We were lucky to catch up with Neil Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Neil, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’m a singer-songwriter and I’ve been playing music and making money at it for over a decade. This year I recorded and released an album of my own songs.

It’ll be my 2nd full length album.

It’s probably the most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on because it involves some very personal songs and images that kind of sum up a whole chapter of my life.

I’m grateful to say that all of the musicians on the record are my friends in a community that I really love here in Roseburg, Oregon.

The album is called ‘Sad Songs For Stay At Home Dads’ it can be described at roots American music or country blues, in the same vain as Jerry Jeff Walker or John Prine.

Anyways I’m very proud of it. You can hear it on spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc.. or you can go buy a CD or LP from my website neilgregoryjohnson.com

Neil, 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 am a singer-songwriter in the genre of country-blues. You could also say that I’m a folk singer, and I’d be proud to have that title.

I have been a full time working musician for a decade now, and my aim is to share the music that I write far and wide.

I also started my own record label Unique Just Like Everyone Else Records, so I’m a proprietor as well now.

Through my new organization, I’m very much interested in preserving and expressing the spirit of traditional American folk music, and I hope to do that through my own music. That is also a factor when it comes to whoever I sign to my label

My latest release ‘Sad Songs For Stay At Home Dads’ was written and recorded by my friends and I in the spirit of songwriters like, John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Billy Joe Shaver.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I love connecting with an audience and feeling understood. I love to entertain and have fun. I think that a lot of wholesome fun is being sucked out of the United States today thanks to insurance companies, politicians and cell phones.

I just think that the attitude of always wanting to be safe is real grey and boring.

So as long as I’m alive I’m going to paint with vibrant colors and do some dangerous shit from time to time.

I love finding the people who are on that same level.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Have more fun. Smile and laugh, if you see a musician playing background music in a restaurant find something to like about their music (even if it’s not your cup of tea) and encourage and clap and hoot and holler.

Make a scene, be loud and proud and buy all the merch.. wear the T shirt, and gas them up on social media!

Turn your old CDs into drink coasters and show them off to your friends at party’s if you don’t have a CD player.

Contact Info:

• Website: neilgregoryjohnson.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/neilgregoryjohnson
• Facebook: facebook.com/neilgregoryjohnson
• Twitter: twitter.com/neilgregjohnson

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