PLEASE NOTE: Jay's music has found homes in various genres, from southern rock to blues to americana/country to funk and singer songwriter...so please peruse through the entire catalog - thanks so much!
Jay Johnson is a multi-genre (he hates that term, by the way,) multi-award winning (hates that one, too) performer singer/songwriter. Among his most recent accolades, Jay was nominated for Singer/Songwriter of the Year at the 2007 Texas Music Awards. He is currently doing an internet-only re-release of his 2004 album, RoyalBlueMoon, as well as his new political funk-ballad, The TruthWagon, and his songs are being added to playlists and charts globally.
Jay was voted Male Vocalist of the Year at the 2005 Texas Music Awards in which he and his band at the time received the most nominations (6) in the history of the show, including Song, Album, Musician and Entertainer of the Year. He was also selected as a Regional Finalist in the 2004 Sony/USA Network Nashville Star TV Show and currently has several of his songs being considered for placement in upcoming film and television shows. This 18-yr veteran performer has self-released 3 albums in the last 7 years (all received statewide, regional and international airplay)while sharing the stage with such talent as Jackson Browne, Pat Green, Willie Nelson, Charlie Robison, Jack Ingram, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Steven Fromholtz, Gary P. Nunn and countless others. Several of Jay's songs have been re-released by fellow songwriters as well. Johnson's style of writing is as diverse and all encompassing as the writer himself and his writing savvy has been compared to James Taylor, The Black Crowes, Neil Young, Jackson Browne & Townes Van Zandt.
Jay Johnson is proud to play Seagull® Guitars and Elixir® Strings Exclusively, and wishes to thank the following very groovy people who have chosen to help him along this kaleidoscopic journey:
www.godinguitars.com www.elixirstrings.com
www.JagerMusic.com www.WOOT.com
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN JAY'S MUSIC!
2007 SINGER/SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR NOMINEE - Texas Music Awards (TexasMusicAwards.org)
2005 MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR - Texas Music Awards (TexasMusicAwards.org)
2005 - Song Contribution to Freedom Bound CD, benefiting Educate Van Zandt (EVZ) which promotes and provides adult education for area residents of Van Zandt County, TX. Featuring Willie Nelson, Mickey Newberry and others.
2004 FINALIST/RUNNER UP - Shiner Bock Rising Star Competition (KHYI.com / Shiner.com)
2004 REGIONAL FINALIST - Sony/USA Network's Nashville Star Television Show
(UsaNetwork.com/nashvillestar)
2004 SEMI-FINALIST - Dallas Songwriter's Association Competition (DallasSongwriters.org)
2003 SEMI-FINALIST - Wildflower! Art and Music Festival Songwriter Competition
(WildflowerFestival.com)
2003 CAMPFIRE HERO AWARD
Texas Music Nation Festival (TexasMusicNation.org)
2003 OUTSTANDING FESTIVAL PERFORMER
Beanstock Festival (Beanstock.org)
2002 - Song Contribution to Open Doors Project CD
benefiting The Parkinson Foundation (OpenDoorsCD.org)
2002 MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR - Rockzilla Music
Awards (Rockzilla.net)
2001 WINNER - BW Stevenson Songwriter
Competition (PoorDavidsPub.com)
1999 - Song Contribution for A.R.T.S. For People CD
(A.R.T.S.ForPeople.org)
JAY JOHNSON BIO
"I loved the guitar. Girls loved the guitar. I loved girls. I had learned to play by watching my brother struggle. I wanted to sing songs so I learned to play songs. Lots of songs. There was no ROCK music allowed in my house. Late at night I would listen to Dallas ROCK stations. KZEW, Z-97, Q102. Tyler radio sucked. I'd go to sleep with that little mono earplug (white) hidden in my ear. I learned those songs. I couldn't buy an ELECTRIC guitar so I used what I had. (David and a sling.) Mostly a gut string classical that I got for $100. I bought a 12 string for $80 and took the little strings off 'cause I couldn't tune it. I played that. Daddy took the guitar away one time. I was playing "The Joker." That whole "peaches and trees" thing didn't sit too well with the principal of a private Christian High School."
Jay Scott Johnson was born in Tyler, Texas and by the fifth grade had lived in California, Montana, Arizona, four podunk Texas towns and was back on the farm in Noonday, Texas for the sixth grade. Noonday life, in Jay's words: "Four boys. Onions, potatoes, corn, beans. Plant and harvest. Mom tried to grow strawberries once." Jay started taking piano lessons at the age of seven and has been performing ever since.
"Seventeen found me on the tarmac in Geneva, Switzerland with too much luggage - Thanks, Mom. L`abri. Francis Scheaffer. Huemoz, Switzerland. You can only find it if you're looking for it. I was looking. I turned 18. I came home with longer hair and a bad habit of using long sentences that no one could follow. Daddy knew that I had been "sinning." That fall Jay booked a private party and made his first fifty dollars. He describes the next few years thusly:
"Motorcycle wreck. Marriage. Baby. Back to school. Got a job in a factory. Started gigging to make extra money. Had to quit school. More money between the factory and gigging. 2 more babies. Solo, duo, trio, duo, 5-piece band. Rock and roll. Whiskey. Girls. Factory. Gig. Rock and roll. Whiskey. Girls. Factory. Gig. Rock and roll. Divorce. Rebecca. Marriage. Moved to Dallas. I decided that I wanted to tell my grandkids that I was a songwriter. So I started writing songs. Mostly bad. Nobody listened. Made a recording. Gave it away. Friends bought it. Kept writing. Still bad. Decided to make another recording."
That recording was Images which, along with his 2002 recording Deep In The Heart of Texas, both received local and regional airplay as well as in Europe. In between these albums, Jay has won numerous awards and been ask to contribute songs for several special music projects, and his 3rd Album RoyalBlueMoon released in the fall of '04 to glowing reviews and numerous award nominations. Jay has an uncanny knack for using his lyrics to paint mental images in the listener's mind - drawing the listener into the music and letting their own experiences influence their images. Add some incredibly beautiful music, a voice to match and a knock-you-off-your-seat performer and you've got something really special - Jay Johnson.
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