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Josh Turner admitted this evening that it was the first time he and his band, The Tonkin' Honkies, had played their brand of country music at a church. Considering their tunes' cleanness and the expression of Turner's Christianity in his first and latest radio singles, his admission was only slightly surprising.

Not surprising, however, was that the church in which Turner made that admission had a packed sanctuary for his show. That first radio hit in 2003, "Long Black Train," is one of the most solidly Gospel-affirming songs to hit commercial country in the last few years. Though it took months for it to peak in the top 15 of _Billboard_'s country radio chart, it propelled his debut album of the same name to over a million sales. His current album has generated two #1's on the same chart and looks to exceed its predecessor's success.

With all that to his credit, Turner's sauntering onto the church platform was nigh anticlimactic. Dressed down for the gig in jeans and short-sleeve tee over a long-sleeve shirt, he looked as if he could have walked up from the audience of 3,100. The song with which he opened his set, however, "Would You Go With Me," is far from ordinary, coupling a driving, mandolin-based melodic base to lyrics recalling the most romantically impressionistic of Tom T. Hall's or Mickey Newberry's songcraft.

Chart-topper though that song was, from there, Turner sought to affirm his outdoorsy South Carolinian identity with the triple shot of "Way Down South," "Backwoods Boy" and "Lord Have Mercy On A Country Boy" (which I still think sounds plenty like Reba McEntire's "Fear Of Being Alone," but that's no bad thing). By then, Turner was ready to talk to his throng and get a little rowdier, too.

Turner dropped names without ego as well. He introduced "White Noise" with mention of the honor it was to recorded on his current album as a duet with John Anderson, whose 1983 smash "Swingin'" Turner sang in a mini-set of remakes later in his set; Turner's stand-up bassist covered for Anderson's background vocals aptly. Before singing "Good Woman Bad," he explained that it was heard in a Jennifer Lopez and Robert Redford movie. It must have given him some sweet licensing money, but no big whoop for the seemingly unflappable Turner.

If there was anything approaching a moment of falsity in Turner's set list, it was including Waylon Jennings' "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" in that mid-show set of oldies. As Turner said in a q&a period with the church's assistant pastor before his final few songs, the Lord spared him from playing the bar and honky-tonk circuit Hank Williams, Sr. and Jennings endured on their way to stardom. Still, Turner brought to mind the late Jennings' tough baritone without imitating it. That pastoral quiz session revealed just how soberly he takes his good fortune; he seemed genuinely freaked when he spoke of fans he's met on the streets congratulating him on the recent birth of his and his wife's first child. Freaked, but no doubt gracious.

Turner's last few songs succinctly summarized his trad' country influences. "Angels Fall Sometimes" could easily be the down tempo weeper of a fourth single from his latest album. Current single, "Me And God," recorded as a duet with bluegrass pioneer Ralph Stanley, seems a tad cutesy compared to the stark foreboding-and-rejoicing of "Train," but it's in keeping with Turner's churchy roots. The titular tune to his latest long-player, Your Man, swang gently like the rawer end of early '60s countrypolitan sounds.

At last, he kinda' encored--he and the band were offstage for maybe a minute--with "Train," prefaced and followed by recorded locomotive chugs and audience sing-along for its exultant "There's victory in the Lord" refrain. If there's a way to leave a crowd wanting more, ending it joyously as that does the trick.

Opening act BlueGrace dressed more country than Turner, in Western-cut shirts and masculinely boxy dress jackets, but the local gospel bluegrass-fusion group draws from more than rural roots. Between their takes on the standard "Are You Washed In The Blood Of The Lamb" and Brother Claude Ely's "Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down," they worked wonders on The Four Tops' "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" and recalled the acoustic guitar riff driving Neil Diamond's "Cherry, Cherry" on their original "Sweet River." The band might be a CCM or Southern gospel marketer's nightmare (or boon), but they fill their unique niche in a way that merits greater national attention.

Jamie Lee Rake   November 24, 2006