“It Moved Everything Into High Gear”: How Toby Keith’s Death Inspired Jamey Johnson’s First Solo Album in 14 Years

As of recently, Jamey Johnson has made his musical comeback after a 14 year hiatus. With the impending release of his album, Midnight Gasoline, on November 8, Johnson will surely launch back onto the scene seamlessly. However, the work to get there was not seamless in the slightest. For Johnson, this album comes as a result of the passing of his good friend, Toby Keith.

Jamey Johnson has never been someone to write just to write. Instead, he writes methodically, deliberately, and with a motivation larger than himself. Matter of fact, he recently stated after signing with Warner Chappell, “If you’re not writing it’s because the well has run dry,” per Instagram. Well, it seems that Johnson has refilled the “well” and found a silver lining in Toby Keith’s tragic passing.

Keith Put a Fire to Jamey Johnson’s Feet

In a recent interview with Billboard, Johnson opened up about Keith’s passing and how it incited him to start his next project. He told Billboard, “When Toby passed away, it moved everything into high gear” and “It’s what made me understand that I’m nowhere near done, and so it’s time to get busy.”

Given this newfound inspiration and fire, Johnson wasted no time getting back to work. “After he passed away, I immediately started talking about this session and started trying to get all the particulars in order” and “It was time for me to get in the studio again,” Johnson said.

Keith’s passing struck Johnson with such profound inspiration thanks to their longtime friendship and music collaboration. Johnson, who has famously written songs for Willie Nelson and George Strait, never did write a song for Keith, but they were in the works on a song toward the end of his life. “We were working on a song toward the end,” Johnson shared, “We laughed a bunch, and it was one of those that I thought,” he added.

That song sadly never saw the light of day under Toby Keith and Jamey Johnson’s name, but maybe it will appear on Johnson’s upcoming album. That being so, it seems Johnson’s album is going to be geared towards pulling on the heartstrings of country music fans who have felt the loss of Toby Keith. And even though it is nearly impossible to find a glimmer of light in Keith’s passing, Jamey Johnson’s inspiration for the new album seemingly prevails through the dark cloud cast above.

Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images for ACM