Story Behind the Song: David Nail, ‘Turning Home’
After Kenny Chesney and Scooter Carusoe co-wrote "Turning Home," the country superstar intended to record the song himself. As fate would have it, however, Chesney let the song go, and it landed with David Nail.
Nail released "Turning Home" in January of 2010, as the third single from his debut album, I'm About to Come Alive. It peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart -- Nail's second Top 40 entry on that ranking -- and, an even bigger feat, earned a Best Male Country Vocal Performance nomination at the Grammy Awards.
Below, Nail recalls how "Turning Home" ended up in his hands, and why he connected with the track. Read on for the story behind the song, in the singer's own words.
Kenny Chesney wrote it with a guy named Scooter Carusoe, and there were a few of Kenny's records where we thought he was going to cut it. I like to think that the Good Lord had a hand in it all and made Kenny an even bigger superstar than he is, and maybe Kenny deep down felt bad for me and threw me a bone by letting me record it.
I'm very appreciative of it, because I've always said ... that it's the most important song that I've ever heard, and I just happen to have the opportunity to sing it every night. It was the first song I've ever been a part of where I could truly close my eyes and just sing the words, having lived so many of those words. When I first heard the song, it was exactly what I was going through at the time.
A lot of times, we underestimate the intelligence level of the listener. From the first moment people hear that song, they may hate it, but they at least believe what I'm saying. That's all I'm trying to do a singer and as an artist.
When the song came out, Kenny called and congratulated me and loved my version of it.
This story was originally written by Lorie Hollabaugh, and revised by Angela Stefano.
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