Lane Turner knows who he is. After years as a top-draw honky-tonker on the Texas circuit, and after thrilling crowds on the road from Florida to Canada, he also knows what kind of music he does best.

"I like country music, the kind that's raw and emotional and naked," says the tall, lean cowboy from Levelland, Texas. "And I like the kind of country music that makes people dance. I don't care if it's a fast song or a slow one, I like it to have something in it that makes you want to move. That's the music I love, and that's the music I make. Always have."

Turner's kind of music - ramped up Texas dancehall music packed with energy and emotion - fills his Warner Bros. debut. Turner wrote 10 of the 11 songs, and he's road-tested them all. Full of dance floor romps like "Outside Looking In," to tear-in-your-beer ballads like "Happy Hour," to jaunty swingers like "King Of Pain," to the mysteriously sexy "Always Wanting More (Breathless)," Turner's debut album is a neon-lit, boot-scooting thrill ride.

It's also packed with the kind of savvy observations and sly vocal phrasing that can't be taught or imitated. It's either second nature, or it isn't. For Lane Turner, singing honky-tonk music comes as natural as a split-rail fence across a Texas plain.

Turner doesn't need anyone to tell him how to sound or how to look, not that people haven't tried. As friendly and upbeat as he is, he's got a lot of Lone Star stubbornness and independence in his blood.

"Every time I met with someone in Nashville, they'd tell me they loved my music, but they didn't know what to do with it," he says with a friendly smile that conveys no bitterness or regrets. "They'd suggest that I do it a little more this way or that way. But I didn't change a lick. I always felt that traditional Texas music was what I did best. I hope I've gotten better over time, but I haven't changed anything."

Turner kept writing songs, kept playing shows, kept paying attention to what fans liked about his music. He kept playing the kind of country music he loved - ramped-up Texas dancehall music packed with energy and emotion - and, yes, he kept getting better. By the time he returned to Nashville in 2002, after three years of steady roadwork, the reception had changed.

Once again, people said they loved his music. Only this time he found people who knew what to do with it. Bob Doyle, manager of Garth Brooks, enthusiastically signed Turner to a song publishing and management contract. They took his songs to Warner Bros. Records, where Chief Creative Officer Paul Worley immediately offered Turner a recording contract. "They just plain understood what I was doing, and they liked it," Turner says. "They thought that other people would like it too. They told me, 'We like you just the way you are, we don't want to change a thing.' I've been waiting to hear those words. It couldn't have come at a better time. I'm ready."

Turner feels as if he's been preparing for this opportunity his entire life. "Country music has always been a part of me," he says. "I grew up in West Texas, and country music is a constant part of the atmosphere there. Every house, every restaurant, every car has a radio going all the time, and it's always a country station."

His mother, a nursing home administrator, sang constantly around the house while listening to the radio and to her vast country record collection. His father, a Texas law enforcement officer, loved music as much as the rest of the family. At his grandmother's house, everyone spent their time on the big back porch, where a radio hung from a nail.

Turner received his first guitar at age 11 as a gift. A friend of his father's who worked for the sheriff's department showed him how to play. "He taught me classic, simple, three-chord country songs by Hank Williams and everyone else," Turner recalls. "To this day that's still the music I love the most."

By college, Turner was a skilled singer and guitarist who performed at parties. At Texas Tech University, he excelled as an athlete, becoming an All-American track star in the decathlon, one of the most physically demanding of all sports activities.

Despite the discipline and hard work required to become an All-American while studying in college, Turner continued to play guitar and sing as well. He hooked up with other athlete/musicians, and the informal jam sessions evolved into a working band. Known as Diamondback, the band performed at frat parties and restaurants, then graduated to nightclubs and honky-tonks, and eventually began touring Texas and opening for country stars like Brooks & Dunn and Mark Chesnutt.

"It just took off," he says. "We all loved it. We'd go to classes and train all day, then play music at night. By the time we graduated, the music was going so well that it became a viable career choice."

Meanwhile, Turner had started writing songs for the group. "I always wrote about something that happened, something that related emotionally to my life," he says. "I guess I turned to music to get those feelings out. And that became the way I wrote songs. My songs are all about me. I've either seen it from stage or been right smack in the middle of it myself."

After three years, with the band continuing to grow in popularity, they reached a crossroads. Turner wanted to take it further, but the rest of the band wasn't ready. "They all had wives and dreams of their own," he says. "My dream was to be a country singer and make records, and they understood that. It was time for me to take my shot."

Turner moved to Fort Worth, where he became a star on the city's fabled honky-tonk circuit. Within a year, with everyone he knew encouraging him to go to Nashville, he made the move. He found a lot of fans loved his music and a lot of encouragement. But Turner arrived in the mid-1990s just as Nashville was turning away from traditional country music toward a more pop-influenced sound. And the Texan was as country as they come.

"I guess I was kind of stubborn about it," Turner says with a smile. "I faced a lot of pressure about it. I'd have publishers and record company people say, 'That's really great, but do have you anything a little more pop?' I'd just say no, as politely as I could. I never argued with them about it. But I felt I had to do what I do best."

Turner started to develop a personal philosophy that, boiled down, basically said that he was going to stick to his guns. "I believe I'm a good traditional country singer," he says. "I don't believe I'm a good pop-country singer. There are a lot of talented people around. Why do something where I'm not at my best? The only way I could be successful was if I stuck with what I knew how to do."

Turner put together another band and started touring, getting an even better reception this time around. He met his wife Paula, who is from Manitoba, while performing at the Calgary Stampede, a massive rodeo event each year in Canada. After two years of a long-distance relationship, Turner knew he had to change for his relationship to work. So he returned to Nashville, inviting Paula to join him. "Right On Time" is a story about their chance meeting.

This time, everything fell into place. The couple became engaged, then married. Turner's music drew the interest of a leading music publisher, manager and record company. "I think people respond to the honesty in the music, the realness of it," the singer says. "I knew that fans liked what I did onstage, and I figured if I was given the chance, they'd like my songs on record, too."

He also believes that, for a change, he's in the right place at the right time. "I'm thankful that this is happening now instead of 10 years ago," he says. "I'm more prepared for it, and I think the record industry is ready for it, too. I feel like I've stayed dedicated to who I was and what I wanted to do, and it's paid off. That's a great feeling."

For more information:
Warner Bros. Nashville Publicity Dept.
615-214-1500
nash.publicity@wbr.com
http://publicitymaterials.wbr.com