Review: Jamey Johnson’s new album, “The Guitar Song”

By James Mowery
September 1, 2010

With his latest album, The Guitar Song, Jamey Johnson once again proves that honest, authentic country music is still alive and well. The double album is a breath of fresh air in the sea of slick, corporate “country” acts currently dominating the airwaves. The Guitar Song harks back to the classic outlaw era, back when soul, passion and an independent spirit were a must.

The double disc is divided into two sets — the Black Album is dark and moody, while the White Album lets the sunshine in with a batch of positive, redemptive tunes. Johnson injects his trademark honesty and passion into the album’s many different tones.

“Heartache” is a classic tale of a lover done wrong, but Johnson doesn’t wallow in self pity —the song strikes back at the cheating girl with a fierceness rarely seen this side of the 1970s. Elsewhere, “Playing the Part” lampoons the hollow L.A. lifestyle with razor-sharp precision and Johnson’s wry wit. And “Even the Skies Are Blue” is a hauntingly dark confessional that recalls Willie Nelson.

On the more uplifting side, “Macon” is an epic southern rock song with a gospel chorus. And “Baby Don’t Cry” is a tender, heartfelt lullaby Johnson wrote for his young daughter. And “That’s Why I Write Songs” is an honest and intimate ballad recorded in the wee hours of the morning in the historic Ryman Auditorium. You can almost hear the ghost of Hank Williams nodding in approval.

In the end, The Guitar Song is more than just the latest album from one of country’s most promising artists. It’s a bona fide pledge of allegiance to honesty and integrity from the last man standing in the fight for country music’s very soul. And that’s a fight Jamey Johnson sounds as if he plans to win.

Jamey Johnson: Honky Tonk Redemption Song

By Craig Shelburne

August 31st, 2010

Jamey Johnson is playing his first song of the night, “High Cost of Living,” at a sold-out show in Glasgow, Kentucky. The words are about trading his good life for “cocaine and a whore.” The song wasn’t much of a country hit, for obvious reasons, but the crowd knows every word. He’s wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans and a backwards ball cap. His beard hangs nearly to his chest, his ponytail falls between his shoulder blades and he doesn’t look that much different than several of the men in his audience.

At the end of the song, he greets the audience by raising his red Dixie cup and the crowd roars. Then the room settles down for two new songs – which will turn out to be the first tracks on his double album, The Guitar Song – and everybody listens intently. Johnson doesn’t talk much between songs, if at all, but in those in-between moments, the historic theater is punctuated with hollers of approval and shouts of “Sing it, Jamey!” It’s like the rowdiest songwriter night you’ve ever been to.

During an interview about a week before the concert, Johnson, 35, is asked what he’d like his audience to take away from his live shows. “Man, I’m just usually hoping they can get home OK,” he replies with a laugh. “We get done with our show and sometimes we’ve played for four-and-a-half or five hours. But by the time they leave there, I know how I feel – and I’m hoping they’ve got a ride, too.”

The Guitar Song is a double-album that melds his own material with a handful of country gold tunes from Nashville songwriters who inspired him, like Kris Kristofferson and Mel Tillis. One side is labeled “Black Album,” and the other, “White Album.” The easy description is to say that one half is dark, while the other half is… well, not so dark. But there’s more to the story.

“The ‘Black Album’ is a path that leads to a very cold place. And the ‘White Album’ is an equal amount of redemption and deliverance from that cold place. Each song colors over another whole area,” he explains. “It’s kind of a tale that starts in one place, and if you follow all the way through and see where it ends up, you kind of gather what happened. These decisions that were made or events that happened kind of mold your reaction to other events that happened.”

He starts the “Black Album” with “Lonely at the Top,” an undiscovered song written by Don Cook, Chick Raines and country star Keith Whitley in 1988. The lyrics find a newly minted country star lamenting that fame and fortune are oh so hard. When the singer offers to buy the stranger on the next barstool a drink, the other guy agrees to a double, then wryly responds: “It might be lonely at the top / But it’s a bitch at the bottom.” Johnson considers the twangy tune as “a nugget of wisdom from an old honky-tonker to a new one.”

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the feature at AmericanSongwriter.com.

Final nominations for the 2010 CMA Awards were announced this morning and Jamey Johnson was named a nominee in the MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR category.  The nomination is for this collarboration with Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert on "Bad Angel."  The CMA Awards will be broadcast live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Wednesday, Nov. 10 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on the ABC Television Network. Tune in to see who takes home the trophies.

25 Fall Albums That Matter Most

Jamey Johnson
The Guitar Song (Mercury)

Release date: Sept. 14

The Skinny: Jamey Johnson has a grizzled grizzly beard, which goes a long way toward signaling the kind of country music he favors. As does the title of his 2008 breakout album, That Lonesome Song. To put it simply, Johnson likes country from the old school (or at least the mythologized "old school"), when outlaw songs met with moody ballads and swirled into something like rootsy American bedrock. For his forthcoming The Guitar Song, Johnson bedded down and wrote a set of 25 songs that will be divided into two CDs, one called the "Black Album" and the other the "White Album." Guess which one is dreary and which is more upbeat?

Fast Fact: Johnson was a Marine for eight years and used to play songs for his fellows in the corps.

JAMEY JOHNSON’S LEAD SINGLE “PLAYING THE PART” AND "FRONT PORCH SWING AFTERNOON" ARE NOW AVAILABLE AT iTUNES

Nashville, TN - On August 24, “Playing the Part,” the lead single from Jamey Johnson’s forthcoming 25-song Double Album The Guitar Song became available for download at iTunes as part of their weekly countdown program to the album release on September 14. As of September 1, "Front Porch Swing Afternooon" is the 2nd track available for download at iTunes.
A new track from the album will be available for purchase through iTunes each Tuesday leading up to street date. By purchasing countdown tracks from The Guitar Song through September 14, consumers will have the total amount spent deducted from the album price on street date.

Download "Playing The Part" here.

Download "Front Porch Swing Afternoon" Here.

iTunes also has a series of weekly podcasts featuring Johnson talking about select tracks from the album. Go to www.jameyjohnson.com/countdown to see all tracks included in the countdown program.

Johnson is featured in the September issue of Men’s Journal in their Essential New Music section reporting, “Fans of Haggard and Waylon and Willie-style outlaw country have a reason to rejoice, because Jamey Johnson’s two-CD-set, The Guitar Song, is two hours’ worth of the genuine article.”

MAXIM Magazine featured Johnson in their “Tales from the Studio” section saying Johnson’s The Guitar Song is one of September’s “Hottest Albums.”

In addition, Esquire included Johnson in their September issue’s “Encyclopedia of Now - THE PEOPLE, PLACES, AND IDEAS THAT MATTER RIGHT NOW” feature proclaiming, “Jamey Johnson is the musician whose new two-disc album, The Guitar Song, will firmly establish him as the last legitimate country outlaw in the United States.”

Just checking in and wanted to update you on what's been going on lately. I've been runnin' and gunnin' since we released the record in August. It's been cool cause I've gotten to meet tons of fans out on the road. In Sept I took the guys to New York City. We did the Imus in the Morning Show and then played a set with the amazing Lee Ann Womack. It was my first time in the city and I loved it. We got a car and headed down to the World Trade Center Site which was mind blowing then we headed to Little Italy for a great dinner. I couldn't get over how many people were in Times Square. Very cool.
 
After NY we headed to Boston to play Farm Aid. What an honor that was. I got to hang on the bus with Willie Nelson for a while after our set and I had him sign "old Maple". What an awesome day.
 
We are all over the map these days...I hope to see some of y'all at a show soon. Thanks for all of your great emails and all the support you've shown me.  Oh and thanks for the phone messages too, keep them coming at my number (615)823-5592.
 
God Bless, JJ