Jamey Johnson Arrested for Drug Possession in Williamson County, TN
This story has been updated.
Just over a week after the release of his first album in 14 years, Midnight Gasoline, Jamey Johnson has been arrested in Williamson County, Tennessee for drug possession. Saving Country Music has confirmed with the Williamson County Sherriff’s Office and the Tennessee Highway Patrol that the arrest occurred after Johnson was pulled over for speeding on Sunday, November 17th.
UPDATE: Jamey Johnson’s “Drug Possession” Arrest Revealed as Felony-Level Marijuana
Reports that Jamey Johnson’s bail was $500,000 appear to be false. His bail was likely $5,000. Williamson County is notorious for keeping details on arrests close to the vest pending investigations. This was the case in the arrest of Darius Rucker earlier this year. The charge ended up being marijuana possession.
The 49-year-old Johnson is a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and considered an elder statesman of country music. On his latest album is a song titled “Sober” where he talks about the difficulties of the sober life living in middle Tennessee.
“I am 13 years sober now,” Johnson said upon the release of the song. “I haven’t had a drop of alcohol since 2011, and I know that could end this afternoon. It is a day-to-day, hour-to-hour decision. Most of the places I play are bars, or I am still hanging out in bars. That’s where most of my friends are. Now I can hang out in them and not be drinking like I used to. That is what ‘Sober’ is about.”
In 2016, multiple members of Jamey Johnson’s band were arrested in Mississippi for possession of controlled substance, but Johnson was not charged in the incident. Johnson has no known other prior arrests.
Saving Country Music has reached out to the publicist for Jamey Johnson for a statement, but has not heard back at the time of this post. As more information becomes available, this story will be updated.
November 18, 2024 @ 3:18 pm
Tough look for Jamey. Hopefully more information will clear things up.
November 18, 2024 @ 4:19 pm
Law enforcement does no service to either the accused or the public by giving us so little information and leaving the rest up for speculation. “Drug possession” can mean so much, from one of his bandmates had a roach slip out of their pocket and end up between the seats, to a trunk for of Fentanyl bound for the local middle school. Though this arrest involves the Tennessee Highway Patrol, it seems like every time I report on anything happening in Williamson County, the details are scant. In Davidson Country and Nashville, they spell it out.
November 18, 2024 @ 5:17 pm
While I agree with your sentiment, law enforcement is not beholden to the press. We will know eventually. I guess.
November 18, 2024 @ 6:09 pm
I would respectfully disagree that law enforcement is not beholden to the press. It’s the duty of the press to police the police as the 5th estate in a well-functioning democracy, and the 1st Amendment and the Freedom of Information Act enshrine this. That is why it is important to report on these stories and make sure Jamey Johnson’s civil rights are being honored, and to know what charges he is facing.
That said, I respect law enforcement’s job to enforce laws and investigate crimes, and understand sometimes the public does not need to be informed about every point in this process. But if you’re going to make it public that he was arrested for drug possession, I don’t see why you wouldn’t say what drug is in question. By not saying which drug, you basically make it all drugs.
November 19, 2024 @ 3:18 am
It’s a constitutional republic not a democracy
November 19, 2024 @ 9:07 pm
It’s marijuana my Lord won’t they just leave people alone marijuana is the average drugs it’s better then hard drugs that out there.
November 18, 2024 @ 3:30 pm
Gotta love the drug war keeping us safe…. meanwhile you cannot dine-in at Waffle House in and around Nashville after 9pm because of crime.
November 18, 2024 @ 3:40 pm
Can confirm. Until a few months ago, I worked at a bakery near Murfreesboro Pike and Spence Ln. Some of the crew and I had the bright idea to meet for breakfast before work one morning. We rolled up at 4:00 AM to a cordoned-off parking lot full of Metro patrol with lights ablaze. We just… went and got started early. I tell ya, the more time that passes since I moved away from that “wretched hive of scum and villainy,” the happier I am.
November 18, 2024 @ 3:47 pm
Yeah that area is quickly turning into a third world country. Sometimes we would go to the Waffle House on Harding ave knowing it was rougher and there were hookers and drug addicts hanging around but it’s steadily gotten worse. I moved to Columbia TN 4yrs ago and I prefer to just drive into Nashville and not deal with the f**king homeless and ghetto criminals.
November 18, 2024 @ 3:52 pm
Drugs? Might explain the album being awful besides 3 songs
November 18, 2024 @ 4:23 pm
Really? WHO are you? Lol… It’s an excellent album. Jamey can smoke as much weed as he wants. You are probably a nightly drinker; criticizing Jamey for his music and for smoking pot is about as hypocritical as it gets.
November 19, 2024 @ 3:20 am
No that would be his brain injury he suffered recording the last album when he slipped and fell
November 18, 2024 @ 3:57 pm
Probably another weed arrest. Jamey has said he hasnt drank but occasionally still partakes in the devils lettuce. I may not agree with it, but a law is a law unfortunately.
November 18, 2024 @ 4:13 pm
If he only partakes in the green and avoids alcohol I’d still consider that being contextually sober.
November 18, 2024 @ 4:30 pm
As someone who used to like alcohol a little too much and has been sober for 2.5 years, I agree 100%. I was trying to see that I may not agree with weed being illegal, but until its legalized, you can be arrested for it.
November 18, 2024 @ 5:41 pm
There are billboards in that same area for THC establishments in Nashville. The legal distinction in Tennessee is over which Delta version is sold. I’ve read a little into it and the chemically engineered versions that are legal with lower THC levels are likely more harmful to one’s health vs the natural grown stuff.
I just find the drug war over the more minor drugs to be ludicrous, especially when it is legal in surrounding states such as Illinois and Ohio. Even if it was a lower level of amphetamine I personally don’t find any issue with that.
It’s rare that I partake but of all the other “options” out there for self-medication weed is one of the least harmful.
November 18, 2024 @ 10:37 pm
I here ya completely the drug war is ludicrous especially on minor drugs or even for person use but i swear to god that’s the way they designed it to be or that’s the way it seems in my state here in Kentucky there is nothing else that I can justify being sentenced to 3 years in state prison for $1 worth of meth it’s not only that just look at Kentucky’s medical marijuana bill that goes into law next year states anyone who smokes it will still be charged with a crime I can also remember in grade school D.A.R.E officers telling us pot was 10x worse for us than heroin and that same kind of propaganda is still being used when they say kratom is 50x more potent than morphine and that delta 8 THC is more dangerous than synthetic cannabinoids
November 19, 2024 @ 4:06 am
Everyone who wants to get and stay sober has the right to find their own path, no question, and if Jamey can stay sober for 13 years and still smoke pot, more power to him. Just signing on to say that isn’t the path that the people I know in AA take.
November 19, 2024 @ 10:55 am
Being an anti-Catholic son of an Irish alcoholic, I don’t drink but legalized marijuana in my state. We have a draconian DUII law here in Oregon that permits you to Drink and Drive up to a .08 Blood Alcohol Content (BAC). Two beers in an hour will get the human body at that limit but you feel nothing although your breath makes you to be characterized as a drunk.
November 19, 2024 @ 3:43 pm
Not completely true. We have a No Tolerance state for DUII. This means it’s up to the officer’s discretion whether to charge with a DUII. You can blow .01 and get a DUI in Oregon. .08 is used for drunk in public mostly now days. Oregon has some of the toughest DUI laws in the nation. Trust me I know all about it.
November 18, 2024 @ 4:09 pm
Well, that’s the type of publicity that he doesn’t need. Hope that more info will be forthcoming.
November 18, 2024 @ 4:38 pm
His newest excuse to delay new music for another decade.
November 18, 2024 @ 5:37 pm
You know he just dropped a new album on the 8th, right? And there are 2 more already in the pipeline.
November 19, 2024 @ 6:09 pm
No way!
You figured the joke!
Congratulations!
November 19, 2024 @ 7:26 am
oh danggggggggggggggggggggg. just release your album first and you totally got ‘im CK.
November 19, 2024 @ 9:55 am
I love Jamey Johnson’s music. He is a good person. But, he needs to get off all of that stuff. He has children that need him…..
November 19, 2024 @ 6:11 pm
Yawn.
November 18, 2024 @ 4:51 pm
Oh damn… Finally reaching outlaw status with gangsters like Sam Hunt and Morgan Wallen.
November 18, 2024 @ 4:54 pm
Not a big thing but to be clear. Touting being sober and doing weed are kind of at odds with each other. I dont think weed should be illegal but its still clouds your thinking, so do it and drive. Maybe eventually we will find out what the exact crime was.
November 18, 2024 @ 4:56 pm
I meant dont do it and drive obviously
November 19, 2024 @ 6:30 pm
Jamie should move to Washington. Weed is legal here though you can still get busted driving under the influence. TN is behind the times and why I would never live there.
November 18, 2024 @ 4:55 pm
I wonder if this will help gives him some motivation after that shitty album it took 15 years to make.
November 18, 2024 @ 9:38 pm
How have you heard the album already?
November 19, 2024 @ 5:14 pm
Of course you’re a liberal troll. You and Jamey can have fun in the cell together.
“Eradicate clowns”
November 19, 2024 @ 5:38 pm
No more comments on this thread. This is not a political post.
BTW, I think Jamey’s new album is great, though I recognize it might be a little too slow for some.
November 18, 2024 @ 7:42 pm
it is ridiculous how stupid our laws are….I live in the Florida Keys – I don’t know one person that has been turned down for a medical card…I personally don’t use it but I could care less if you do….when you talk to a doctor their questions send you down the road to a medical card….safe weed…more money to the government…everyone’s happy…..
November 18, 2024 @ 10:45 pm
At first I thought it was Williamson County, Texas in which case they would have split his lip with the butt of a revolver faster than youcould say police brutality.
November 19, 2024 @ 7:37 am
Off topic, I know, but Ray Benson just dropped a ska album?
November 19, 2024 @ 10:11 am
So Yahoo is reporting that the charges include a Class E felony for “intent to manufacture, deliver or sell the controlled substance”.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but that part wasn’t in the earlier versions of the story….how much stuff did he have on him?
November 19, 2024 @ 10:54 am
Usually these “intent to distribute” charges are based on weight. Authorities were short on details in this case from the beginning. But it could be that they made the arrest for possession, the “further investigation” was to weigh the marijuana, and then the charges were graduated before being revealed to the public.
November 19, 2024 @ 11:14 am
10 joints and some more to roll sounds more like a good weekend rather than intent to distribute, but that’s just me.
November 21, 2024 @ 11:27 am
He looks more and more like DAC.