The Guitar Song

The Guitar Song. is a 25-song, double album with thematically linked sets of songs dubbed the ½Black Album½ and the ½White Album.½
½The original idea was always to do a double album,½ says Jamey.
½The album is a tale. The first part of it is a very dark and sordid story.
Everything after that is progressively more positive, reassuring and redemptive.½
The ½Black½ songs include the menacing, ½Poor Man Blues,½ the defiant ½Can’t Cash My Checks,½ the sighing and bluesy ½Even the Skies Are Blue½ and the chilling ½Heartache.
½ The lighter, ½White½ songs are highlighted by the strongly autobiographical ½That’s Why I Write Songs,½ the languid ½Front Porch Swing Afternoon,½ the rocking ½Good Times Ain’t What They Used to Be½ and the easy-going groove tune ½Macon.½
The ambitious project’s textures are many and varied. ½Baby Don’t Cry½ is a lullaby.
½I Remember You½ is a gospel song. ½That’s How I Don’t Love You½ is a deeply sad power ballad.
½By the Seat of Your Pants½ tells of life’s lessons. The title tune, ½The Guitar Song,½ is told from the point of view of two forgotten guitars hanging on a pawn shop wall.
½Playing the Part½ and ½California Riots½ come from feeling out of place as a country boy in Hollywood.
As a lover of classic country sounds, he regularly performs oldies in his stage shows.
The Guitar Song contains ½For the Good Times,½, ½Set `Em Up Joe½ and ½Mental Revenge½.
½Lonely at the Top½ is an undiscovered Keith Whitley song.

The Guitar Song is the follow up to Johnson’s critically acclaimed 2008 record That Lonesome Song. In an exclusive interview with Billboard Magazine, Johnson talked about the new release, saying ½it’s been really fun for me.
The past several times we’ve been in the studio is just...it stays fresh, it stays new and we’re always looking for innovative ways to bring our songs to the people.½
Spin Magazine named The Guitar Song in its ½25 Fall Albums That Matter Most½ special, saying ½Johnson likes country from the old school (or at least the mythologized ½old school½), when outlaw songs met with moody ballads and swirled into something like rootsy American bedrocki