"Time Is Love" is a song written by Tony Martin,

Mark Nesler Mark Nesler (born January 5, 1961 in Beaumont, Texas) is an American country music artist. Signed to Elektra Records as a recording artist in 1998, Nesler charted three singles on the U.S. ''Billboard'' country charts. In addition, he has writte ...

and

Tom Shapiro Tom Curtis Shapiro (born in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American songwriter and occasional record producer, known primarily for his work in country music. To date, he holds four Country Songwriter of the Year awards from Broadcast Music Incorpor ...

and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Josh Turner Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and songwriter. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single r ...

. It was released in January 2012 as the lead-off single from Turner's album ''

Punching Bag A punching bag (or, British English, punchbag) is a sturdy bag designed to be repeatedly punched. A punching bag is usually cylindrical, and filled with various materials of suitable hardness. History Punching bags have been used in martial ar ...

''. It was covered by

Mark Kozelek Mark Edward Kozelek (born January 24, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and occasional actor. He is known as the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon and founding member of ...

on his 2013 covers album ''

Like Rats ''Like Rats'' is a studio album by American singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek, released on February 19, 2013 on Caldo Verde Records. Self-produced by Kozelek, the album is a collection of acoustic cover songs. The album was released on the same d ...

''.

Content

"Time Is Love" is a moderate up-tempo song with prominent mandolin. The song's male narrator describes being at work and expressing the urgency that his time would be much better spent at home with his woman, because "time is love." The song is in the key of

D major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor. The D major scale is: : Ch ...

with a main chord pattern of Bm-G-A-D.

Critical reception

"Time Is Love" received mostly average reviews from critics. Billy Dukes with Taste of Country gave the song a 2½ stars out of 5, faulting the lyrics for being bland; however, he complimented Turner's voice and the "brilliant instrumental bridge." Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave the song a C rating, saying that the vocal delivery lacks Turner's signature baritone. Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave the song 3 stars out of 5, saying that it "feels like it’s more of a ‘background’ kind of song more than one that makes you wanna stand up and notice it;" he complimented the song's production as a happy marriage of modern country and Turner's neotraditionalist roots. Greg Victor, music critic at Parcbench.com gave the song 3 stars out of 4, citing the song's "jazz-inflected improvisatory feel" and appreciating the way that Josh Turner delivered "a more modern sound echoing a traditional sentiment."

Music video

The music video was directed by

Peter Zavadil Peter Zavadil is an American music video director who works primarily in the field of country music. He has directed many music videos since the late 1990s. He has won the Country Music Association Award for Video of the Year twice from seven nomin ...

and premiered in March 2012.

Chart performance

"Time Is Love" debuted at number 56 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart for the week of January 14, 2012. It also debuted at number 91 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart for the week of April 14, 2012. In December 2012, ''Billboard'' magazine named "Time is Love" the No. 1 country song of the year despite it never placing at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart; it peaked at number 2 behind

Little Big Town Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbro ...

's " Pontoon" and

Hunter Hayes Hunter Easton Hayes (born September 9, 1991) is an American multi-genre singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is proficient at more than 30 instruments. Hayes released his Hunter Hayes (album), self-titled debut alb ...

' " Wanted". In the process, the song became the second in the 68-year-old chart's history to achieve this distinction, behind

Lee Brice Kenneth Mobley Brice Jr. (born June 10, 1979), known professionally as Lee Brice, is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Curb Records. Brice has released five albums with the label: '' Love Like Crazy'', '' Hard to Love'', ...

's " Love Like Crazy", which peaked at number 3 in 2010.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2012 singles Josh Turner songs Song recordings produced by Frank Rogers (record producer) Songs written by Tony Martin (songwriter) Songs written by Mark Nesler Songs written by Tom Shapiro MCA Nashville Records singles Music videos directed by Peter Zavadil Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles of the year 2012 songs