A QUICK CHAT WITH JAMES JOHNSTON

Congratulations on your new single ‘BLAME’! Can you tell us a bit about the song’s meaning?

BLAME was inspired by the first night I met my wife. I was playing in the house band, and she walked  up and asked me to play a Keith Urban song. As she was spinning around on the dance floor, I  couldn't take my eyes off her. BLAME is about those moments when you see someone for the first  time, and you're just captivated. It might be the atmosphere, the music, or the tequila shots, but that  moment has you falling for that person hard. That's how I felt that night, and six years later and three  years married, I still feel the same way.

Run us through the process of creating this song.

I wrote this song in Nashville, and I forgot to bring my guitar that day. All I had was a harmonica, and  there was a rusty steel-string guitar hanging on the wall of the writing room. So, the producer Dan  Pellarin made a beat, and I just started riffing over it with my harmonica. Joe Lasher, my co-writer and  I just started singing, and a few hours later, we were dancing around in the room, and we just knew  the energy of the track was right. What you hear today is 99% of the track that was created the day  we wrote it.

Your history-making debut album RAISED LIKE THAT was released last year, how did it feel after  releasing this body of work?  

The last three years of my career have been a wild ride, and it all started with the release of RAISED  LIKE THAT. So, I knew I wanted to wrap the album up with that song being the album title. I loved  that I got to take so many stories from my life growing up in the country and package them up in this  album. I love that it celebrates country life and is something I'm still really proud of.

You’ve collaborated with other artists a bunch over the years; how does your collaboration process  work? Or is it just unique to who you’re working with?

Every time it's been different. Sometimes it's sparked from a song I started writing where I felt it  needed someone else to really make it work. Other times it just comes from hanging out with my  mates and we just stumble on an idea. I love collaborating as it pushes me in different directions  musically. One thing I've enjoyed is often the times outside the studio, getting to promote the  song, watching the song come to life, and having a crowd sing it with us. Those moments are really  special when they're shared.

What has been the most memorable moment of your musical career so far?  

There have been two. When I sang at CMC Rocks in 2022, that was a huge achievement for me as I  had been going there for so many years as a fan dreaming of one day stepping on that stage. So to be  up there with a huge crowd singing my songs was pretty special. Another time was putting on my  own show at the Great Western Hotel in Rockhampton. I had played there in the little bar, often to a  small handful of people, so many times when I used to play covers in pubs. To be back there  and have the whole venue full of people who were there to see my shows was a moment that will  stay with me forever.

Who are your biggest musical inspirations?

I find inspiration in different places. I seek out new music constantly and I love the moment when I  hear a new song and it sparks creativity in me. The sort of song that makes me want to be a better  writer. I will often stop what I'm doing and go and get a guitar and start writing in those moments. I  also find huge inspiration in my day-to-day life. I live on a property with my wife Talia and my two  boys Koda and River. It's often the simple things that have nothing to do with music that inspire me  to write.

When you’re not making music, what might we find you doing?

I love getting out on motorbikes with my boys. I also love going camping and just heading off for  a few days with the family on little adventures. I love discovering hidden places.

What’s in store for the rest of 2024?

I'm heading off on tour with Kip Moore at the end of September. This will be the biggest run of shows  I have done as a support artist, so I am really excited for that. I am also playing my first big festival in  South Africa in October. This is a whole new territory for me as a musician, so I'm really excited about  the unknown of what can potentially happen over there. Country music is really growing in that  market, so I'm excited to be a part of the new wave of artists that are exploring it.