No False Alarm: Jamey Johnson Is Working on New Music

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It’s been nearly 14 years since Jamey Johnson released an album of new original music (2010’s The Guitar Song), and 12 years since he released an album at all (2012’s Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran). Since then, we have received ample excuses as to why the award-winning songwriter hasn’t released a new album, including disputes with publishers, a concussion, and just a general lack of desire to do so.

In 2021, there was a rumor started by Johnson’s steel guitar player “Cowboy” Eddie Long that Johnson was in the studio working on a new album, but Johnson himself later threw cold water on the idea. It’s not that Johnson has gone completely silent as a songwriter. He’s had numerous co-writes over the years including with George Strait and The Steel Woods, and last year Johnson collaborated on numerous projects from others as a singer and player.

But this time the chatter that new original music from Jamey Johnson could be on the way appears to be legitimate. Earlier in April, Jamey Johnson announced his “What A View Tour” starting this June with a bunch of great openers, including Ben Haggard, Charles Wesley Godwin, and Whitey Morgan & the 78’s.

Despite not releasing new music, Jamey Johnson hasn’t suffered whatsoever on the road. In fact, he continues to play bigger and bigger venues as time goes on as he also expands the lineup of his touring band to include horns, backup singers, and additional players.

In many ways, Jamey Johnson has become the keeper of the traditional country flame for the last decade, playing country classics along with his original songs, and drawing large crowds from the quality of the shows. Johnson said at one time that he didn’t see the need to write any new songs with so many old ones in the country music catalog to keep alive. But still, people can’t help themselves. They want new Jamey Johnson music.

As part of the press release for the upcoming “What A View” tour, Jamey Johnson officially revealed, “‘What A View’ is the song that brought me back into writing songs. It is the one that kicked off the desire to make new music. You can expect to hear more new music in our shows from now on. It will be fun. We will do a lot of the old stuff and a lot of the new stuff.”

That’s definitely exciting news in itself. But that’s not the only indication that new stuff might be on the way. In a March 9th episode of the renown and prolific session guitarist Tom Bukovac’s podcast Homeskoolin’, he revealed that he’d recently been in the studio with Jamey Johnson, working on new music.

“Last week [I was] working with Jamey Johnson. Do you guys know [him]? Country singer? He hasn’t made a record in 12 years they told me. But he’s finally doing a new record. We worked out at Johnny Cash’s studio. It was really cool. Jamey’s a f–king unbelievable country singer. We spent a whole day out there. We started at noon and worked until about 10 o’clock at night. Had a ball. He’s a hell of a singer that guy.”

Tom Bukovac is one of Nashville’s most credited session guitarists, appearing on some 1,200 albums. He’s also toured with Vince Gill, Tanya Tucker, and Tom Petty just to name a few.

Of course, nothing is definitive at this point. But when you see Jamey Johnson out on the road, expect new songs, including the song “21 Guns” that he debuted in 2022. And don’t be surprised if we finally start to hear new studio songs, or see an announcement of a new album before the close of 2024.

Stay tuned.

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