James Johnston on new single 'Blame' and exciting career news

James Johnston is a two-time Golden Guitar winner who has amassed an impressive 75 million streams for his anthemic songs, which include ‘Raised Like That’ and ‘Country Boys’, both of which appear on his 2023 debut album, Raised Like That. From my first interview with Johnston it was clear that he had taken his time to develop his craft, and art, as a performer and songwriter. He’d played in bars and pubs even if only the bar staff were present; he spent time in Nashville writing dozens of songs without recording anything. Then Johnston returned to Australia and started to put things in place, releasing one hit single after another, winning awards and headlining a show at the biggest venue in Tamworth before even releasing one album. When Raised Like That came out it topped the charts, and Johnston’s fan base grew. He did all of this as an independent artist.Now Johnston has a new single, ‘Blame’, and a new record label, Warner Music Australia. In this interview – our fourth – we talk about the song, which features the vocal Johnston recorded on the demo, as, he says, ‘There was just some magic, and we tried messing with it and something got lost. It was just one of those songs.’We also chat about his decision to sign with a label, and about his upcoming shows supporting Kip Moore. Plus he’s soon to travel to South Africa, to play the Cape Town Country Festival and in between all of that he’ll pop up at Savannah in the Round (dates listed below).So there’s a busy time ahead for Johnston, but he will no doubt relish the pace – after taking his time to establish his foundations, he can now build on them solidly and quickly, and produce the sort of entertaining, often layered and thoughtful music that keeps his fans coming back for more.SEPTEMBER 28: Kip Moore Tour Support – SydneyOCTOBER 3: Kip Moore Tour Support – MelbourneOCTOBER 12-13: Savannah In The Round, Mareeba Cairns HinterlandOCTOBER 13: Kip Moore Tour Support – BrisbaneOCTOBER 26 - 27: Cape Town Country Festival – South AfricaListen to James Johnston on Apple MusicListen to James Johnston on SpotifyFollow Sunburnt Country Music on InstagramFollow Sunburnt Country Music on Facebook Sunburnt Country Music website For more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.