Jamey Johnson Recalls Gretchen Wilson Being “One Of The First Amazing Things” He Saw After Moving To Nashville: “She Was A Force”

A force to be reckoned with.

Just like many other artists when they get started in the music industry, you are out and about hustling to make connections, talk to producers, and more. That method has changed some in the last few years after artists were discovered through social media, but for some of those who did it the old way, keeping your nose to the grindstone, playing dive bars, and shaking hands with anyone who came out to watch you, they have some great stories from those days.

Artists who got their start in the industry this way were also often rubbing elbows with others who were trying to do the same thing, later with them all turning into country stars.

Jamey Johnson is one of those artists who took the leap of faith and moved to Nashville in 2000, after serving eight years in the Marine Corps.

One of the first people Johnson connected with after moving to Nashville was Greg Perkins, who is famously known for playing the fiddle for Tanya Tucker, Tammy Wynette, and others. After being on the road for many years, Perkins discovered that he could make a great living writing melodies for individuals who submitted lyrics to major labels and cutting demos for them. Johnson recalled, while chatting with Dillon Weldon for an episode of the Drifting Cowboy Podcast, that the work began to pile up for these songs that needed demos cut, and Perkins enlisted Johnson to help him sing them.

Soon enough, the two had a little market going and were cutting demos left and right. Johnson had fond memories sitting in Greg Perkins’ small studio, including having one final phone call with his grandfather. While moments like that are emotional memories that occurred in that studio, another memory was the first time he met the “Redneck Woman,” Gretchen Wilson.

Wilson was doing the same thing at the time, cutting demos in hopes that it would lead to her discovery. One day, Perkins told Johnson that they needed to cut a demo for a duet, and Gretchen Wilson was the woman for the job.

To say Wilson made a lasting impression on Johnson is an understatement. He recalls:

“She was a force. I can’t even exaggerate this enough. I was sitting in that studio with Gregg, and he said, ‘This first one’s going to be a duet. And your duet partner should be getting here any minute.’ Alright.

She comes in, grabs the lyrics. ‘Play me the song.’ Plays her the song. She goes in the other room. Puts them lyrics on a stand, Greg starts from the top. She sang the sh** out of that song.

When it stopped, she didn’t even hang around, like she’d made a mistake and needs to cover that or go back and do this again, or give you two or three of these like you can comp them the way some people do. She sang that son of a b**** one time and walked out of that room, signed her card, and Greg said, ‘I’ll see ya.’ Boom, she’s out the door.”

What made this interaction even more memorable is that Gretchen Wilson was very pregnant when she recorded this demo.

“She had to be 14 months pregnant. I mean that turkey button popped a while back. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She just walked in there and killed it. 

I think she… It was probably a week or two before she had her child. It was probably in that range. And I’d never seen anything like that in my life. Because at the time, there wasn’t this known singer, Gretchen Wilson. Or at least she wasn’t known to me. I just got to town, hell I didn’t know sh**. I didn’t know anybody in town.

She was one of the first amazing things I saw.”

They don’t make them quite like Gretchen Wilson. She was a force back then, and she’s a force today. Given that Johnson has worked with many talents over his career, given how vividly he recalls this moment, it burned a memory into his brain.

Johnson said that after that day, the two had never worked together again. But that changed the other night at The Grand Ole Opry. The two finally graced the stage together and honored the late, great Charlie Daniels with a killer cover of “Trudy.”

Check it out:

Before you go, check out the entire Drifting Cowboy Podcast episode.

The post Jamey Johnson Recalls Gretchen Wilson Being “One Of The First Amazing Things” He Saw After Moving To Nashville: “She Was A Force” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.