Josh Turner Answers 11 Questions

As his latest single, 'Why Don't We Just Dance,' went all the way to No. 1 on the charts, Josh Turner is soaking up the success of his new album, 'Haywire.' The booming baritone sat down with The Boot to talk about his new project and was nice enough to spend a few extra minutes with us to answer eleven more questions of a somewhat less serious nature. We asked the devoted husband and father of two about everything from his worst habit to the artist who'll never be his opening act!

What's your guilty pleasure?

Chocolate!

What would your wife, Jennifer, say is your worst habit?

Where do we start on this one? [laughs] She's is obsessive about my stuff around the house. She hates it when I leave papers laying around. I make these little stacks of stuff that I have to go through, and most of the time I don't have time to go through it all at once, so it's always in her way. She'll move it to another spot and then I'll get upset about her moving it ... and then she starts to get upset about me having it in her way. Then I'll get mad and go through it all, and she'll be all sweet [saying], "I'm so glad you went through the papers .... blah, blah, blah."

Who do you think is the most underrated singer in country music?

John Anderson. John has been given the cold shoulder more often than he has deserved. He's had a really long career, sold a lot of records, had a lot of hits ... but at the same time, he's one of the most under-appreciated artists in this business. You know him when you hear him. Any song he sings becomes a John Anderson song at that moment, don't matter who sung it before. He's a great guy, a friend of mine. He and I have shared a lot of stories, written songs together and done shows together. I grew up listening to John Anderson music, and I'm even more of a fan now after meeting him than I was before. He just knows who he is and he's unashamed about what he believes, and he gets out there and he can put on a heck of a show. I won't ever forget, I had gotten an offer to do a show in Florida, and they wanted John to open for me. I told them, "Absolutely not! There's no way I'm going to go out there and be a headliner with John Anderson, one of my heroes opening for me." I'm so glad I made that decision because I got out there and played my 40 minutes, and he comes on and plays two hours worth of hits. It was unbelievable and just knocked everybody dead. So that was one case where being humble was the right way to go, because he would have just put me to shame regardless.

If you could have dinner with anybody living or dead, who would you choose and why?

Probably [country comedian] Jerry Clower. He's always been one of my heroes, and he was the first celebrity I ever met. I met him back in South Carolina. He had come to do his show at the Tobacco Festival. I just thought he was "it," because my parents had all kinds of Jerry Clower tapes and everything. I couldn't believe I got to meet him. He's so colorful and so iconic, and clean and funny. He was southern and didn't care whether you liked it or not, so I think he would be entertaining to sit down and have a meal with.

What is your idea of the perfect romantic date?

No cell phones, warm weather, good food and no children around. It doesn't matter where we are, as long as those things are taken care of, we're good.

With a demanding career and two children, how do you keep the romance alive?

We just make time for each other -- whether it's going for a walk or letting the children stay with Grandma for an hour so we can go eat and have a conversation. A lot of times, having an infant in the house, it's a lot harder to break away and go play for a weekend, but during those in-between times where she's not having to take care of a little one and we're not on the road, we'll try to get away. She actually surprised me last year with a trip to go down to the Florida Keys. It was great because our cell phones didn't work. We were on this tiny island, just stranded pretty much. They fed us every night and we could hang out by the pool. We had our own little bungalow. It was just great to focus on each other.

What's your favorite city to visit on tour?

One of my favorite places is Seattle. Growing up, I never thought I'd be able to go to Seattle. I grew up in eastern South Carolina, so that's as far as you can get from Seattle, unless I lived in Miami. It just seemed like a far-off land. And when I got up there for the first time, I was just in awe because it's so different from where I grew up. You can go downtown and see all the sites, and you can go to Puget Sound, Mount Rainier -- and the sporting events and the Olympic National Park, which we did last time we were there. There's just so many fun things to do in that area, and it's such a beautiful city.

What's the most memorable gift a fan has ever given you?

The coolest gift I've ever gotten from a fan was from the Franklin Mint. It was a knife, and it had a picture of General Wade Hampton, who my oldest son is named after. It's a collector's item and came with a case and a stand and everything.

Why did you choose to name Hampton after the General?

Wade Hampton was one of my heroes and was a strong man. He was born into money and prestige and he had to sacrifice it to fight for what he believed in. He was very paternal and took care of his family and suffered a lot of loss in his life. He was a General in the Civil War; he was a part of the Confederacy. He was the South Carolina Governor at one time. He served in the U.S. Senate. He was a great Christian man and loved hunting and fishing. He was a proud South Carolinian, a proud patriot and American, and a hero of mine.