Released in June 2012, Josh Turner’s Punching Bag reached number one on the Country Album Charts and yielded singles success in the form of “Time Is Love” (a number two hit). It also contained the hugely underrated “Cold Shoulder,” which I believe to be one of his finest recorded moments.
The first single off Deep South was “Lay Low,” a pleasant tune with an enjoyable video which came out in September 2014. The fact that it’s taken another two-and-a-half years since then to put the album out is down to the fact that Josh and his team were unhappy with the song’s performance, chart-wise (it peaked at 28).
“We never got any negative feedback – the fans loved it,” said the South Carolina-born star, who turns 40 later this year, “and I still think to this day that ‘Lay Low’ was a masterpiece; a great video, the whole nine yards. But sometimes things don’t do as well as you would like and you just have to move forward from that.
“So I kinda took that as motivation, as an excuse to go back in and really try something different. I changed producers, used a whole new band, started listening to songs in a different way and tried to write in a different way – and there are several songs on this record that reflect that.”
The second single from Deep South was “Hometown Girl,” which got as high as number 18 following its release in May last year, bettering its predecessor’s performance by 10 places. The song was one of the newer ones Josh went back and worked on following the disappointing showing (by his standards) of “Lay Low.”
Of the 11 tracks that make up the record, Josh wrote or co-wrote five of them (the pick of the five for me being “Hawaiian Girl”). Another of my favourites among the 11 is “Never Had a Reason,” written by Justin Ebach, Steven Dale Jones and Brad Tursi.
One that Josh penned by himself is the title track, which was inspired by his origins and his experiences growing up. “When we had all the songs picked out for the record, I felt like ‘Deep South’ was a good summation of who I am and what kind of music I’m out there playing,” he concluded.
Deep South is out today, on MCA Nashville in the US and on Humphead Records in the UK.
For more information on Josh Turner, visit his official website.
