Josh Turner Channels "Magical Moments" On Live Album

For Josh Turner’s second live album Live Across America he wanted to capture the magic fans witness from attending his live concert. Released through his tour sponsor Cracker Barrel, Josh told CBS Local they came to him with songs they wanted on the record and outside of that it was up to him to choose.

“It’s hard sometimes to capture magic when it comes to live records,” Josh admitted. “The thing that excited me about this one is that we recorded my live shows throughout the span of four months. And so we took the most magical moments from that four months of shows.”

The three songs Josh chose were 'Me and God,' 'So Not My Baby' and a cover of Waylon Jennings' 'America.' He explained that he wanted each song to have a unique arrangement on the album.

“I wanted it to be more acoustic and have a different flair to it so we came up with a completely new arrangement of ‘Me and God,’” he said. “‘So Not My Baby’ we did like the record except it was with acoustic instruments. 'America' is a song I chose because I felt that was a song that I thought would help drive the concept of this record home.”

“For us, making the record it was somewhat a journey,” he confessed. “There are 12 songs on here. Each song was recorded in a different city across the country. It was a journey. It outlines a little window into what our life is like traveling around the country, living on a tour bus.”

Josh further explained that he didn’t want the typical patriotic song featured on Live Across America.

“I wanted a song that spoke about the journey of not only what we were doing but the journey of our country. But I didn’t want it to be your everyday, straight up patriotic song,” he said. “The first song that came to my mind was this song 'America.' I’m really proud of how the band played on that. It was fun.”

So how did he select which performances were showcased on the record?

“It was pretty easy as far as choosing the songs,” he said. “We definitely chose the most magical performances from those four months.”

Live Across America is available for purchase at Cracker Barrel.

-Annie Reuter, CBS Local