops” feeling in all the right ways.
It doesn’t really matter what Josh Turner sings, as long as he sings something. Gospel and Christmas music, cover songs or the selection from This country music thing– all of this is a showcase of one of the greatest voices to ever grace country music, and it’s better to hear it than wonder where it’s gone.
1 1/2 weapons high (7.4/10)
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