Josh Turner Puts Some Drive in His Country

Josh Turner photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Jan. 13, 2009 — The fan bases of country music and NASCAR have a famously significant overlap, and that was an underlying factor in last weekend’s Sound & Speed event in Nashville, featuring both a Friday-night concert and Saturday autograph sessions.

Richie McDonald, Danielle Peck, Diamond Rio’s Gene Johnson and Josh Turner were among the country stars who took part in the signings, and Josh definitely understands the connection between cars and country.

"The common man, you know, they’re all about fixin’ their own things, building their own things, and one of those things is cars and motors and automobiles, and building a bigger and better engine or motor," Josh told the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. "It’s just kind of the top rung of the ladder, I guess, NASCAR. I think it’s intriguing. It’s a simple concept — drive fast and turn left, and that’s kinda the way country music is. It’s like, we country music artists — the true ones out there — we write our own songs, we tell our own stories, and it’s all about real life. And I think NASCAR and country music have that in common."

Montgomery Gentry, Rodney Atkins and Julianne Hough performed at the Sound & Speed concert, and Rodney apparently picked up a new fan. A female reporter for NASCAR.com wrote that she found herself "wondering how Atkins got his jeans on. They were tighter than security at Fort Knox."

For the record, the reporter has never broken into either.

Click here to see photos from the concert!