{"id":16674,"date":"2019-07-14T12:02:34","date_gmt":"2019-07-14T18:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1809032"},"modified":"2019-07-14T12:02:34","modified_gmt":"2019-07-14T18:02:34","slug":"at-44-jamey-johnson-stays-in-demand-after-in-color","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/at-44-jamey-johnson-stays-in-demand-after-in-color\/","title":{"rendered":"At 44, Jamey Johnson Stays in Demand After \u201cIn Color\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:660312?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/morrise\/\" title=\"Posts by Edward Morris\" rel=\"author\">Edward Morris<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">7\/14\/2019<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jameyjohnson.com\/\">Jamey Johnson<\/a> is a country music anomaly \u2014 an artist who\u2019s gained and maintained high visibility over the years despite a minimal chart presence. Consider this: since first charting in 2006 with \u201cThe Dollar,\u201d a tune that took him to No. 14, Johnson has had only three songs that edged into the Top 50, the highest among these being \u201cIn Color,\u201d which peaked at No. 9 in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>Yet from the vantage point of his 44th birthday Sunday (July 14), Johnson looks back on a career that includes live and recorded collaborations with such notables as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Alison Krauss, Dierks Bentley, Lee Ann Womack, guitar god Joe Bonamassa and his biggest inspiration, the band Alabama.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EYGwxf1gCC4?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EYGwxf1gCC4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>You can credit much of his success to a voice that comes at you like a bulldozer pushing gravel, an elemental sound that overwhelms with its relentless drive. And he\u2019s a pretty fair songwriter, too, having penned or co-penned both of his hit singles as well as George Strait\u2019s \u201cGive It Away\u201d and Trace Adkins\u2019 \u201cHonky Tonk Badonkadonk\u201d and \u201cLadies Love Country Boys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson was born and grew up near Montgomery, Alabama. Naturally enough, the group named for that state was an early and crucial musical influence. The first concert he ever attended, he says, was one of Alabama\u2019s famed June Jams in the early 1990s when he was still in high school.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bhz6f6fNhiM?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bhz6f6fNhiM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt just kind of took my breath away,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1525579\/jamey-johnson-stirs-fans-with-the-dollar\/\">he told CMT.com<\/a> in 2006. \u201cMom and Dad didn\u2019t let me go to many concerts when I was a kid \u2014 any really. \u2026 I got to see Alan Jackson play that night and some other guys. It was a remarkable experience for me \u2014 wanting to play and sing and seeing these guys up there doing that stuff for a living and turning on the crowd the way they did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson moved to Nashville on Jan. 1, 2000, and began working for a sign company. \u201cI didn\u2019t even tell anybody I did anything in music for probably the first 10 months I was in town,\u201d he says. \u201cI thought if my boss found out that I came to town for music, he\u2019d fire me.\u201d But eventually Johnson began to venture out to the honky-tonks on Nashville\u2019s Lower Broadway, places like Tootsie\u2019s and Legends Corner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ran across this guy who used to play fiddle for Tanya Tucker and some other different artists,\u201d Johnson continues. \u201cHis name was Greg Perkins. I got up and sang, and Greg liked the way I sang, and he hired me to come in and sing some demos for him. \u2026 So I went in and sang on a duet. It was with Gretchen Wilson. I sang my part and got out of the way, and she came in and sang hers. I think at the time she was seven or eight months pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YlnYH5Da32A?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YlnYH5Da32A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Before long, Johnson was making a living via demos. \u201cIt\u2019s just like opening up business. You do have to do a couple of them for free \u2014 just to show somebody you know what you\u2019re doing. For me, it was [through] all my friends that were songwriters. They started hiring me to sing their songs, and their publishers liked what I did and would hire me to sing songs for some of their other songwriters. Over the course of two or three years, it just kind of spread.\u201d A number of songs Johnson demoed became hits for other artists, including \u201cSongs About Me\u201d (Trace Adkins) and \u201cThat\u2019s How They Do It in Dixie\u201d (Hank Williams Jr.)<\/p>\n<p>The voice that made him a demo reliable has since elevated him to the man to call when another layer of gravitas is needed. Not that he can\u2019t be lighthearted, too. Just listen to him romp through \u201cRoll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die\u201d with Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg and Kris Kristofferson.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rpuI8otyrN4?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rpuI8otyrN4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Among the many high-visibility appearances he\u2019s racked up are multiple guest shots at Farm Aid, a duet with Alison Krauss at the Gershwin Prize Awards Concert for Willie Nelson, a spotlight turn at The Heroes and Friends Tribute for Randy Travis and a chance to sing lead with Alabama on that group\u2019s Alabama &amp; Friends at the Ryman show (which was recorded for an album). He recorded \u201cYesterday\u2019s Wine\u201d with George Jones and Blackberry Smoke and stood beside Merle Haggard on stage\u2013at Haggard\u2019s invitation\u2013to sing \u201cLong Black Veil.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A peek at Johnson\u2019s website reveals his busy touring life as a headliner. The nearly two dozen dates currently listed finds him scheduled for such high profile venues as We Fest, Farm Aid, Billy Bob\u2019s Texas and the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>With momentum like that, who needs the charts?<\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1809032\/at-44-jamey-johnson-stays-in-demand-after-in-color\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Edward Morris 7\/14\/2019 Jamey Johnson is a country music anomaly \u2014 an artist who\u2019s gained and maintained high visibility over the years despite a minimal chart presence. Consider this: since first charting in 2006 with \u201cThe Dollar,\u201d a tune that took him to No. 14, Johnson has had only three songs that edged into [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 12:57:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16674\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}