Jamey Johnson Breaks the Chain

Jamey Johnson performs at the VAULT Concert Stage at LP Field in Downtown Nashville Saturday, June 13 during the 2009 CMA Music Festival. Photo courtesy of the Country Music Association.

Sept. 24, 2009 — Jamey Johnson is going his own way as an artist. His scraggily beard and gruff appearance are distinctly different from country music’s current mainstream look, and his album That Lonesome Song has a more traditional, Waylon Jennings-inspired sound than most of his contemporaries.

It wasn’t always that way. Jamey had a more standard image and music when he released his first album, The Dollar, in 2006. Only months after that, he lost the recording deal at the same time he was getting divorced, and he ended up deciding he didn’t need the approval of any other person or company to follow his heart in his career.

"I reached a point where I realized that if there was a shackle around my ankles, then the only one who put it there was me," he told The Grand Rapids Press. "And if that's the case, then the only one that can take it off is me."

Turning down those earlier deals was a risky move, but it also paid dividends when he received the freedom to do his album as he saw fit. The project went gold, his song "In Color" won the Academy of Country Music’s Song of the Year award, and he’s in the running for four honors at November’s 43rd Annual CMA Awards.

Now he’s no longer worried about compromise. He’s able to keep his musical identity, and that’s part of the reason the industry has responded positively.

"I don't play that way anymore," he said. "Music is too personal to me. It means too much to me, and it's too damn important to let somebody else come in and start tossing out orders and things like that."

That Lonesome Song is up for Album of the Year in the CMA Awards, which will be hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood Nov. 11. "In Color" brought Jamey nominations for Single and Song of the Year, and he’s also up for New Artist of the Year.