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Rochester music interviews
We hit up the artists on their way to the ROC
We hit up the artists on their way to the ROC
Don't let his latest song fool you. Josh Turner doesn't have a dancing bone in his body anymore. The country music star's latest video for the track "Why Don't We Just Dance" features about as much moving and shaking as anything since "Achy Breaky Heart." But Turner himself doesn't actually take part in any of it.
"My dancing days are over," Turner admitted during a recent phone interview. "I did some dancing earlier in my life, back when I was a junior and senior in high school. I learned early on that dancing was not my forte."
Still, the 31-year-old South Carolina native isn't opposed to using dance to deliver a message. With lines like, "Well, it might be me, but the way I see it the whole wide world has gone crazy/So baby why don't we just dance," Turner's looking at the brighter side of things. It's something fans are sure to appreciate at WBEE's Guitars & Stars concert on Wednesday, Nov. 4.
"Everyone seems a bit down with the way the economy is and everything," says Turner, who will serve as the evening's host. "The song just kind of talks about having an escape from all that."
"Why Don't We Just Dance" is the first single from Turner's forthcoming album, Haywire, due out in February. And while the track was one of the first songs he heard for the new record — his fourth — Turner almost waited too long to record it.
"We liked it so we put it on hold, because at that point we weren't ready to go into the studio," he recalls. "While we were sitting on it, I guess one of the writers or publishers had played it for another artist, and they really wanted it. So we ended up rushing into the studio, and it turned out great."
Turner says Haywire is his most diverse album yet. It features radio-friendly tunes like the lead single, as well as ballads, gospel and a lot of what the singer calls "straightforward Josh Turner, up-tempo songs."
But the process wasn't easy. This past June, as Turner wrapped up touring to work on Haywire, he and wife Jennifer welcomed their second child, son Colby Lynch Turner.
"The first part of the year for me was kind of haywire," says Turner with a laugh. "Everything just kind of happened all at once." Still, he should be used to it by now.
Turner has spent most of this decade enjoying a great deal of success, starting with a standout debut at the Grand Ole Opry in 2001, performing what would become his first hit, "Long Black Train." Turner's old-school charm and bass-heavy baritone voice instantly drew him comparisons to country legend Johnny Cash.
Turner parlayed the early buzz into three Top 5 albums on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, numerous award nominations, and becoming the second youngest member of the prestigious Grand Ole Opry (only Carrie Underwood is younger).
"It's been a great ride," he says. "I've just had a lot of dreams come true in this decade. I've been watching my family grow and just living my dream."
