Jamey Johnson Credits Toby Keith’s Passing for Inspiring New Music
Jamey Johnson will be releasing his first new album of original music in 14 years when Midnight Gasoline is unveiled on November 8th. After many years and many excuses for not releasing a new album—including a concussion, publisher issues, and just plain apathy—Johnson has experienced a creative explosion recently, recording some 30 songs total at the Cash Cabin Studios, including a dozen for the new album.
Jamey Johnson never stopped writing new songs entirely, but he did seem much less interested in the endeavor for well over a decade, and after he won two CMA Song of the Year awards in 2007 and 2009 as one of the most acclaimed songwriters in the business. So what changed recently? In a recent interview with Billboard, Johnson spoke specifically how significant Toby Keith’s death was to inspiring the new album.
“The writing was already coming back to me, piece by piece, but I still didn’t have any ambitions on making a record,” Johnson explains. “When Toby passed away, it moved everything into high gear because I realized that that was the end of his discography, that we weren’t getting another Toby Keith record. And that’s what drove me to wanting to finish my own discography. It’s what made me understand that I’m nowhere near done, and so it’s time to get busy. After he passed away, I immediately started talking about this session and started trying to get all the particulars in order. It was time for me to get in the studio again.”
Jamey Johnson also revealed in the interview that he’d been writing with Toby Keith recently, and that there’s probably a trove of Toby Keith co-writes still out there waiting to be recorded and released from others. Along with being one of the most popular country artists in the ’00s, Toby Keith was a prolific songwriter, writing most of his own hits.
“We were working on a song toward the end,” Jamey Johnson says. “I called him up one night and shared a few lines with him, and he added a few lines and we turned around and wrote this whole verse. We laughed a bunch, and it was one of those that I thought, ‘This is great. There’s gonna come a time I’ll get out to Oklahoma or maybe he and I will meet up somewhere at a golf tournament, but we’ll have some time sit down and finish this thing up.‘”
Johnson never got that opportunity. He says that Toby Keith always seemed to believe he would pull through the stomach Cancer that eventually took his life. That is why it came as such a shock to the country music community when Keith passed away on February 5th.
Toby Keith left behind an rather incredible, multi-decade legacy of songs and albums that recently landed him into the Country Music Hall of Fame posthumously. After taking 14 years off, Jamey Johnson doesn’t have a similar catalog. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t make up for lost time. He’ll try to add to his impressive catalog with Midnight Gasoline.
November 4, 2024 @ 9:37 am
Jamey Johnson didn’t have excuses for not recording a new album in 14 years, he had reasons. Jamey is true to himself which is why he’s a badass.
November 4, 2024 @ 10:14 am
Glad to see him back, and agree entirely with the “reasons” remark!
In my opinion the concussion alone was reason enough for the break. As an illustrator / sculptor who had to take a back seat in my own career for awhile due to neurological issues, I can relate a great deal to how his incident affected his creative output. I do, as a fan, understand wanting more output, but the folks who discredit his reasons for waiting really don’t seem to understand the ways in which a neurological set back, regardless of the severity, can effect ones desire, or ability to create.
Either way, love Toby’s music, or a lot of it at least, glad to see his legacy is having a positive effect on other musicians. Looking forward to all that’s to come!
November 4, 2024 @ 11:13 am
For the record, mentioning “excuses” was not an attack on Jamey Johnson. But the amount of “excuses” or “reasons” he gave for not releasing music over the last 14 years could almost fill an entire book. Were some of them legitimate? I’m sure all of them were to some extent. But the most underlying one is that he just didn’t want to release music. And he said as much on numerous occasions. He didn’t see the point. And at times, he used reasons to excuse his lack of new output, and those reasons are ones that others have fought through.
The upshot here is that it took the death of a friend to really motivate Jamey Johnson to get back on the horse. That seemed like an important story to emphasize, since there has been darn near a dozen stories published on this website alone excusing why Jamey didn’t release an album over the last 14 years.
November 6, 2024 @ 4:50 pm
But, Jamey did put out music. He collaborated with many artists, wrote for others and all the while touring.
The concussion alone can change everything. And he doesn’t owe anybody an explanation or reason for when his music is or isn’t put out.
November 4, 2024 @ 12:54 pm
Fuck you Saving Country Music. Bunch of fucking scum bags.
November 4, 2024 @ 1:08 pm
Thank you for that intelligent and nuanced addition to the article and conversation. You made me re-think my enjoyment of this site.
November 4, 2024 @ 1:09 pm
It never ceases to amaze me how much my pissant country music blog enrages certain people.
November 5, 2024 @ 8:45 am
What did you do this time?
November 6, 2024 @ 4:56 pm
Give yourself so much more credit. You have always been a phenomenal resource for country music. The support you give to the up and coming artists brings them exposure. The journalism has introduced me to artists I never have heard of. Count me amoung the grateful.
November 4, 2024 @ 1:26 pm
Another well thought out utterance from one of the minds of the mentally vacant.
November 4, 2024 @ 2:26 pm
Good grief Zach. What’s up with that?
November 4, 2024 @ 2:55 pm
Haha sounds like an ex wife
November 4, 2024 @ 4:15 pm
You’re definitely overreacting.
November 5, 2024 @ 4:15 pm
Did a fiddle and steel guitar hurt you, or was it a banjo?
November 4, 2024 @ 3:09 pm
I for one am impressed with Trigger’s ability to project himself as a “bunch” of scumbags. That alone takes talent.
November 4, 2024 @ 5:08 pm
Loved Toby Keith’s music and had Jamie Johnsons song played at my Husbands Furnel……He loved them both too!!!!!!
November 4, 2024 @ 6:53 pm
Willing to bet that his tribute album to Hank Cochran was the second greatest thing he’s ever done (third might be the Lee Ann Womack “Give it Away” duet). Just saying it shouldn’t be dismissed or diminished just because he sang other people’s songs.
November 5, 2024 @ 6:11 am
…”a new jamey johnson album !?” – country music is about to lose one of its most persisting running gags. it has been about time, really. i am rather curious to hear, whether it was worth waiting for.
November 5, 2024 @ 2:23 pm
Country music’s new running gag is “Look at where Beyonce’s “COWBOY CARTER” is on the Billboard 200……….that’s right: it’s not even charting there as of right now! Country fans don’t care about the album!” XD
November 5, 2024 @ 2:40 pm
What do you mean it’s a “running gag?” Are you saying it’s not a viable marker for the lack of appeal for the album? Seriously interested in your perspective on this Nadia.
November 5, 2024 @ 2:45 pm
It definitely is viable! And the album’s appeal was unmistakably frontloaded off of the curiosity factor but dissipating rapidly due to its songs not standing up on their own. =)
I mean “running gag” strictly from the perspective of it being a punchline that has been echoed up to about half a dozen times to date and it’s amusing continuing to run into the ground. =)
November 6, 2024 @ 6:35 am
He sings songs as if they are a window into his life; a ribbon of authenticity tied to a story of relevancy.