Jamey Johnson – Midnight Gasoline

A new record from Johnson is an exciting event, not least because it’s his first solo release in 14 years. He didn’t feel the need to record but the recent passing of Toby Keith brought home the fact that he wouldn’t hear any new music from his friend and maybe he should add to his own catalogue? He’s a staple of the country music scene despite his solo recording reticence and he’s regularly found on tribute albums (John Anderson and Johnny Cash) or duetting (Blackberry Smoke and Julie Roberts). He’s a ‘go to’ artist with a voice that places him alongside Chris Stapleton with his sauntering yet soulful baritone that exudes gravitas and presence.

The title track is the first indication that you’re in the presence of greatness. A rueful heartbreak song about a lover who’s moved on is on his mind as he drives into the night. A delicious chorus over an easy rhythm that places this somewhere a couple of decades back in sound. Johnson is never hurried and he considers and lives every word he sings.

A couple of the songs cover his current condition and state of mind. Sober is a slow and bluesy ballad with a lachrymose harmonica about his continuing battle for sobriety. I’m Tired of it All with Randy Houser is a classic touring showman’s weary assessment of his life and its waning attraction. With that emotion 21 Guns mines his own military experience: he was a US Marine for six years. The lyrics are beautiful and relate to a soldier’s funeral – “And there ain’t words to say / How proud we all are of you, son / Nothing says job well done / Like twenty-one guns”.

It’s not all downbeat and Saturday Night in New Orleans, a co-write with Chris Stapleton and Tony Joe White, is an atmospheric Southern swamp funk with words that paint a picture of debauchery as a trumpet wails. Doctor John would have been proud. Most of the songs are co-writes but Trudy is a Charlie Daniels cover and blissfully rolls like Little Feat. Some funky rhythm and brass accompany a complicated story about a card game and an importune accusation of the meanest man in Dallas of cheating. Needless to say he was not impressed and our hero now fears for his life.

Johnson exudes a certain insouciance with What You Answer To. It reflects on the names you get called. There’s a play on words with being called, whether on the phone or as a name. The answer to this variety of greetings is simply to respond to the name you accept.

For all his lack of records he tours regularly and can be found criss-crossing the USA but having new material is a boost. It’s good to have him back. Let’s not leave it so long next time?