Jamey Johnson Is Releasing His First Solo Studio Album In 14 Years: “Midnight Gasoline”

After 14 Years, Jamey Johnson Announces The Release Of A New Album

Country fans who’ve been dreaming of a new Jamey Johnson album finally had their wishes granted on Friday (October 4).

The Grand Ole Opry member announced he’s releasing a new album, Midnight Gasoline, on November 8. The news came two days after Johnson shared that he’d signed a new label deal with Warner Music Nashville.

Johnson signed with the label because its Co-Chair and Co-President, Cris Lacy, is his close friend.

“She is one of my longest-term friends I’ve had in the music business. We started our careers around the same time. She has been a friend to me and has only ever tried to help.” Johnson said.

The singer added that Lacy “cares that [he’s] able to participate in [his] own career.”

 

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Johnson has released several new tracks in recent months, all of which appear on Midnight Gasoline. Those songs include “Sober,” “Trudy” (with Randy Houser), “21 Guns,” and “What a View.”

Johnson released another new song, “Someday When I’m Old,” the same day he announced Midnight Gasoline. He first recorded the track as a demo 20 years ago.

See The Tracklist For Midnight Gasoline

Midnight Gasoline contains 12 tracks, including a Chris Stapleton co-write titled “Saturday Night in New Orleans.” The album’s full tracklist and all of the songwriters are below.

1. “Bad Guy” (Jamey Johnson and Dale Dodson)
2. “Midnight Gasoline” (Scotty Emerick, Dean Dillon and Jeff Hyde)
3. “What a View” (Jamey Johnson, Randy Houser, Rob Hatch and Dallas Davidson)
4. “21 Guns” (Jamey Johnson and Jim “Moose” Brown)
5. “Someday When I’m Old” (Aimee Mayo, Chris Lindsey and Troy Verges)
6. “Trudy” featuring Randy Houser (Charlie Daniels)
7. “One More Time” (Jamey Johnson, Ernest Keith Smith and Rob Hatch)
8. “Saturday Night in New Orleans” (Jamey Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Tony Joe White)
9. “Sober” (Jamey Johnson and James Slater)
10. “I’m Tired of It All” (Dallas Davidson and Kyle Fishman)
11. “No Time Like the Past” (Jamey Johnson and Chris Stapleton)
12. “What Do You Answer To” (Jamey Johnson, Ira Dean, Ajay Popoff and Jeremy Popoff)

MusicRow reports that Midnight Gasoline is the first in Johnson’s Cash Cabin Series of albums. The series is named after the famous Cash Cabin recording studio, which is owned by Johnny Cash and June Carter’s son, John Carter Cash.

“I’ve always wanted to make an album there,” Johnson told MusicRow. “I went in with an album in mind, where we go in and cut and cut and cut. That is when I knew we were off to the races. This is more than an album; this is a series.”

Why Did It Take Jamey Johnson So Long To Release A New Album?

As mentioned previously, Midnight Gasoline will be Johnson’s first new solo studio album in 14 years. His last solo effort was 2010’s The Guitar Song, which reached #1 on the Top Country Albums chart.

Johnson released a duets album in 2012, which was a tribute to Hank Cochran. His last project was a five-song Christmas EP in 2014.

So why did Johnson take such a long break between albums?

For starters, Johnson told Rolling Stone in 2013 he started to feel “pretty used” by the music industry, claiming, “…my contracts are written in such a way that I don’t get paid…”

Also, in a now-unavailable interview with Kentucky Country Music, Johnson said he suffered a concussion several years ago, and that affected his songwriting.

“So out went the songwriting, or the focus on songwriting, or even the openness to it even,” he said during that conversation in 2017. “I can still write. The craft is still there. The inspiration isn’t always there. And even when it is, it isn’t very easy for me to focus on it the way that I once did. But it’s coming back little by little. So that’s one of the reasons for going so long.”

It seems Johnson’s inspiration has returned lately, as he now has a wealth of new music to share with his fans on Midnight Gasoline and his other Cash Cabin projects. Enjoy another one of his new songs, “What a View,” in the video below.