Jamey Johnson (May 5, 2012)

Headliner: Jamey Johnson

Date: May 5, 2012 

Venue: Kris Allen Stage - Toad Suck Daze Festival (Conway, Ark.)

Jamey Johnson brought pure country music to a packed crowd at the Toad Suck Daze festival in Conway, Ark. on Saturday night (May 5).

Johnson is probably most known to country music fans for his only top 10 hit “In Color,” which was named both the CMA and ACM Song of the Year in 2009. He’s true country music at its core, which is probably the exact reason why he’s not as popular as he should be. Country music has gone pop and rock, but Johnson won’t.

The performance, which lasted around an hour and a half, was filled with many of Johnson’s originals with a lot of classic covers mixed in.

Johnson opened his set with “High Cost of Living,” the opening track from his Grammy nominated 2009 album That Lonesome Song, which in my opinion is already one of the greatest country music albums of all-time. “High Cost of Living” got the crowd’s energy pumped up to maximum and it didn’t stop until 90 minutes later when he finished with the hardest rocking cover of Hank Williams’ religious anthem “I Saw the Light” that I’ve ever heard.

Among Johnson’s best originals were “That Lonesome Song,” “Place Out on the Ocean” and “Mowin’ Down the Roses” from the That Lonesome Song album and “Playing the Part,” “By the Seat of Your Pants” and “Macon” from his The Guitar Song album.

The best original altogether, though, was unsurprisingly his performance of “In Color,” in which the jam-packed crowd serenaded along too. “In Color” will, no doubt in my mind, go down in country music history as one of the 100 most essential songs of all-time.

Even though it seems like half of Johnson’s sets are always (this is the second time I’ve seen him in concert) covers it really doesn’t bother me because they are always great and you know that he has to thoroughly enjoy playing them, even if the facial expression on his face doesn’t change once during his shows. Say what you will about Johnson, but I find it great that he doesn’t mess around with too much talk and flare and just plays his heart out.

Johnson’s best cover was of George Strait’s 2007 CMA & ACM Song of the Year “Give It Away,” which honestly shouldn’t even be referred to as a cover, because Johnson wrote it. It’s pretty special and interesting to note that Johnson has two Song of the Year trophies.

Other fantastic country covers included Waylon Jennings’ (an obvious hero of Johnson’s and Johnson is the closest thing to Waylon that’s currently around) “Waymore’s Blues”, Merle Haggard’s “My Favorite Memory” and “That’s the Way Loves Goes” and Lefty Frizzell’s “Long Black Veil.”

Two surprising covers, which were amazing, were of Fats Waller’s jazz standard “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and Leadbelly’s blues standard “Where Did Your Sleep Last Night.” You can tell from covers like these two that Johnson is pretty much a lover of all around great music, no matter the genre.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to see Jamey Johnson in concert yet than you’re definitely missing out. He may not be heard much on the radio and he may not sell many records or concert tickets, but he’s the real deal in a genre and world lacking in reality.