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A song to sing and nothing to lose
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
Young girl
Looking out the windshield
At a big old world
And I’m proud of where I come from
But I got a full tank of gas and I’m ready to run
Five hundred sixty-three
miles to Nashville, Tennessee
And I know I got to pay my dues
But I got a song to sing and nothing to lose
The lyrics to Sarah Turner’s single “Youngstown” neatly summarize where the young singer is now — and where she’s heading.
Turner, 18, released the country-pop song late last year, which is available on iTunes.
A video of “Youngstown” was posted on YouTube this week and quickly made the rounds online. Turner’s sister, Anne-Marie, made the video, which flashes a series of photos of famous Youngs-towners as the song plays.
A 2010 graduate of Boardman High School, Turner co-wrote “Youngstown” with Nashville songwriters Bill Shore and Joe Beck.
She will release her first CD, a six-song collection that includes “Youngstown,” by the end of February. It will be available on iTunes and at sarahturnermusic.com.
Next up for the daughter of Dan and Maryann Turner is a radio-station blitz. Turner will visit country stations in the region to introduce herself with on-air interviews and sing her signature song, “Youngstown.”
A communications major at Youngstown State University, Turner has been traveling to Music City over the past year to write, record and plan her career.
She was active in theater at Boardman High School but always wanted to be a country singer. That desire inspired Turner when she wrote the lyrics for “Youngstown.”
“I started thinking of where I’m from,” she said. “And I’ve always wanted to go to Nashville and have a huge country song and be like [country stars] Jennifer Nettles or Kenny Chesney. So I tied those two things together and sing about how I want to pursue my dreams. It kind of just formed.”
As Turner puts it:
I’m proud and I’m scared
But I’m gonna show ’em when I get there
Ain’t no running, no backing down
In this young girl from Youngstown.