JOSH TURNER RELEASES HIS NEW ALBUM, COUNTRY STATE OF MIND, ON FRIDAY.

Artist: Josh Turner

Country State of Mind from Josh Turner arrives tomorrow! The 12 tracks on the album features music that is near and dear to Josh, and includes appearances from country legends, plus some of today’s hottest stars.

The idea for the album first started last summer, and was inspired by the old Vern Gosdin song “I Can Tell By The Way You Dance”—a song that Josh Turner loves, but feels doesn’t get its proper recognition these days. Country State of Mind was not only a chance for Josh to record songs from artists on his own personal “Mount Rushmore of Country Music” but he sees it as a chance to introduce his fans to songs and artists that perhaps they aren’t too familiar with. Of course, he had the opportunity to test that theory early on after finishing the album with a very specific audience…his kids! Turns out they love the collection, and each have their own personal favorite, which is something that Josh thinks will translate to his fans as well.

When looking for songs for the album, Josh combed through tracks that were very important to him personally and professionally, so one song he knew he had to include was Keith Whitley’s “I’m No Stranger To The Rain.” The track, which kicks off the album, is one that Josh says “I’ve always felt like this was one of those perfectly written country songs”, and still to this day as a writer inspires him when creating his own songs.

Josh Turner (I’m No Stranger To The Rain) OC: …like that.
“’I’m No Stranger to the Rain’ was originally done by Keith Whitley and Keith, to me, was one of the great country singers of our time, and you could hear the pain in his voice, and so when he sang a song like I’m No Stranger to the Rain, it was extremely believable and, and you really felt what he was feeling when he was singing a song like that.”

Josh Turner (I’m No Stranger to the Rain) 2 OC: …moments.
“Musically and lyrically, I’ve always felt like this was one of those perfectly written country songs, and it was something … and it still is something … as a writer that I try to aspire to, when I sit down to write a song. It’s like, if I can get anywhere close to the level that this song is, I’m doing pretty good, because like I say, it just … It was written by Sonny Curtis and Ron Hillard. And this has always been one of my favorite country songs. And so, when it came time to make this record I had to do it, because it has such an incredible message of just perseverance and endurance and determination and not letting the challenges in life keep you down. You have to continue to keep taking one step forward and just one step at a time and just powering through those rough moments.”

Josh Turner (How CSOM came about) OC: …modernized it.
“My manager and I started talking about this…summer of last year. We had kind of kicked the idea around the label liked it. The first song that came to mind when we started talking about this record was ‘I Can Tell By The Way You Dance’ – the old Vern Gosdin song. I’ve always wanted to kind of give that song a rebirth, a new treatment. I’ve always felt like lyrically and melodically it’s just always timeless, but it’s always kind of bogged down in that 80s production. This new version, of mine, I feel like it could be a hit today, just really kind of modernized it.”

Josh Turner (kids love album) OC: …my control.
“That’s a first-hand reminder of what I wanted to accomplish with this record. I know that there’s going to be a lot of fans out there that are going to hear songs on this record and feel like ‘Man, I’ve never heard that song’ or ‘I’m not familiar with that artist’ or whatever, so I want to kind of use this record as an opportunity to introduce fans to maybe some stuff that they weren’t familiar with before. That’s always an objective of mine, whether of not I accomplish that (laughs) is kind of out of my control.”