
Photo by Charles Reagan Hackleman Willie
In a country music landscape littered with feckless urban cowboys, Jamey Johnson stands tall. With his deep voice pitched somewhere “between Jennings and Jones,” the Alabama native hasn’t reinvented the wheel with top-selling releases such as “The Lonesome Song” and his two-disc album “The Guitar Song.” Instead, he takes the elements of classic country and reminds us how they can break your heart, start a bar brawl or inspire a drinking spree. Struggling with writer’s block, he hasn’t released an album of original songs since 2010, and his latest, a cover of “America the Beautiful” with saxophone and flute, is really unfortunate. But at his best, Johnson is pure country gold.
He performs at Meadow Event Park in Doswell on May 14 at 6 p.m. $25 to $99.