Josh Turner brings This Country Music Thing to the Civic Auditorium next Friday

The baritone behind a decade of traditional-leaning country plays Knoxville Civic Auditorium on Nov 6, with Belle Frantz opening.

There is a particular sound a full Civic Auditorium makes when a baritone drops to the bottom of his range, and next Friday Knoxville gets to hear it again. Josh Turner plays Knoxville Civic Auditorium on Friday, Nov 6, with the show starting at 7:30pm and Belle Frantz opening.

The night is a stop on Turner's This Country Music Thing Tour, named for his tenth studio album. That record came out on MCA Nashville on Aug 16, 2024, and it was his first new album since 2017's *Deep South*. Longtime producer Kenny Greenberg was back behind the board, and Turner wrote or co-wrote three of its eleven songs, with outside writers including Luke Laird, Rhett Akins, Jon Randall and Chase McGill. The singles tell you where his head is: "Heatin' Things Up," the lead single "Down in Georgia," and "Two Steppin' On The Moon," which he debuted on *TODAY*.

That last one has had a strange and wonderful afterlife. According to the tour listing at The Classic Center in Athens, Georgia, the song led to a NASA invitation for Turner to perform for astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The same listing says the album debuted in the Top 10 on the Country Albums chart. It is a good line to have in your pocket when someone in your row asks what he's been up to.

What he has been up to, mostly, is this tour. Knoxville sits in a tight run of Southern dates: Athens, Georgia, the night before, then Memphis on Saturday, Nov 7. Further out the tour heads to Bismarck on Nov 12 and Minneapolis–St. Paul on Nov 13 before an Erie date on Dec 3. If you miss this one, the nearest alternative is a drive.

The room matters here. The Civic Auditorium holds a little over 7,000, which is big enough to feel like an event and small enough that a voice like Turner's doesn't get lost in the rafters. It is a seated, traditional hall, and this is a traditional country show, so the fit is right.

A few practical notes from the venue's own event page: tickets went on sale back in May, and the venue says all sales are final, with no refunds or exchanges. You can buy at the box office or through Ticketmaster. The building uses walk-through metal detectors at every entrance, so if you are trying to be in your seat for Belle Frantz, leave a little earlier than you think you need to.

Opener Belle Frantz is billed as special guest across this run of dates, so expect her to be part of the evening rather than background music for the beer line.

A voice like Turner's doesn't get lost in a room this size.

Friday night downtown, a seated hall, a singer whose low notes are the whole point. Get there early, get through the metal detectors, and let the room do the rest.

Sources: Knoxville Civic Auditorium & Coliseum: Josh Turner: This Country Music Thing Tour (knoxvillecoliseum.com); MCA: Josh Turner debuts song from new album 'This Country Music Thing' on TODAY (mca.com); Holler: Josh Turner readies his new album This Country Music Thing for release on August 16 (holler.country); The Classic Center: Josh Turner brings This Country Music Thing Tour to Athens (classiccenter.com); Renasant Convention Center / Cannon Center: Josh Turner: This Country Music Thing Tour (renasantconventioncenter.com); Ticketmaster: Josh Turner, Knoxville, 11/06/2026 (ticketmaster.com); JamBase: Josh Turner at Knoxville Civic Auditorium (jambase.com)