Concert Review: Turner starts the fair on a high note
Published 9:37 am Wednesday, August 5, 2015
![Country music singer Josh Turner sings during the first Grandstand performance at the Freeborn County Fair this year. - Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune](https://www.albertleatribune.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2015/08/0805.turner.1.jpg)
Country music singer Josh Turner sings during the first Grandstand performance at the Freeborn County Fair this year. – Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune
American contemporary country music singer Josh Turner kicked off the Freeborn County Fair on a high note Tuesday in what was his second performance in eight years at the fair.
Turner, a double-platinum MCA Nashville recording artist, started the concert with No. 1 hit “Why Don’t We Just Dance?” from his 2010 “Haywire” album before showcasing his rich, deep voice and distinctive style with hits “Firecracker” and “Everything is Fine.”
“Everything is fine, fine, fine out here at the Freeborn County Fair,” Turner said, after throwing his first of several guitar picks into the crowd.
The Hannah, South Carolina, native said the last time he was in Albert Lea was in 2007. He said people in Albert Lea make him feel at home and talked about looking at the antique tractors at the fair earlier in the day.
![Members of country music singer Josh Turner’s band perform Tuesday night at the Freeborn County Fair. -Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune](https://www.albertleatribune.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2015/08/0805.turner.2-300x206.jpg)
Members of country music singer Josh Turner’s band perform Tuesday night at the Freeborn County Fair. -Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune
Turner had released his second album the year before he came in 2007, and since then, he has released “Haywire,” in 2010, and “Punching Bag,” in 2012.
He played multiple songs from those albums, including “Backwoods Boy,” “All Over Me,” “I Wouldn’t be a Man,” “Lay Low” and “Where the Girls Are,” as cameramen took footage of the audience and put it intermittently on a big screen behind the stage. The crowd cheered as they saw themselves on the screen and often clapped and danced when they were shown.
Turner even took a minute to sing “Happy Birthday” to a woman in the crowd.
He talked about another album he plans to release and gave people a peek at a few songs from that album with songs with themes about the deep South and about going to the beach.
He closed out the night with one of his first singles, “Long Black Train,” and “Would You Go with Me.”
By the end of the night and an encore, which brought Turner running back on the stage to sing “Your Man,” Turner had performed at least 17 songs.
Turner describes himself as a family man, philanthropist and devoted Christian, according to his website. He is one of the youngest members of the Grand Ole Opry.
He said Tuesday night one of his proudest accomplishments to date is a new book titled “Man Stuff: Thoughts on Faith, Family and Fatherhood,” which was released in April 2014. The book features Turner on the cover with his four sons. It includes stories from his life. He also created a scholarship called the Josh Turner Scholarship Fund to assist students interested in pursuing a future in arts and music.
He said people could contribute to the scholarships through his website joshturner.com.
- Country music singer Josh Turner sings during the first Grandstand performance at the Freeborn County Fair this year. – Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune
- Members of country music singer Josh Turner’s band perform Tuesday night at the Freeborn County Fair. -Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune
- Country music singer Josh Turner, right, smiles at the audience Tuesday night at the Freeborn County Fair. This was Turner’s second time performing at the fair. -Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune
- Josh Turner and his band play guitars Tuesday night at the Freeborn County Fair. – Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune
- Singer Josh Turner performs in the second half of a concert on Tuesday at the Freeborn County Fair. – Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune