RT JOHNSON

Sunday May 23, 2021

@ Music City Bar & Grill in Nashville, TN

TCM Single Review: "Feel Good Again"

Facebook.com/rtjohnsonmusic

Every tourist in Nashville knows about the neon lights of Lower Broadway, but nestled just a few miles outside of downtown sits another original music mecca: Music Valley!

The Midnite Jamboree (until this year) has called The Texas Troubadour Theatre its home stage for many years.

The Nashville Palace boasts about its former cook Randy Travis, and has recently featured performances from The Steel Woods, David Nail, Texas Hill, and more.

The Opryland Hotel sits across the street, which is where WSM 650AM broadcasts from.

And have we even mentioned that Music Valley is also in the shadow of the Grand Ole Opry House - the place where the show that made country music famous calls home.

But right in the middle of this mix is the Music City Bar & Grill, which has become a destination spot and has a rich history of iconic acts gracing their stage and up and comers earning recognition on it.

CCB Nashville recording artist RT Johnson is one of those up and comers!

Armed with an acoustic guitar and his BIG voice, Johnson quickly showcased his outlaw influences when he started his set with Waylon’s “Lonesome, On’ry, and Mean,” Willie’s “Seven Spanish Angels,” and Haggard’s “Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver),” while the larger than life photos of Waylon and Merle - which hang on the back wall of the stage - looked over each of Johnson’s shoulders in approval. 

His outlaw influences continued to shine throughout his 3 ½ hour performance as he flooded his set with plenty more selections from the catalogs of Waylon and Merle, “The Ride” from David Allan Coe,” “Old Habits” and “Country State of Mind” from Hank Williams Jr., Charlie Daniels “Long Haired Country Boy,” and a healthy dose from the modern outlaw class that included covers of Jamey Johnson, Cody Jinks, and Luke Combs.

The other side of who RT Johnson is as an artist comes from an influence of 80’s and 90’s country, so he absolutely made sure that he included covers from that era as well: Shenandoah, Restless Heart, Tracy Lawrence, Alabama, and Keith Whitley.

Johnson satisfied audience requests, had people line dancing to several selections, allowed an audience member to join him onstage to sing Joe Diffie’s “The Ships That Don’t Come In” and Randy Travis’ “Forever and Ever, Amen,” and had a little fun with the crowd when he pulled out a cover of Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.”

But to discover the true heart of artist during one of these marathon performances that Nashville is known for, you must be able to see past all the necessary cover songs that they play and look at the original songs that the artist will often filter into their set.

Johnson included nearly all his original selections and gave the audience a full look at who he is as an all-around artist.

He played his brand-new radio single “Feel Good Again,” which has already landed him back on the country music charts…as well as playing his 2020 single “Your Love Won’t Let Me Cheat”- the song that first put him on the country music radar when it climbed all the way up to the #64 position.

From his 2019 EP Man I Made, he offered 4 out of the 5 songs - “Whiskey Drank You Off My Mind,” “Daddy Kept Pushin’,” “Summertime Hangover,” and “Thirsty Weather”- the latter two which acted as perfect companions for one of the hottest days we’ve experienced in Nashville so far this year.

He even dug deep into his catalog to play the autobiographical “Just Plain Country,” the Popcorn Sutton inspired “Firewater,” and the groove heavy “Grandpa’s Farm”- a song that he wrote about “tobacco farming with his granddaddy” as he stated before playing it.

With a thank you in support of the military before playing Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” RT Johnson added an additional layer of who he is and what he believes in, to already transparent performance that let the music speak for him when he needed it to, but also allowed his down-home personality to shine through his interactions with the crowd when the timing perfectly lent itself to those moments.

It’s easy to see why RT Johnson is quickly becoming an artist that stands out in the crowded Nashville music scene. Besides the fact that his original music is all really solid, he’s the type of guy who you meet once, feel like you’ve known forever, and cheer for when success starts to find him; success that should be just around the corner if this performance and what “Feel Good Again” is already doing on the charts is the indication! 

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