HostJolene: Part of About.com is the fan message board. Fans will ask questions to see if they can get answered. Some fans are from New Zealand and they are wondering about touring overseas. Are you touring overseas, do you have any plans for touring overseas?
Josh Turner: I won’t be touring overseas this year. It may be an idea to maybe go into that next year. We have that in the back of our minds right now. But I’ve actually met a lot of people from overseas throughout this country. A lot of them have been out west that I’ve met. I actually met somebody from New Zealand last month that was a big fan of mine. They bought the record when it came out. They told me they were probably the only ones in New Zealand that had that record. But we’re hoping we can get overseas and get out to some of those places in the near future.
HostJolene: Do you think Internet has impacted the fan base as far as where your fans are?
Josh Turner: Yeah, I definitely do. I think the Internet is just an incredible resource for the music business and you know it’s gonna be for a long time to come. It’s amazing that we can be able to do that, that we can have our art and our music readily available online all across the world.
HostJolene: When you have free time, what do you like to do off road, or even on the road?
Josh Turner: Well, it kind of depends on where I am. If I’m at home, I try to do nothing actually. I try to spend time with my wife and our dogs. Just try to enjoy some downtime. I like being outside, if I’m near water I like to go fishing as much as I can. And just spend time with family and try to spend as much time outdoors as I can.
HostJolene: Outside of music do you have any great passions?
Josh Turner: Outside of music? Well yeah, I’ve got a lot of things I’m passionate about. Well lately, one thing that has become kind of a hobby of mine and it’s pretty important to me is doing a lot of genealogical research. I’ve been doing a lot of ancestral research on my heritage. I’ve always kind of wondered where I came from as far as my lineage goes, but I never knew how to carry out that process. I’ve kind of learned in the past few months how to do that. So I’ve been doing that a lot. Making scrap books and writing out family trees and researching my family lines on both sides and it’s just been the most enthralling, interesting, intriguing thing. And like I said, it’s just become a hobby of mine.
HostJolene: How far back have you gotten?
Josh Turner: On my mama’s daddy’s side, I’ve gotten all the way back to 1650 and it was the first one to come to the states and their last name was Webber (?). And I’m actually researching my Turner side now, and it has been a little more difficult because from what I can tell, the Turners were really, really poor. So it has been harder to find any evidence on them.
HostJolene: When you released "Long Black Train," did you expect it to do as well as it did?
Josh Turner: No, I really didn’t expect it to be a single, or even on a record. It was the title track to my first record and it was the first hit single off of there and helped me sell a million records and it was just really a big surprise. And it was a welcome surprise. I really think God had his hand on that song and used it in a really special way and touched a lot of people throughout the country and throughout the world and made a positive difference in their lives. And usually those kinds of experiences are the best. Those things that come out of nowhere and do what you never expected. It definitely surprised me.
HostJolene: It looks like we need to finish up. What would you like to say to the fans that will be listening to and reading this interview?
Josh Turner: For everybody that’s bought my records and requested the videos and singles, I just want to thank everybody from the bottom of my heart. I wouldn’t be able to do this without them. And for those that are reading this that haven’t bought my record, trust me, it’s a good record. I’ve spent a lot of time on it and if they like traditional country music, they’ll like this record. So go grab a copy, enjoy it and have fun.
