Single Review – Josh Turner – ‘Time Is Love’

After a year in which Turner saw his last single, “I Wouldn’t Be A Man” painfully climb to a #18 chart peak, you’d assume he’d return with a much stronger song able to push momentum in his direction again. Unfortunately, he’s returned with another example of subpar material far below his obvious talent.

Written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin and Mark Nesler, “Time Is Love” is the type of filler used by artists who need songs to fill out their albums. The generic melody, weak lyrical content, and sub-par vocal performance will likely keep this song from making a big impact at country radio.

“Time Is Love” is constructed as a spin on the phrase time is money with the opening lines setting up the protagonist’s fixation of being with his woman:

 I know I gotta put in the hours,

Make the money while the sunlight shines

But anything I gotta get done,

It can get done some other time

Much like need for people to leave concrete for dirt in southern pride anthems, there’s a sense of unhealthy obsession where priorities are out of whack. He only becomes more delusional in the second verse:

I only get so many minutes,

Don’t wanna spend ‘em all on the clock

In the time that we spent talkin’,

How many kisses have I lost?

The chorus doesn’t add much to the overall story except to continue building up the urgency of the man’s need to be with his woman. But like any poorly constructed song, the story goes nowhere very fast.  There’s all this build up but no culminating moment when he finally meets up with this woman. And by the time the bridge finally comes around, you’ve lost interest anyway.

I only wish we could be celebrating Turner’s return to form after two less than stellar singles. He has all the goods and he’s proven just how good he can be on songs like “Long Back Train” and “Your Man.” I just hope the rest of the album isn’t summed up in this single and there’s still some reason to be excited for his music.

Grade: C-