George Strait is “The King Of Country Music”.  But did you know, one of George Strait’s biggest songs was written by Jamey Johnson?  Jamey Johnson had some minor success in the Country Music world as an artist in the early to mid-2000.  His biggest work came as a songwriter.

Jamey’s biggest song as a solo artist came in 2008.  The song was “In Color”. It’s a song he co-wrote with James Otto and Lee Thomas Miller.  The song was a top-10 hit for Jamey.  It would be his highest-charting song ever.

“In Color” spent a total of 40 weeks on the country charts, and became the first Top 10 hit of Johnson’s career, peaking at number 9 on the week of January 10, 2009.  The song was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on June 9, 2010, and it has sold 1,340,000 copies in the United States as of February 2016.

Before We Get To The George Strait Song, A Little About Jamey

• Born on July 14, 1975, in Enterprise, Alabama, and raised in Montgomery, Alabama.
• Influenced by country acts such as Alabama and Alan Jackson
• Alan Jackson was Jamey’s first concert
• After high school Jamey attended Jacksonville State University, the same university from which Alabama lead singer Randy Owen graduated.
• Johnson quit college after two years and served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve for four years.
• Jamey moved to Nashville in 2000, to pursue a career in country music.

He signed his first record deal in 2005 and released “The Dollar,” which peaked at 14 on the charts.  He lost his record deal, and he also lost his first wife. Then he decided to start writing songs for another artist.

His Biggest Written Song To Date

Jamey wrote “Give It Away” for George Strait, which went on to be George Strait’s 41st Number one song. And it is the song that broke the record for most number-one songs which was previously held by country music legend, Conway Twitty.

“Give It Away” would go on win the 2007 award for “Song Of The Year” at both the ACM and CMA Awards.  “Give It Away” received a nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards also.

So, while Jamey may have not made the big time as a solo country artist, he’s done ok. And he’s done even better when it comes to writing big country hits.  Let’s take a look at the songs that Jamey wrote for other country stars.

• Give It Away-George Strait

  In a concert, this is one of the best songs to sing a long with. This is one of those songs where George does some of his famous speaking parts, but when the chorus comes around, we all sing to the top of lungs. The next time you see George in concert, just give it away and sing along!

• Jamey Does A Pretty Cool Version Of Give It Away Als

  It almost feels like Jamey had George Strait in mind when he wrote this song. How big was this song? At the Academy of Country Music awards in 2007, it won both the Single of the Year and Song of the Year awards; At the CMA’s the same year it won song of the Year. At the 2008 Grammy Awards, is was nominated for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. Jamey even jokes on stage that this song bought him is first house!

• Joe Nichols-Another Side Of You

  When you look at Jamey from the outside, you are like there’s no way he could write a nice little love song like this.  He wrote for Joe Nichols.  Joe released Another Side of You  in May 2007 as the lead single from Nichols’ 2007 album Real Things. The song peaked at number 17 on the U.S. country chart.  Still hard to see Jamey doing love songs.

• Trace Adkins-Honky Tonk Badonkadonk

  Now the rough and rowdy side of Jamey Johnson pops out on Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.  This was a big olé song for Trace Akdins in 2005.  This song kind of brought back line dancing in country bars.  Trace took this to #2 on the charts and it was such a cool song, it sold over 75,000 ring tones.

• Trace Adkins-I Got My Game On

  It looks like Trace Adkins and Jamey Johnson had a great partnership going on.  Another big song for Trace and it just about what you would think of when it comes to songs written by Jamey Johnson.  It’s a fun song so you knew this video had to be fun also. When you want fun, you go out and get Rodney Carrington!

• Trace Adkins-Ladies Love Country Boy's

  I’ve got to think that between Jamey writing these big songs and Trace making them big hits, these two must have very nice homes and cars with the success.  This Jamey Johnson written song would go on to be Trace Adkin’s second #1 song.

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