We recently connected with Jeremy Johnson and have shared our conversation below.

Jeremy , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Growing up on our family farm down the gravel road eight miles west of a rural town of 500 people called Ekhorn, where neighbors were more like family, we learned a lifetime of lessons and countless practical skills. As kids, we started helping on the farm as soon as we could walk, and as a result helping others and learning as you go along was our way of life. We learned by watching our parents work tirelessly and often do that with a smile, night and day, quite literally in rain or shine. Eating fried chicken in the hot sun, covered in barley dust and the blue grain truck door hanging open so we can hear the radio, are among my favourite memories. These memories formed the foundation of who I am today. I remember finishing up harvest every fall, and the whole family looking forward to a weekend in the city, getting a hotel room to share and all of us going swimming in the pool. It was a party, and it was a reward for hard work. My parents gave me deep roots, and the ability to be happy and find the good in almost any circumstance. Along with this, the pride of work well done, and the love of music. They spent hours on the road, driving me to every conceivable music related event in a driving distance. From choirs, to festivals and fairs, summer camps, music lessons, voice lessons, musical theatre, you name it, they took me. They came to every finale, performance, and event cheering me on every step of the way. To this day, my parents like to follow along with my career closely, enjoying the updates and latest reports of the music business.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Johnson Talent Management is a family run talent management company founded by brother/sister duo Jeremy Johnson, who is the artist manager, and Janelle Johnson, a music publicist by trade. We work in the genre of Country, Roots and Americana music, and represent artists that have toured across Canada, the USA, and the United Kingdom. Collectively, our roster earned 18 national and regional award nominations in 2023, we had over 150 live performances, and earned a #1 Canadian Country iTunes Album, and a #3 All Genre iTunes Album. Our love of this genre runs deep, and everyday we strive to contribute to it in a positive way, and enhance, elevate and execute our shared vision with the artists we represent.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The music industry is a ‘get back up’ business. You get knocked down a hundred times a day, and lifted back up once or twice a day if you’re lucky. Sometimes the news that picks you up, gives you just enough gas in the tank to get by, or sometimes it can completely change the trajectory of your plans in a great way. In many ways, it’s like being a kid on the farm, we got knocked down a hundred times a day too, we tripped on a rock, got knocked over by a calf, or fell off our bike, but that made no difference to getting the job finished. Not finishing the job wasn’t an option, so you carried on and got back up with a smile no matter how hard you had fallen. After a while, you get a little more clever, and learn to fall less often, but most importantly you’ve gotten much better at getting back up.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Professionals in the music business are often competent in a huge range of areas, are specialized in one or two ares, and are have most likely experienced at least one major pivot in their career. When we first started out, we were working in pop and R&B music, we earned our reputation and a few regional awards along the way. These were exciting times, as we played shows at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, brokered a touring partnership with TD Bank, and worked in every major market in Canada, outside of Quebec. It was an exciting time, but it didn’t feel like the place I was supposed to be. In 2020, we made an intentional choice as a company to go back to our roots and to work in the country, Americana and roots genre. It was the best choice we’ve ever made for our career, and since that time, we have increased our quality of life, business activities and bottom line revenues. Not only that, we are both happier and at home in this genre, which is an important part of how we grew up, and who we are as people. Most days we are climbing mountains, but we enjoy the process, learn from where we go wrong and celebrate our successes together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.johnsontalentmanagement.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnsontalentmanagement/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnsontalentmanagement/

Image Credits
Primary photo: Danny Shumov