It’s now Dr. Jamey Johnson To You, Thank You Very Much
It’s been a very busy few days for Jamey Johnson. On Saturday night (12-16), Johnson actively participated in the debut of viral star Oliver Anthony on the Grand Ole Opry. The two performed “In Color” together, after Oliver Anthony figured out how to cheese off various folks—some for issuing his “Fudge Rounds” line in “Rich Men North of Richmond,” and others for issuing multiple swear words from the hallowed Opry stage, including a couple that made it past the WSM censors on the official broadcast.
Then on Sunday (12-17), Jamey Johnson was featured significantly on the Willie Nelson 90th Birthday Special that aired on CBS after it was recorded this spring. Not only was Johnson featured in the house band, he also performed “Georgia On My Mind” with Warren Haynes and Booker T Jones.
But on Friday, December 15th, Jamey Johnson was back in his home state of Alabama, and at his alma mater, Jacksonville State University, where he gave the commencement speech to the graduating class. Johnson also learned that Alabama Governor Kay Ivey had declared December 15th as “Jamey Johnson Day” henceforth, and that he was receiving an honorary doctorate from the university.
Johnson attended Jacksonville State in 1993 to study music education, receiving a full scholarship to attend due to his skills with the mellophone and French horn. Johnson performed in the university’s “Marching Southerners.” He then left the university to enlist in the Marine Corps. where he served for eight years before pursuing music full time as a songwriter.
“I was gonna write a speech,” Johnson said as he took the podium. “But like everything else I did while I was here at Jacksonville State I have procrastinated until the last possible second.”
Johnson went on to explain how he’d always chosen the hardest path forward in life. French horn was the hardest instrument to play, so he chose it. When that wasn’t hard enough and he was tired of everyone telling him what to do to keep his scholarship, he joined the Marine Corps. When The Marines wanted to put him in the Marine Corps. band, Johnson decided instead to join the infantry.
“I don’t like long commencement speeches either, so I’m going to go ahead and duck out here,” Johnson concluded. “But I’m gonna tell you one thing. I’m proud of every single one of y’all. And when life kicks you, get up again. Go find another way. That’s just one more way that don’t work. Who cares? Put it in the box, slide it over behind you, and march on. Love you. Go Cocks.”
On Thursday (12-14), Johnson also helped announce the “Jamey Johnson Music Series” at Jacksonville State that will help students learn from successful recording artists and songwriters through performances, workshops, and lectures. It was part of a performance at the Randy Owen Center for the Performing Arts where Johnson was joined by Randy Owen, Riley Green, and Gordon Mote.
You can see Johnson’s introduction and commencement speech below.
December 18, 2023 @ 10:14 am
Given the divide between country music (and rural or conservative themes as a whole) and higher education, this is a very cool crossover to see.
December 18, 2023 @ 11:09 am
Agreed, though JSU is a fairly rural setting…where you won’t see a bunch of pro-Hamas idiots acting the fool.
December 18, 2023 @ 11:07 am
Had no idea Jamey went to Jax State! Awesome.
December 18, 2023 @ 12:36 pm
Jacksonville State also just won its first-ever bowl game as a FBS team.
December 18, 2023 @ 2:28 pm
i chocked when the speaker mentioned Honky Tonk Badonkadonk!
JJ is the man.
December 18, 2023 @ 2:34 pm
Mr. Jackson is a standup man. I value his believes and how he supports them. He is a man who wears truth to honor.
December 18, 2023 @ 4:13 pm
I absolutely root for Jamey Johnson but I feel like since “In Color” the greatest things he’s done have been a Hank Cochran songbook album (including a duet with Lee Ann Womack) and his performance of “Give It Away” with Lee Ann Womack at the George Strait tribute. Did him and Lee Ann exchange numbers, cuz they need to do something together…again.
December 18, 2023 @ 4:31 pm
if you do not have a doctorate in the medical field no regular person should be calling you “doctor”
December 18, 2023 @ 4:37 pm
Dr. Ralph Stanley disagrees.
December 18, 2023 @ 7:42 pm
Dr Hook is an exception
December 19, 2023 @ 1:47 pm
Dr. John has entered the chat.
December 18, 2023 @ 9:02 pm
If you didn’t earn your doctorate you don’t have a valid opinion on the subject.
December 18, 2023 @ 10:37 pm
laughing at your username
December 19, 2023 @ 6:43 am
I do and I am totally fine with it. We all know he didn’t “earn” it and he does too. It is a cool thing for someone who likely means a lot to that community.
I did have beef with the football players having the same degree as me at graduation from the bachelors. The answers to the tests were spoon fed to them!
December 19, 2023 @ 10:03 am
Give me the news.
December 19, 2023 @ 6:40 am
Dr. John is surely worthy of honorable mention.
December 19, 2023 @ 1:59 pm
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem too.
December 19, 2023 @ 5:57 pm
Technically, according to The Muppets Mayhem, Dr. Teeth does have an actual dentistry degree!
December 20, 2023 @ 8:35 am
Let me try to fix this.
First, almost no physician has a “doctorate” in the true sense of the term. The use of the term doctorate was approriated by the medical field in the mid-1980s in part to lend some legitimacy to the field. But the “MD” degree is not a terminal degree, and therefore is not a true doctorate in the way a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is. FWIW, most law schools grant a Juris Doctor degree, but lawyers are not referred to as doctors in part because the field chose not to use it, but technically because a JD is, like the MD, not a terminal degree. In other words, there are degrees above the MD and JD. The PhD is as high as you can go.
Second, doctorates are not earned, they are granted. The difference is that an earned degrees (e.g., UG, law, medical) are ones for which by completing a prescribed program of study you will have earned the degree. A PhD on the other hand has no prescibed program of study, per se, and is granted by a group deemed responsible for doing so. For most PhDs this is done by a committee that oversees a significant and original research project.
An honorary doctorate is worth exactly the same amount as the paper it is written on. No one would think that being given an honorary doctorate suddenly makes one a subject matter expert, which is the crux of being granted a doctorate.
I think the granting of an honorary doctorate is a cool thing to do, particularly in the case of someone like Johnson who is an alum of the institution. But I doubt you will find him teaching a class on theoretical physics or Shakespeare’s early works this spring.
December 18, 2023 @ 4:43 pm
Right on, once a doctor thought I was a pile of Dinosaur bones, and another time Dr Feelgood made me feel real real bad.
December 19, 2023 @ 10:01 am
I get called Dr. Kelly a lot and only have2 BS degrees a cna, LMT, RCR, TRS and CSTp.
December 19, 2023 @ 12:23 pm
Right on Dr Johnson
December 19, 2023 @ 1:11 pm
“Go Cocks!” -Dr. Johnson
December 19, 2023 @ 1:49 pm
“Your Trojans can’t hold our cocks.”
— Jax State to rival Troy.
December 21, 2023 @ 4:45 pm
Congratulations to the great Dr. Johnson. Lead Me Home, Jamey.