Josh Turner's second album is deliberately steeped in country music tradition; at one point or another, he name-checks
Johnny Cash,
Loretta Lynn,
Dolly Parton,
Charley Pride, and
Red Sovine; sings with
John Anderson and
Ralph Stanley; and borrows songs from
Anderson and
Don Williams. At a time when country music, as so often, was flirting with pop,
Turner took a leaf from his main immediate influence,
Randy Travis, and established a sort of neo-neo-traditionalist approach with his first significant hit, "Long Black Train," in 2003-2004. Although it topped out at only number 13 in Billboard's country chart, the song established
Turner, whose debut album, named after the single, went platinum. There isn't anything as arresting on this collection (the title song, an ordinary love ballad, inched into the country Top 20 prior to the album's release), but it is more consistent overall. Producer
Frank Rogers constructs conventional country arrangements that do not draw any special attention to themselves, which is appropriate since all they need to do is serve as background to the real attraction,
Turner's resonant bass baritone. It's that voice that matters, more than the music and more than the songs, although
Turner and
Rogers have put together a nicely balanced selection that includes a heartfelt ballad in "Angels Fall Sometimes" (one of five songs out of 11 that
Turner wrote or co-wrote); the honky tonk duet "White Noise," a surprisingly successful pairing with
Anderson; the dumb-but-no-doubt-sincere "Me and God," sung with
Stanley; the rollicking novelty "Loretta Lynn's Lincoln" (a video waiting to happen); and the winning revival of
Williams' 1977 hit "Lord Have Mercy on a Country Boy."
Turner doesn't quite have the sense of wry humor necessary to make
Anderson's (or songwriter
Shawn Camp's) "Baby's Gone Home to Mama" his own -- he's still a better technical singer than he is an interpreter -- but he's still young, and improving. ~ William Ruhlmann