A pure-country Marine sparks Memorial concert

Jamey Johnson had been to way too many burials of his fellow Marines.
Each brought deep emotions and a 21-gun salute. “Sometimes, I was one of the men firing the guns,” he said.
After the emotions percolated for decades, he co-wrote “21 Guns.” Now he’ll perform it at the “National Memorial Day Concert,” at 8 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday (May 26) on PBS.
There will be plenty of other stong voices — Gary LeVox (of Rascal Flatts); Broadway’s Cynthia Erivo, Patina Miller and Ruthie Ann Miles– plus the National Orchestra and more, including Bryan Cranston and others reading passionate stores. But Johnson will be the one bringing his years in the Marine Reserves.
This is a guy who seems pure country – a voice deep enough for Cash or Kristofferson, a beard big enough (almost) for ZZ Top, an efficient way with words. He has two Song-of-the-Year awards, plus an honorary doctorate from the school he left after two years.
(At the ceremony, he told graduates he’d planned to write a speech, but procrastinated and didn’t finish. “I was talking to people who understood,” he said later. “I was always one of those kids who would read the book the night before the test and get an A.”)
Johnson grew up in the country – “I can’t really say it was a farm, because we didn’t grow anything” – near Montgomery, Ala., with interests in music and the Marines.
First came a music scholarship (the French horn, no less) at Jacksonville (Ala.) State University, including the marching band. Then he left for the Marines, resisting any notion of being in the military band. “I always knew I would be a Marine and I wanted to be in the infantry.”
He was, but with a side project: “I was sittin’ around the barracks with my guitar, getting ready for a church thing.” Then an officer saw him and “was blown away that someone in his unit could read music.”
Soon, Johnson was being told to bring his guitar everywhere, especially field missions. He also played at country bars and moved to Nashville; there, he had some success singing demos and writing songs for other people.
Then came a writing session with country legends Bill Anderson and Buddy Cannon. “It was just three words — ‘give it away’ — I had written on a page, leaving the rest blank … I knew I wanted it to end with ‘can’t even give it away.’”
Cannon suggested a talking portion – something that hadn’t been popular since Anderson’s prime. George Strait soon took “Give It Away” to No. 1.
“That’s one of the greatest things about co-writing,” Johnson said. “You get to see the song develop from inception.”
A couple years later, an event showed black-and-white photos of Anderson’s life. Talking to Lee Thomas Miller, Johnson said he wondered what Anderson thought when he saw those photos. Miller’s response: “Yeah, ‘You should have seen it in color.’”
That became “In Color,” Johnson’s first top-10 hit. Written with Miller and James Otto, it was named song-of-the-year, as was “Give It Away.”
Both came after Johnson’s divorce, in a time when he was often in seclusion. Both (like “21 Guns”) are deeply emotional. Johnson might get a reputation as a solemn songwriter … except he also co-wrote Trace Adkins’ “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.”
“I don’t think you would get any of that (emotion) without humor,” he said.
And yes, he can still play the French horn, if needed. “I have one at my house. Every now and then, I’ll play it and annoy the dog.”