MCA Nashville The men of country music — namely Chris Janson, Randy Travis, Kris Kristofferson and John Anderson — are on full display on Josh Turner‘s new Country State of Mind album.
But the South Carolina native was dead set on paying tribute to country’s greatest women on the covers record as well.
“I looked at a lot of Dolly Parton stuff, and I also looked at Loretta Lynn stuff,” Josh explains. “But it seemed like most all of Loretta’s stuff came from a woman’s perspective, and it was very specific lyrically to where it kind of prevented me from singing a lot of it.”
“I looked at some of the Reba stuff,” he continues. “But I was determined to get a female song on this record, because I felt like that was important.”
The answer came in the form of a 1997 hit by a CMA Female Vocalist of the Year.
“I scoured the landscape,” Josh says. “And when I came across the Patty Loveless song, ‘You Don’t Seem to Miss Me,’ lyrically, it could be sung by a man or a woman. It was written by Jim Lauderdale. It had George Jones singing the harmony on it originally.”
“And so I thought that would be cool if I went in, sang this, and had a female sing the harmony, sing the George Jones part. And so the only thing better than one female is three females,” Josh laughs. “So that’s where I ended up getting Runaway June.”
“So that’s kind of the girl power song on the record,” he adds.
Country State of Mind also features Maddie & Tae and Allison Moorer, with Josh covering the likes of Keith Whitley, Alan Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Vern Gosdin, and more.
(LOS ANGELES) — Thousands of California firefighters Tuesday continued to brave harsh weather conditions in their attempt to fight over two dozen wildfires across the state.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, aka Cal Fire, said that 650 wildfires have now burned over 1.25 million acres in the state since Aug. 15.
“The significant acreage burned makes the fires collectively larger than the state of Delaware,” the agency said in a news release.
Cal Fire said there were 14,000 firefighters battling the blazes across California. As of Tuesday, the majority of the active fires were located in central and northern regions of the state, according to Cal Fire.
The fires are close to several major cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento, the agency said. The LNU Lightning Complex and the CSU Lightning Complex fires are now ranked No. 2 and No. 3 respectively on the list of all-time biggest wildfires in California, Cal Fire said.
So far, there have been seven fatalities related to the fires, and more than 1,400 structures have been destroyed, the department said. Among the parts of the state that have been affected are California’s forests.
Last week, many feared that the wildfire burning alongside Northern California’s coast would destroy many of the historic old-growth redwoods. Luckily, most of the ancient trees withstood the flames as the massive wildfire swept through the renowned Redwood Trail on Monday, the Associated Press reported. Big Basin Redwoods State Park is California’s oldest state park and home to trees as old as 2,000 years. These are also among the tallest living things on Earth.
Cal Fire announced that evacuation orders for parts of some counties, such as Santa Clara and Napa, were reduced to warnings, but the agency warned residents there is still some danger, as firefighters are monitoring lighting strikes in the state.
“Isolated thunderstorms are still possible in the upper portion of Northern California and the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range,” the department said. “A Red Flag Warning has been issued due to the possibility of lightning with little to no rain. The rest of California will experience a return to a warm and dry weather pattern.”
ABC News’ Haley Yamada contributed to this report.
(PORTLAND) — A helicopter pilot died Monday while battling the White River Fire in Mount Hood National Forest, officials said Tuesday.
About 20 miles east of Portland, Oregon, the pilot was flying a Type 1 Kmax and conducting bucket drops in rough terrain at the time of the crash, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Suzanne Flory said in a statement. The identity of the pilot has yet to be released.
“The firefighting community is heartbroken to learn of this tragic loss and our condolences go out to the pilot’s family, friends and co-workers,” Flory added. The Wasco County Sheriff’s Office and USDA Forest Service air and ground resources responded immediately to the crash site, and an investigation into the cause of the accident is currently underway, according to Flory.
Caused by lightning on Aug. 17, The White River Fire has burned more than 1,200 acres and is 15% contained. Currently, more than 300 people are battling the inferno, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
The White River Fire and other Oregon wildfires are burning alongside the state’s massive Indian Creek Fire, which was human-caused on Aug. 16, and has burned nearly 50,000 acres, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
Fire season is picking up & we have #firefighters working hard to protect local communities & natural resources. Be especially careful when driving around fire activity or vehicles. We’re watching out for you so please watch out for us! pic.twitter.com/JuYgtUGuNZ
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has extended an air quality advisory for potions of southern, central and easter Oregon because of wildfire smoke.
Wildfire smoke can irritate lungs, cause inflammation, affect immune system & make you more prone to lung infections, including the virus that cause #COVID19. Know how #wildfire smoke can affect you & your family & what you can do to protect yourselves. https://t.co/mIm6uIGFy4pic.twitter.com/G58yJ3AATI
(DETROIT) — A 20-year-old Michigan woman who was declared dead by paramedics and placed in a body bag for nearly three hours was discovered alive when a funeral home employee unzipped the bag and found her staring up at him, a lawyer for the woman’s family said.
Timesha Beaucamp, who’s suffered from cerebral palsy since birth, was in critical condition and on a respirator Tuesday afternoon at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit, her family’s lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, said during a Zoom news conference.
“When the body bag was opened and they were getting ready to embalm the body, Timesha’s eyes were open and she was breathing,” Fieger said.
Fieger said that shortly after Beaucamp was declared dead, her godmother, Savannah Spears, a registered nurse, told paramedics and police officers that she saw Beaucamp move and thought she detected a faint pulse.
“They told her the movements were involuntary, that they were related to the drugs that they had administered to Timesha and it did not change their opinion as to the fact that they felt she was dead,” said Fieger, who once represented controversial Michigan pathologist Dr. Jack Kevorkian against murder charges stemming for physician-assisted suicides.
The incident unfolded on Sunday morning at Beaucamp’s home in Southfield, a suburb of Detroit, when her family called 911 after noticing her lips were pale, that there was secretion around her mouth and she was having trouble breathing, Fieger said.
Southfield Fire Department paramedics arrived at the home around 7:34 a.m. on a call for an unresponsive female, Fire Chief Johnny L. Menifee said in a statement released on Monday. Menifee said the woman was not breathing when paramedics arrived.
“The paramedics performed CPR and other life-reviving methods for 30 minutes,” Menifee said. “Given medical readings and the condition of the patient, it was determined at that time that she did not have signs of life.”
A local emergency department physician pronounced Beaucamp dead based upon information provided by the paramedics, Menifee said.
Since there was no foul play involved, the Southfield Police Department notified the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office of the findings and an on-duty forensic pathologist at the coroner’s office released the body to the woman’s family to make arrangements to have the body picked up by a funeral home of their choosing, Menifee said.
The city of Southfield is conducting an internal investigation along with the Oakland County Medical Control Authority, and the findings of the probe will be turned over to the Michigan Bureau of EMS, Trauma and Preparedness, Menifee said.
Fieger said the four paramedics who worked on Beaucamp placed her in a body bag and left the home around 9 a.m.
Beaucamp’s relatives contacted the John H. Cole Funeral Home in Detroit. Workers from the mortuary came to the home around 11:25 p.m., picked up what they initially thought was a dead person and took it to the nearby funeral home.
Fieger said the family received a frantic call from the funeral home director around 11:45 a.m.
“The embalmer was actually there and was the person who opened the body bag,” Fieger said.
Staff at the funeral home also contacted the Detroit Fire Department, Dave Fornell, deputy commissioner of the Detroit Fire Department, told ABC News. He said the call the fire department received from the funeral home was for a person having difficulty breathing and that an emergency medical services crew didn’t know the full story until they arrived.
“We couldn’t believe it,” Fornell said.
Fieger said he was retained by the family to investigate alleged negligence on the part of the paramedics and police for a possible lawsuit. He said Beaucamp might not be in the condition she’s in now had she immediately been rushed to a hospital instead of being left in a body bag for nearly three hours.
“Our main concern, along with the family, is her survival and her well-being,” Fieger said. “The doctors are unable to give a prognosis right now and have indicated that it’s touch and go.”
ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — Turns out Kevin Hart is yet another celeb who tested positive for COVID-19, early in the pandemic — but he’s only now shared the news.
Page Sixreports the comedian and actor shared his diagnosis during a stand-up performance at Dave Chappelle’s An Intimate Socially Distanced Affair outdoor comedy show in Ohio over the weekend.
“The problem is that I had it around the same time as Tom Hanks, and I couldn’t say anything because he’s more famous than I am,” Kevin joked.
A source told Page Six that Chappelle spent $100,000 on rapid testing at his shows this summer for Hart and other performers. At the moment, it is unknown exactly what symptoms Kevin experienced, if any at all.
But Kevin really got a laugh out of a screenshot of a Facebook post by NBC News. It featured a story about Olympian Usain Bolt, who recently tested COVID-19 positive — yet the featured picture was of Kevin.
“No comment,” Kevin wrote on Instagram. “I must of gotten really fast & tall overnight. I am also no longer doing comedy due to my Olympic training schedule. P.S this is disrespectful on so many levels…All you can do is laugh. Maybe the COVID-19 shrunk his legs and torso.”
Kevin is also awaiting the arrival of his second child with his wife, Eniko. The couple announced their pregnancy earlier this year and recently celebrated with a Bobo-chic drive-thru baby shower. The couple welcomed their first child, Kenzo, in 2017. Kevin also has two children from his first marriage.
MCA Nashville The men of country music — namely Chris Janson, Randy Travis, Kris Kristofferson and John Anderson — are on full display on Josh Turner‘s new Country State of Mind album. 
