| Long Black Train - Josh Turner - Cut By Cut | |
|
"Long Black Train" (Josh Turner)
"In My Dreams" (Casey Beathard/Tony Martin)
"What It Ain't" (Tim Mensy/Monty Criswell)
"I Had One One Time" (Harley Allen/Don Sampson)
"Jacksonville" (Josh Turner/Pat McLaughlin)
"Backwoods Boy" (Josh Turner)
"Unburn All Our Bridges" (Jamie O'Hara)
"You Don't Mess Around With Jim" (Jim Croce)
"She'll Go on You" (Mark Narmore)
"Good Woman Bad" (Pat McLaughlin/Roger Younger)
"The Difference Between a Woman and a Man" (Bobby Braddock)
Album cover, used with permission of MCA Nashville
I was brought up in a traditional Baptist church, and I've sung a lot of gospel songs. But the inspiration for this was actually Hank Williams. I was listening to the boxed set of Hank's music at the library at Belmont University. I was in my own little world. When I walked back to my apartment that night, everything seemed so different, so dark. While I was walking, I had this vision of an open plain somewhere. There was this luminescent glow about it, and there was a train track that went straight down the middle of that wide, open space. I saw this long, black, beautiful, shiny train roaring down this track. I saw people standing beside the track, trying to decide whether or not to get on this train and ride it. Even though they know exactly where this train is headed – nowhere. I was mesmerized by this whole experience and trying to figure out the meaning behind it. I got back to my apartment, and the song just started coming out. Between that night and the next day, I finished it. At the time, I didn't think it was that great of a song. It turns out that it's my favorite.
To be honest with you, I didn't want to cut that song. It just didn't hit me. But I gave it a chance and lived with it for awhile. I tried to envision how we would record it. I figured if it was supposed to be on the record, it would end up on the record. I knew that God's will would be done on that. So I got in there in the studio and it really turned out great. When I listen to it, it creates imagery. I can see the story playing out in my mind. We didn't really have a straightforward love song on the record yet, so I felt like it needed it. I felt like the record needed that sentiment - and women want to hear that kind of stuff, anyway.
It's just a clever, funny song about a man who's kind of down and out. It makes light of the subject. I haven't ever had a woman spend my money quite like that, but I've been in some big-time heartbreak situations. It seems like every one but about two or three were like that! Yeah, I've been run through the mill.
Ronnie Brown at the Ten-Ten Music Group played this for me one afternoon. He didn't even get half way through the song before I said I was taking it. I didn't think twice. Harley Allen wrote "Between the Devil and Me" for Alan Jackson and "The Little Girl" for John Michael Montgomery, so I feel lucky to have this. One thing I tried to do in choosing all of these songs was to have beautiful melodies as well as meaningful messages. This definitely has both.
I was writing with Pat one day, and he was wearing these green rubber shoes with Bob Marley's name on the side of them. I couldn't take my eyes off those shoes. I said, "Pat, where did you get those?" He said, "Oh, I got them killing time in Jacksonville one day." I thought, "That would make a cool song." Five or 10 minutes went by, and Pat said, "That's going to roll off my tongue – kill a few more days in Jacksonville." We wrote the chorus first, then went back to the beginning and put ourselves in the shoes of this guy who was just rambling around. We tried to picture everything that would happen in this situation. We lost track of time, writing together that day.
Well, this is definitely autobiographical. I've never shot a 10- point buck, but I did kill an eight point a couple of times. I've killed a lot of deer in my time. I was writing at my place one day, and all of a sudden the words "backwoods boy" came to me. I wrote the whole first verse down immediately. I even rhymed "camouflage" and "Dodge." Actually, in my hunting days I drove a Toyota, but that doesn't rhyme too well. And I do drive a Dodge truck now. Anyway, I wrote it just for my own pleasure. I never intended for it to be heard by anybody else. But I played it at a Christmas party last year and people said, "That's incredible! Who wrote that song?"
This is the one song that I didn't choose right off the bat. Mark Wright had it and was dying for me to sing it. He thought it might be something "different" for me. I wasn't sure it was my type of song, but I kept listening to it. We went into the studio to try it one day, and I completely fell in love with it. I absolutely love the song now.
I have to give Mr. Clay Bradley credit for this song. He brought it in and we all thought he was crazy when he played it for us. I have to admit, I wasn't that familiar with Jim Croce's stuff at the time. But since then, I've read up on him and tried to familiarize myself with him. He had a short-lived career. That's something that Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and Otis Redding had. There's so many artists who didn't get to see the light of day when it came to having a long career. And Jim Croce was one of them. He was a hard working, blue collar kind of man. He got into music because he got tired of working those manual odd jobs. I know all about those manual labor jobs, and I know how he felt about getting into music. I saw him as somebody I could relate to. I'm sure a lot of people out there will recognize that song, but I don't know if my generation will know it or not. This song just has that swampy kind of gritty, earthy, rootsy feel to it that I like. It's just a rough and tough song about a country boy beating up on somebody.
I think of myself as an "old soul," which is why this song appeals to me. I think that's always what made me stand out from my peers when I was growing up. I'd rather sit around the supper table and listen to my grandparents tell stories than I would be outside playing football with my friends. I've always been fascinated by older people's lives. When I was young, I wanted to grow up and be older than I was. It might be unusual for someone of my age to be thinking about the topics in these lyrics, but that's the way I am. "She'll Go on You" was one of the first demos I was asked to sing. It grabbed my heart and has never stopped affecting me. Everyone who hears it can't help but relate to it. Mark Narmore has captured the kind of emotion that I think is the essence of great country songwriting.
This was on a 1994 Pat McLaughlin album called Unglued, which I loved. I'm a big fan of his music, and now we write songs together. He's also playing on my record. Which makes it twice as fun.
Walter Campbell at Sony-Tree played me this song one day. I thought the melody was so beautiful. Plus, it takes you somewhere and puts you in somebody else's shoes. This man and this woman look at each other and say, "You're this way and I'm that way." I think a lot of people will relate to what this song is saying.
New posts to the Country Music forums:
