Jamey Johnson (born July 14, 1975 in Montgomery, Alabama) is an American country music artist. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single "The Dollar", the title track to his 2006 album The Dollar . Johnson was dropped from BNA in 2006 and signed to Mercury Nashville Records in March 2008, releasing his second album, the gold-certified That Lonesome Song . This album has produced two more singles: the Top Ten hit "In Color" as well as "High Cost of Living". In addition to most of his own material, Johnson has co-written singles for Trace Adkins, George Strait, James Otto and Joe Nichols.

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Career

Johnson was born on July 14, 1975 in Enterprise, Alabama but raised in Montgomery, Alabama. From an early age, he was influenced by country acts such as Alabama and Alan Jackson, the latter of whom was the first act that he saw in concert. ^[1] Johnson, after graduating high school, attended Jacksonville State University, the same university from which Alabama lead singer Randy Owen graduated.

Johnson quit college after two years, and served in the Marine Corps Reserves for eight years. After exiting the Marines, he began playing country music in various bars throughout Montgomery; one of his first gigs was opening for David Allan Coe. By 2000, Johnson had moved to Nashville, Tennessee in pursuit of a career in country music. He also self-released an album called They Call Me Country . One of his first connections was with Greg Perkins, a fiddler who had played for Tanya Tucker and other artists. Perkins invited Johnson to sing as a duet partner on a demo tape; the other duet partner with whom he sang was Gretchen Wilson. Songs for which Johnson sang demos include "Songs About Me" (cut by Trace Adkins) and "That's How They Do It in Dixie" (cut by Hank Williams, Jr. with Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, and Van Zant).

In addition, Johnson had made connections with producer and songwriter Buddy Cannon, who helped him land a songwriting contract. ^[2] Among Johnson's first cuts as a songwriter was "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk", which Adkins released from his 2005 album Songs About Me .

Musical career

By 2005, Johnson had also been signed to a recording contract with BNA Records. His first single, entitled "The Dollar", was released that year, followed by his Buddy Cannon-produced debut album (also entitled The Dollar ) in March 2006. "The Dollar" went on to peak at #14 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. The album's second single, "Rebelicious", failed to enter the charts, and Johnson was dropped from BNA.

After the loss of his record deal, Johnson divorced his wife and took on a reclusive lifestyle, residing in a friend's house while working on his songwriting. ^[3] He wrote several songs for other artists. In 2006, George Strait reached Number One on the country music charts with "Give It Away", a song which Johnson co-wrote with Bill Anderson and Cannon. This song became Strait's forty-first Number One on the Billboard country charts, setting a new record for most Number Ones on that chart.

In 2007, Trace Adkins charted with two more songs that Johnson co-wrote: "Ladies Love Country Boys" and "I Got My Game On", the former being Adkins' first Number One in ten years. Also in 2007, Joe Nichols reached Top 20 with "Another Side of You", another song co-written by Johnson. This song was the first single on Nichols's album Real Things , which also contained "She's All Lady", a song that Johnson originally recorded on The Dollar .

Johnson was part of the Fox TV television series Nashville , ^[4] which was canceled after two episodes in September 2007.

Johnson released an album in 2007, That Lonesome Song , which was only made available online. The album drew the attention of Mercury Nashville Records, who signed him to a record deal in 2008. His first single for the label, "In Color", was released in March 2008. This song, which Johnson co-wrote with Lee Thomas Miller and James Otto, entered Top 40 in June 2008, and That Lonesome Song was physically released in August of that year. "In Color" peaked at #9 on the country charts in January 2009, and was followed a month later by "High Cost of Living", which managed to crack the top 40, but only reaching #34. By April 2009, That Lonesome Song was certified gold by the RIAA.

A fifth single, "My Way to You", was issued in July 2009. The song will act as a lead-off single to Johnson's third studio album. The song was released to radio on July 13, 2009.

Awards

Johnson received three Grammy Award nominations at the 51st Grammy Awards: Best Country Album for That Lonesome Song , and Best Country Song and Best Male Country Vocal Performance for "In Color." ^[5] "In Color" won the Academy of Country Music's 2009 award for Song of the Year.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Chart Positions		Certifications [6] (sales threshold)
		US Country	US
2002	They Call Me Country Released: 2002 Label: self-released	—	—
2006	The Dollar Released: January 31, 2006 Label: BNA	20	87
2008	That Lonesome Song Released: August 5, 2008 Label: Mercury Nashville	6	28	RIAA certification: Gold US sales: 386,000 [7]
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or not released

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions			Album
		US Country	US	CAN Country
2005	"The Dollar"	14	101	21	The Dollar
2006	"Rebelicious"	—	—	—
2008	"In Color"	9	52	34	That Lonesome Song
2009	"High Cost of Living"	34	—	—
	"My Way to You"A	52			TBD
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

• ^A Current single.

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2006	"The Dollar"	Wes Edwards
2008	"In Color"	Shaun Silva

References

1. Jamey Johnson Stirs Fans With "The Dollar"
2. Jamey Johnson biography
3. Singer Johnson starts fresh after "Lonesome" time
4. TV Preview - ''Nashville''
5. Alison Krauss, Robert Plant Score at Grammys
6. RIAA Gold and Platinum Searches for Jamey Johnson albums
7. Jamey Johnson's In Color Award Sends Album Sales Soaring