Rising country star Chris Turner will perform with local singer/songwriter Rick Ferrell for a concert at the Vern Riffe Center on April 15. I asked Turner to tell me five things folks should know about him before coming to his concert. Here’s what he had to say:
He’s a Marine
Turner is undeniably proud of his military service. “That’s where I get my drive, my tenacity, and my ambition from. We see the hill; we take the hill. It’s where I get my energy from, too. It keeps me humble in a way that I never forget where I came from or what the mission is ahead.”
He’s an Avid Outdoorsman
“I love to hunt and fish. It’s what I grew up doing. I’m from a one-horse town with with two red lights, a Hardee’s, and a Piggly Wiggly. We lived for Friday night football. My granddaddy and parents, we were always outside fishing or hunting, or playing. It keeps me true to who I am.”
His Show is High Energy
Turner says he likes to call his genre pissed-off country. “We are wide open from lights up to lights out. I stay authentic, and every song I’m going to play has directly affected my life in some way. I’m a huge patriot, but I don’t necessarily make a big deal of it on social. I’m not trying to make a paycheck off the flag. I volunteered and did what I had to do for the flag.”
He’s a Blue Collar Country Boy
After the Marines, Turner tried his hand at just about every blue-collar job in the books. “I roofed houses, dug ditches, built houses, swept floors, stocked shelves at the Piggly Wiggly, climbed telephone poles, worked in warehouses and a cotton mill. When I sing about blue-collar, I speak the truth. I’ve stretched barbed wire and slung bales of hale. I don’t just sing the music I write, but I’ve also lived it.”
He Can Fix Your Car
Turner calls himself the ultimate shade tree mechanic. “I can pull an engine out with a come along winch, an oak tree branch, and a Walmart starter kit. I can fix anything.”
Turner says he wants the folks in Scioto County to know that he’s especially excited to perform his song “Same Boat” with Rick Ferrell. “I’m looking forward to singing it with Rick in front of his hometown crowd since he wrote it.”
Chris Turner will be in concert at the Vern Riffe Center on April 15 at 7 pm. Tickets can be purchased at the McKinley Box Office and online at https://vrcfa.com/events/chris-turner-w-rick-ferrell/
Turner’s song Same Boat is available on all major music streaming services, and he says he has new music coming mid-summer.