Music News

Jamey Johnson hitting the road with Willie Nelson

By Patrick Luce May 17, 2011, 10:02 GMT

Jamey Johnson to tour with Willie Nelson and is working on a follow-up to \'The Guitar Song.\' @Photo provided by Mercury Records

Mercury Nashville singer/songwriter Jamey Johnson has announced plans to join country music icon Willie Nelson’s Country Throwdown Tour 2011, and is at work on a new studio album.
 
Johnson will join Willie Nelson’s Country Throwdown Tour 2011 when it kicks off May 27 in Philadelphia. It stops in Nashville on June 3 at The Woods Amphitheater at Fontanel and ends at the famed Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic and Throwdown at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth.
 
In a press release, Johnson stated: “I did it last year and had a great time. I got to meet a lot of new artists and made a lot of brand new friends on it last year. This time when they brought up the prospect of doing a Throwdown Tour with Willie Nelson, it was an easy decision to make. Who wouldn’t want to go on a tour with Willie?”
 
They will be joined on the tour by artists including Randy Houser and Lee Brice, as well as singer/songwriter Erin Enderlin, whom Johnson is also producing.

In addition to touring and working on his next album, Johnson has been producing the Blind Boys of Alabama’s new album, ‘Take the High Road,’ which had a listening party at Ben’s Studio in Nashville.
 
The legendary gospel group’s new album includes Hank Williams Jr., Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Willie Nelson and the Oak Ridge Boys. Johnson sang with the group on “Have Thine On Way, Lord” and recorded such classics as “I Saw the Light,” “Jesus, Hold My Hand,” “Lead Me Home” and “I Know a Place.”
 
In the release, Johnson stated: “It was a lot of fun. We would play a song that we thought would be a sure fit and look around and not see any reaction. But if we played one that we saw heads bobbing and people singing along, we knew that it would be the next song we were about to go in and cut.”
 
Johnson has also been working on his third album for Mercury Nashville, a follow-up to gold-certified ‘The Guitar Song’, a 25-song double album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

The album received two Grammy nominations – Country Album of the Year and Best Male Country Vocal Performance for “Macon” – and received an Album of the Year nomination from the Academy of Country Music. It was ranked No. 5 on Rolling Stone’s Best Albums of 2010 and made numerous critics’ “Best of” lists.