Randy Travis Surprises Josh Turner With Two New RIAA Certifications During Recent Grand Ole Opry Performance

Josh Turner’s recent appearance at the Grand Ole Opry turned out to be something far more memorable that a regular set featuring just his signature baritone vocals. On Tuesday, June 6, the singer/songwriter was also joined by country music legend, Randy Travis, who surprised him with the news that he had earned two new RIAA certifications.  

In the midst of Turner’s set, Travis, his wife Mary and Turner’s son, Hampton all made their onto the stage to present him with a plaque for his hit single, “Your Man,” which is now certified 4x Platinum by the RIAA, as well as the album, Your Man, that has been certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA.

Backstage, Josh Turner posted for a photo with his longtime friend and mentor photo as they commemorated Turner’s accomplishments with “Your Man.”

When “Your Man” was first released and soared to the top of the charts, Turner was just starting to make a name for himself in the industry. With this song, people began to see him as more than just a gospel artist, and he became further immersed in the music scene as a true country artist with captivating stories to tell. 

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“When it came to that point where it was time to release another single, we had already been experiencing the deal where a lot of people had tried to pigeonhole me as one type of artist based on ‘Long Black Train.’ And so we knew we had to kind of break out of that,” Turner explained. “Once I had recorded ‘Your Man,’ we knew that that was the song that was gonna help us kind of go in a different direction and show fans and radio and industry people that, ‘Hey, you know, I’m not just this one-dimensional type artist. I can do something completely different.’ And so that kind of took us, you know, almost a 180 from ‘Long Black Train.’”

He continued, “That really kind of helped establish me as a credible artist in my mind because like I say, there was so many people that just thought, ‘oh, well, you know, he’s the ‘Long Black Train’ guy, he’s the gospel type, you know, whatever.’ So ‘Your Man’ really kind of broke me out of that and it became my first number one. So, we obviously made the right choice.”

This song followed the success of the South Carolina native’s single, “Long Black Train,” which was released in 2003 and served as the title track to his debut album, both of which have also been certified Platinum by the RIAA.  Turner recently commemorated the song and album’s 20^th anniversary by releasing the full-length project on vinyl for the very first time.

“You know, I was lucky to just pass my classes and make good grades at that point. And I was overcoming my vocal injury at the time, and so it was kind of an innocent time in my life where, you know, I didn’t know how to write towards a record cause I’d never had a record deal. ‘Long Black Train’ came out of that time where I didn’t really know what my future held,” Josh Turner explained. “I never would’ve dreamt of the doors that that song opened for me going forward. Cause even at literally the moment that I finished writing it, I’m thinking, nobody’s ever gonna wanna hear this. This is just so out outdated. But you know, it’s got a lot of those timeless qualities and it’s got a very strong, clear message, and I think it’s something that people relate to and they continue to relate to it.”

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Josh Turner is currently in the midst of his Long Black Train 20th Anniversary Tour, which kicked off March 4 in Dothan, AL. The trek will continue across the U.S before wrapping up in Columbus, MN on September 23.

He also performed at Nissan Stadium for CMA Fest on Sunday, June 11. Over the summer, the singer/songwriter will return to the UK his triumphant inaugural tour over there in 2019.