On this day (July 14) in 1975, Jamey Johnson was born in Enterprise, Alabama. After dropping out of college, he started his music career, playing clubs. Eventually, he moved to Nashville, where he wrote several hits and sang on demos for his peers. George Strait, Trace Adkins, and others turned his songs into hits. Finally, he embarked on his recording career in 2006.
Johnson found his love for country music early in life. The first songs he learned to play on guitar were from Alabama’s My Home’s in Alabama album. One of the band’s June Jam concerts was an early introduction to live music. Alan Jackson was among the artists who took the stage and solidified Johnson’s desire to pursue a music career.
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After high school, Johnson enrolled at Jacksonville State University to major in music education. “One thing I learned while I was there was that I didn’t want to teach music,” he told CMT. He was on a scholarship, and his grades were solid. However, he had to play in the school’s concert and marching bands, among other things. “I just figured I’d rather drink beer and chase women for a living and somehow tie that to music,” he said. As a result, he dropped out after two years and joined the Marine Corps Reserves.
Jamey Johnson’s Early Career
Jamey Johnson was playing bars and clubs around Montgomery, Alabama, before he was old enough to drink. Notably, he opened for David Allan Coe multiple times. He continued playing locally and writing songs until the turn of the century.
Johnson arrived in Nashville on January 1, 2000. However, he didn’t leap straight into the city’s thriving country scene. “I didn’t even tell anybody I did anything in music for probably the first 10 months I was in town,” he recalled. “I thought if my boss found out that I came to town for music, he’d fire me.”
Eventually, Johnson made his way to Lower Broadway, where he started performing again. It was during one of these early performances that he made his first important Nashville connection. “I ran across this guy who used to play fiddle for Tanya Tucker and some other different artists. His name was Greg Perkins,” Johnson said.
Perkins liked Johnson’s voice and hired him to sing demos. It didn’t take long for others to discover and hire him to sing their demos. He also sang the work tape for “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” a song he co-wrote with Randy Houser and Dallas Davidson. Trace Adkins claimed the song before they could record a more polished demo.
Adkins took the song to No. 2 in 2005. The next year, George Strait took “Take It Away” to the top of the country chart. Johnson co-wrote it with Buddy Cannon and Bill Anderson. The next year, Adkins landed his first No. 1 with “Ladies Love Country Boys,” another Johnson co-write.
Recording Career
Jamey Johnson signed to BNA, a subsidiary of RCA Records, and released his debut album, The Dollar, in 2006. He released the title track as the LP’s lead single, and it reached No. 14. Then, when the album’s second single, “Rebelicious,” failed to chart, he was dropped from the label.
According to AllMusic, losing his recording contract was just the beginning of a dark time in Johnson’s life. His marriage dissolved around the same time, and he went into seclusion. Roughly a year later, he emerged and began working on a new album.
Johnson self-released That Lonesome Song in 2007. It was initially only available digitally. Mercury Records took notice, signed him, and gave the album a full release in August 2008. The album’s first single, “In Color,” reached No. 9 on the country chart. He followed that with “High Cost of Living,” which stalled at No. 34.
Two years later, he released The Guitar Song, which topped the country albums chart. Johnson followed that with Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran in 2012. The project features duets with Ray Price, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, George Strait, Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, and others.
It was 12 years before Johnson released Midnight Gasoline in 2024. While it didn’t chart well, the album has been praised by fans and critics alike.
Jamey Johnson has shared two new singles this year. “More of What Matters” came in January, followed by “Pretty When It’s New” in April.
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