Josh Turner‘s latest album, Country State of Mind, was just released. The record includes collaborations with legends like Randy Travis, John Anderson and more, along with rising stars like Runaway June. Josh praised the trio, who join him on “You Don’t Seem to Miss Me,” for their stunning vocals on the track.
“I texted the Runaway June girls and said, ‘I cut this Patty Loveless song, ‘You Don’t Seem to Miss Me.’ Would y’all be interested in singing on it?'” Josh recalled to Everything Nash and other outlets. “And literally like two seconds later, I get a text from Jennifer Wayne, saying, ‘That’s literally one of my favorite songs of all time.’ They were like, ‘We would absolutely love to.’ So it took a little while to get in the studio. I didn’t realize what was going on, with Hannah [Mulholland] leaving the group and Natalie [Stovall] coming in.
“And then with the shutdown, they were all in different states, with the travel restrictions and all that kind of stuff. It was kind of a challenge to get them all in the same location, and that was important to me because there was an option of doing it remotely from wherever they were. And I’m like, ‘I want Runaway June as a group. That’s who they are. They need to be in the same room. And if I have to wait for that, this is worth the wait.’ So I’m glad we did, because I came in, we bounced ideas off of each other, like you do in a studio setting. We just kind of fed off of each other, that whole iron sharpens our philosophy. It turned out great, and they sound incredible on that song.”
Josh has been a fan of Runaway June for a long, long time, which is why it was important for him to have the women join him on Country State of Mind.
“I’ve done shows with them, have gotten to know them,” Josh said. “I have learned that they have an appreciation for the music that came before. And they’re all just genuinely good people, and I love being around them. They’re fun to be around. They’re all extremely talented voices. So I just felt like it would be great to have them on this record.”
Josh also invited Maddie & Tae to join him on “Desperately,” originally done by one of Josh’s favorite singer-songwriters, Bruce Robison.
“His version of the song was actually what introduced me to the song, and then George Strait had a hit with it,” Josh shared. “I felt like it was not only paying homage to George Strait, but I was paying homage to Bruce Robinson, who is a friend of mine. I felt like with Maddie & Tae, one being from Texas, one being from Oklahoma, I felt like they would really come to understand that style of song. And so that’s exactly what they did. They went in and they totally got it.”
Country State of Mind also includes Kris Kristofferson, Allison Moorer and Chris Janson. Purchase the record at JoshTurner.com.