About Jamey Johnson
Chart-topping country music artist Jamey Johnson has hit songs to spare. As a songwriter, he's penned No. 1's for artists like Trace Adkins and George Strait, but it's his award-winning solo material that has earned him his latest batch of honors. His fourth studio album, 2012's Living For A Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran, peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, garnering praise from critics and a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album. Born in Alabama, Johnson set his sights on music after seeing his idol Alan Jackson perform live in concert. After eight years of service in the US Marine Corps, he moved to Nashville and began writing songs and performing in small clubs. His 2006 major label debut The Dollar landed in the Top 20 of the Country Albums chart, paving the way for similar successes with The Lonesome Song in 2008 and The Guitar Song in 2010. Johnson gained an even bigger following in 2011 as an opening act on Kid Rock’s Born Free Tour, which introduced him to a new group of ticket buyers. At his 2013 live shows, Johnson treated fans to his stripped-down, honest approach to country, building anticipation for his 2014 tour.
Jamey Johnson in Concert
One look at Jamey Johnson should be enough to tell you he’s a guy who doesn’t mess around. With his prodigious beard, burly frame, and take-no-guff bearing, he seems like he could have been a bouncer in another life instead of a killer country singer/songwriter. And when he’s on stage, Johnson doesn’t waste a second showing off, he just stands his ground and bears down on the songs, focusing in with laser-like precision on exactly what’s necessary to wring the maximum impact and emotion out of hits like “In Color” and “High Cost of Living” without resorting to even the tiniest amount of excess. When you go to a Jamey Johnson show, you leave knowing you’ve seen the real deal when it comes to modern-day outlaw country.
Jamey Johnson Background
Jamey Johnson exploded onto the country music scene in the 2000s as a man who’d taken up the mantle of outlaw country icons like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson and added his own imprint to bring it up to date. Born in Alabama, Johnson eventually made his way to Nashville, where he slogged it out in the honky-tonks and learned his trade the old-school way. When he first began to break through, he did it mostly as a writer for other artists, like Trace Adkins, whose hit “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” came from Johnson’s pen. Johnson found his first taste of success with the title track from his 2006 album The Dollar, but two years later he emerged with a more raw, idiosyncratic sound on That Lonesome Song and earned a Platinum record for his efforts. Ever since then, Johnson’s rich, deep pipes and no-nonsense tunes have been speaking in a major way to listeners who value classic country style but still want something new.
