We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Buck Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Buck, thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I love being an artist/musician! I’ve been fortunate to have a career now for almost 50 years starting when I was 6 years old singing with my Gospel music family throughout the South. I knew then that singing/performing was what I wanted to do the rest of my life. The edification from an audience when hearing you perform is an amazing, soul filling event that becomes an addiction. It’s never been about the money, but you got to eat. So It never was an easy path and I worked many day jobs in the early years to survive. But I never looked back and never wanted a “regular job”. Which doesn’t mean I don’t work very hard and way more than 40 hours a week.
Buck, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a singer/songwriter/musician/producer from that backroads of Shady Grove, Alabama which is just outside of Birmingham. I began singing Gospel music with my family throughout the South at the young age of 6 and knew early on that performing and creating music was what I wanted to do with my life. I’m currently the keyboardist and backing vocalist for Aerosmith, The Hollywood Vampires (Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper, and Joe Perry), and The Joe Perry Project. Being a singer first who also plays keyboards and acoustic guitar has kept me working throughout the years with such notable artists as The Doobie Brothers, John Waite, Matthew Sweet, Tal Bachman and many others.
As a songwriter, I co-wrote the international hit song “Just Feel Better” for Carlos Santana featuring Steven Tyler on vocals. And I’ve also placed many songs in TV and Film and have had cuts with artists such as Andrew Farriss (INXS), Shane Smith, Hellings and Katelyn Kohler. As a producer, I produced and co-wrote the #1 song at Texas-Country radio for Kaitlyn Kohler in 2022.
I believe that by attaining the skill sets and experience of songwriting, live performance, producing (which includes engineering and editing), has enabled me to sustain a musical career in todays ever changing economical and technological climate for music creators. I’m also a joyful collaborator. I’ve always loved being in a band, singing harmonies that blend well with others, and co-writing songs. The light bulb just comes on when I hear someone else play some chords or start singing.
I’m grateful for the opportunities I have to work with legendary artists like Aerosmith and to learn from them. But nothing is as satisfying as to sing your own songs and to connect with an audience hearing them. I’ll be releasing singles and an album in 2024 which I self produced, starting with the first single “Just Feel Better” through Rose Pony/OneRPM.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I encourage everyone to go see and support live local music, and buy the merchandise if they love the music. Those 2 things are mostly what musical artist can make a living from. Streaming and download sales produce hardly anything. It takes 1 million streams of a song to make $5,000.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
There are a few times when music is the most rewarding to an artist…. The biggest is probably the “aha” moment when you’re writing a song and it starts to come together and that gets you excited cause it sounds so good. Then there’s the recording of the song and then through the production it becomes almost a tangible thing… you are now the listener. And maybe the most satisfying is when an audience hears it and is into it and they let you know.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.buckjohnson.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buckjohnson_official/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buckjohnsonofficial/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/buck-johnson-09688010/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@burlybuck
- Other: https://linktr.ee/BuckJohnson
Image Credits
Ross Halfin, Katarina Benzova, Zack Whitford, Aaron Perry