5 questions with country star Josh Turner ahead of Greensburg concert

In the midst of his Greatest Hits tour, country artist Josh Turner gets the opportunity to reflect on his career on a nightly basis.

“It’s kind of wild. I tell my crowd every night that I’m just very honored and very blessed to even be able to say those words because a lot of artists don’t get the opportunity to make their greatest hits record, much less go out on the road and tour to support it,” Turner said in call from California earlier this week. “So it’s been a fun year to be able to kind of celebrate with my fans because they’re a huge part of how and why I got to this point in my career. So it’s been fun.”

Known for songs like “Long Black Train” and “Why Don’t We Just Dance,” Turner will be bringing his tour the Palace Theatre in Greensburg on Sept. 26, with Harper Grace opening the show.

Although he’s touring in support of his “Greatest Hits” album released last year, Turner also released a new album, “This Country Music Thing,” in August. On the musical side, the album came together smoothly despite taking place in a busy and stressful year for Turner.

“Because of that, I think I was able to choose songs that I really loved,” he said. “I didn’t have time to sit around and wonder, well, maybe this song will work or that song will work. I was just very decisive. If the song didn’t strike a chord with me, I would pass and move on to the next one. So it probably helped more than it hindered, the more I think about it.”

The title track is an autobiographical song for Turner, who said he doesn’t remember writing the song.

“I wish I did now that it’s the title track of this record,” he said with a laugh, “because I’ve had so many people ask me about it. I do remember vaguely writing the line about ‘now my face is on your T-shirt. I’m ridin’ around in a bus,’ but other than that, I don’t know. It was just one of those songs that just kind of flowed out and just obviously didn’t take very long to write. So I don’t really have any memories of writing it, but I’m glad I wrote it and it’s all true.

“And it’s basically just kind of a synopsis of my life and my musical career from growing up in South Carolina all the way up to today where I’m a member of the Opry and living my dream and touring all over the country and the world, and the fans, like I’ve mentioned earlier, are a big part of why I’ve been able to get to this point.

Turner discussed his latest cameo-filled video, the relationship between gospel and country music and more:

5 questions

The video for “Two Steppin’ on the Moon” has a bunch of your friends in it, so how did that came together?

I was in the studio recording that song, and my manager and I got to talking about the possibility because she had mentioned that the label was really wanting to do a video for one of these songs. So I was like, well, “Two Steppin’ on the Moon” has got a lot of potential and so I just started spitballing these ideas, like what if we had a honky tonk that was actually on the moon and we had all these artists that actually have had hits with moon songs, and I could be in there eating a moon pie and somebody could be doing the moonwalk. I kind of got carried away, but we actually managed to fit all those ideas into the video and it turned out to be incredible. …

The guys in that video are close friends of mine, and I love them to death. I tell you what, sitting at that table during that video shoot with those guys who are not only heroes of mine, but who I call friends now, I was sitting around thinking that this has got to be a dream. I’m sitting here smoking a cigar, and I’m sitting around the table with Randy Travis, Marty Raybon, John Anderson, Larry Gatlin, and my songwriting buddy, Mark Narmore. It’s like, it doesn’t get much better than this. (laughs)

You released the gospel album (“I Serve A Savior”) in 2018, so do you feel like country and gospel go hand-in-hand?

They do, and I feel like they always have. You go all the way back to the dawn of country music back in Bristol, Tennessee, Virginia, the Peer Sessions, you’ve got so many artists that were just thinking about real life, and their faith aspect, those old spiritual songs, that was a big part of it. That was a part of the fabric of the foundation of country music because these people were God-fearing people and they sang songs about their faith just like they would relationships and hard work and hard times and all that.

So it’s been there from day one and even artists like Ernest Tubb and just all of the greats throughout country music history have sung gospel songs from time to time and it’s not out of the ordinary for a country artist to do something like that. So I was very thrilled that I was able to make a record kind of based on what I believe and kind of the way I grew up, “Doxology” is actually one of the songs on that record and I was very proud to be able to put that on there because obviously it’s a very old song but that’s something that we literally sang every Sunday when we were in church and so that was a huge part of my upbringing and so just to be able to sing songs, “Without Him” is actually my favorite hymn, and I managed to connect with the guy who wrote that throughout the process of making that record, which was really cool because Elvis Presley was actually the first one to record that song and he was like, I don’t know, 18 years old, the writer was when that happened. So it literally changed his life and since then I think maybe 400 people have recorded that song so there’s a lot of cool stories surrounding that record. Sonya Isaacs came in and sang on a couple songs and she’s got the voice of an angel so it’s a record I’m very proud of. My version of “I Saw the Light” won me my first Dove Award, so it was fun to be able to do that finally.

Is it important for you to share your faith through music?

Through music, through just my everyday life, the way I carry myself. It’s not something that I’ve ever been able to separate or wanted to separate from what I do and who I am professionally. So it’s just anybody and everybody that knows me knows that that’s who I am.

Your last couple albums there’s been gospel, there’s been a Christmas album, and then there’s been country covers. So what’s next? Do you have a concept album, a rock opera, anything like that?

(Laughs) No, I don’t really have any plans at the moment. I’m just trying to survive the greatest hits tour and we’ll be touring next year, supporting “This Country Music Thing,” so I’ve got my hands full at the moment, but I’m sure the next record will happen naturally, just like all the rest of them have.

When you look at your music in general, do you consider yourself a country music purist?

Yes and no. Obviously that’s my background, that’s what I love and that’s where my heart is. But at the same time, you take songs like “This Country Music Thing, or “Heatin’ Things Up,” these songs, they kind of push the envelope and try to step outside of the norm because I get bored easily, so I want to hear the traditional country aspect, of course, but also I want to hear it in a new, fresh light, to where it doesn’t sound like the same old thing over and over again. I think the fans appreciate that. It makes things more interesting, and it helps you have a longer career.