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She listened to all sorts of music obsessively and
revered a wide array of musical mentors. These
ranged from the Beach Boys, ABBA and Madonna to a
profusion of Nashville-oriented stars: such men as
Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam and Marty Stuart, but
especially females Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless,
Martina McBride, Pam Tillis, Mary Chapin Carpenter,
Trisha Yearwood, Suzy Bogguss and Deborah Allen.
Often, she found that her favorite songs on these
stars' CDs were written by singer-composer Matraca
Berg, who "just always had neat angles on things."
Berg "immediately became the girl I wanted to be
like," Johnson
remembers, and when she reached Nashville, she aimed
for - and got herself signed to - a contract with
Berg's music publisher, Pat Higdon of Patrick Joseph
Music.
"I took off pretty fast," she recalls.
"It was like
I was obsessed with writing songs. I wrote all the
time, so much that something had to happen, and my
publishers were very encouraging. They really got my
music out there, and it just started to happen. I
had a very small wage, but it was great for me
because I was used to waitressing and cleaning
houses and all that kind of stuff."
Her songs turned the heads of insiders. Producer
Paul Worley started coming to the sessions at which
she demoed material to pitch to other singers. In
1999, around the time she was signed to her
recording contract, two very important events
occurred: her "Single White Female" became a #1 hit
for Chely Wright, and Worley-associated star Martina
McBride invited Johnson to sing background for her
on the road.
"She said, 'And you play guitar, right?' I said,
'Yeah.' I wasn't very good. It was such a
put-on-the-spot thing for me. I went home and
practiced my butt off. Martina is pretty particular,
and for her to ask me to come out like that was a
big leap of faith - that she trusted me. I was not gonna
let her down. I ended up staying with her for about
a year off and on, and I learned a lot. I had never
played and sung in that kind of situation before."
continued
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