Exclusive: Josh Turner Learned His Granddaddy Was a War Hero, Channeled Story Into New Album

Josh Turner didn’t intend to wait seven years between original country albums–his 2017 Deep South was his last. But time and a host of his passion projects, including a gospel project, a Christmas record, and a country covers and collaborations album, got in the way.

Turner‘s 10th studio album, This Country Music Thing, is out now. Released Friday, Aug. 16, This Country Music Thing is home to 11 songs, three of which Turner wrote or co-wrote.

When Turner’s longtime label home, MCA Records, extended his recording contract, the singer and his producer, Kenny Greenberg, jumped into making This Country Music Thing with both feet.

“It was like every other record I’ve done,” Turner says. “The songs dictated the direction that we went in.”

He was impressed by the quality of the outside songs pitched for the project, including “Heatin’ Things Up,” which Marv Green, Luke Laird, and Brice Long wrote specifically for him.

“They sat down and said, ‘Hey, let’s write something for Josh Turner,’” Turner says. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anybody do that.”

Turner feels he had to “scratch and claw” for the best of the best songs for his entire career, so to have three such celebrated songwriters sit down with him in mind was a uniquely touching validation for the happily married dad of four. Turner and his wife, Jennifer, have been married for over two decades. They recently moved their family from the Nashville area to her home state of Georgia. When Turner got pitched “Down in Georgia,” he felt like songwriters Tyler Booth, Anthony Olympia, and Brent Rupard might be reading his mail.

Josh Turner’s This Country Music Thing is Out Now

“I wasn’t familiar with those three writers,” Turner explains, saying he thinks that song was written specifically for him, too. “I’m still trying to get the straight story on that. I don’t know if they knew that I was moving to Georgia, if they just knew my wife was from Georgia, or what the deal was. But when I heard it, I’m like, ‘Golly, what a perfect song for where I’m at in my life.”

Videos by American Songwriter

Josh Turner – Two Steppin’ On The Moon (Official Music Video) (youtube.com)

Turner wrote “Whirlwind” with Mark Narmore and “This Country Music Thing” and “Unsung Hero” alone. He forgot about “This Country Music Thing” until Greenberg found it in a batch of recordings, but “Unsung Hero” is so personal he’ll remember it forever. Turner wrote it about his grandfather, a World War II veteran.

Turner describes his grandaddy as a man of few words who didn’t talk about his experiences in the war. The singer remembers him sharing a story of riding a train from Columbia, South Carolina, to San Antonio, Texas. Still, he was so young when he heard it that Turner didn’t realize it had anything to do with World War II.

“I didn’t know what questions to ask, so I was just kind of in the dark,” Turner says.

When he got older, Turner started digging into his grandfather’s military history.

“It made it very clear and very plain that here was an American hero living amongst us, and he never talked about it,” Turner says. “We never talked about it. Nobody ever really asked him about anything.”

Turner’s grandaddy was a medic who followed a tank battalion around Europe. He got shot by an enemy aircraft while he was driving an ambulance. Turner’s uncle acquired the veteran’s papers and medals but lost his grandfather’s Purple Heart, the singer learned.

Josh Turner: “How Do You Lose a Purple Heart?”

“It was a gut punch,” Turner says. “How do you lose a Purple Heart? At the same time, he had all of the papers. I asked him, ‘Can I take pictures of all this?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’”

Turner used those photos for research and sat down one night in his songwriting cottage, where “Unsung Hero” poured out of him onto the page.

“It didn’t take long to write because it was so personal to me,” Turner says. “I had done so much research on it.”

Turner played “Unsung Hero” during concerts over Independence Day weekend a couple of years ago. Then he and Greenberg tightened the lyrics and chords up, and he included it on This Country Music Thing. He cried when he went into the studio to record it.

“This was only the second time in my whole career that I ever got emotional in the studio because I was so moved by the fact that this song had ended up on the record as a tribute to my granddaddy,” he says. “He’s not here to hear it, and it also got me thinking about how many other people out there can relate to this song or know somebody like this.”

Josh Turner’s Heroes Join Him In Video for “Two Steppin’ On The Moon”

“Two Steppin’ On The Moon” is Turner’s other sentimental favorite. But this time, it’s because of the music video. Matt Dragstrem, Chase McGill, and John Pierce wrote the song, but Turner had the idea of incorporating other songwriters and artists with songs about the moon into the music video.

Randy Travis, The Gatlin Brothers, John Anderson, Shenandoah’s Marty Raybon, and Mark Narmore, who wrote “The Moon Over Georgia are all in the clip.

“I’ve never been happier than I was when I was sitting at that table with those guys sitting there shooting a video,” Turner says. “I was like, ‘This is unbelievable, the fact that I’m sitting here with these country legends shooting a video. But on top of that, they love me enough to drive all the way out here to Portland, Tennessee, to this rat hole of a bar to do this. It was unbelievable.’ And just making that memory with them was just something I’ll always cherish.”

(Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)