James Johnston
Australian country sensation James Johnston is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting voices in the genre, helping him break onto the world stage with ease.
His debut single, 2021’s RAISED LIKE THAT, was not just the perfect first impression, it became an instant classic. What began as a song written from personal memory became a movement - a celebration of the rural way of life that resonated deeply with listeners around the globe.
His debut album of the same name set records in Australia as well as making inroads internationally - his stories resonating just as strongly in South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom as they did at home.
With the follow up, WHERE YOU’LL FIND ME, Johnston finds himself in the enviable position of having the world waiting to see what he does next. “There are zero expectations when you write your first record,” Johnston says. “Nobody even knows who you are, so you just write with absolute freedom. Going into this record was daunting. But I had to let go of that. I struggle to not write my truth, so I just tried to tell my story.”
But Johnston isn’t interested in reliving past success. WHERE YOU’LL FIND ME marks a turning point - not just as an artist, but as a man who’s grown into the life he once dreamed of. “I’ve grown up, I’ve got two kids, I’m married, we’ve got our own property,” he explains of where we find him now. “This album is a lot more present. It’s less reflective of where I’ve come from - it’s more about where I am now.”
That shift brings a new depth to his songwriting. While the stories are still his - a house built by his grandfather, a quiet night in with his wife - Johnston’s greatest strength is making the personal feel universal. “I write songs about my life, sure. But people want to listen to a song that relates to them. RAISED LIKE THAT connected because people didn’t just hear my story - they heard their own. I want to craft stories people can see themselves in.” At the heart of WHERE YOU’LL FIND ME is a single word Johnston often writes at the top of a blank page: Joy. Whether it’s an upbeat tribute to family life, a song about a hardworking farmer, or a powerful moment of loss, his goal is always the same - to celebrate the everyday.
“It’s about lifting people up,” he says. “I want to celebrate the farmer, the truck driver, the person out there working hard too. I want it to be bigger than just me, I want those people that don’t often get celebrated to sit back and say ‘I should be proud of this, this is pretty damn good’.
” The new album sees Johnston reuniting with long-time producer and friend Jared Adlam (Adam Brand, Lee Kernaghan), and collaborating with mentor and country superstar Morgan Evans. He also steps into a new chapter by signing with Warner Music - cementing a team to capitalise on the groundwork he’d already done as an independent artist. “I’ve always had global ambition. Why not go for the stars? I thought, I can’t do that on my own. I’ve literally had my finger on every single part of my career, I’ve built my own website, shot my own photos, all the rest of it. So it was important I had people who saw the vision and wanted to plug into it and amplify the vision.
” Despite the runaway success of his debut – 28 weeks at No.1 on the ARIA country chart, the first Australian-based country singer to reach 1 million streams with a song, over 134 million global streams and counting, a Golden Guitar award for Best New Talent - Johnston remains relentlessly focused on what’s next.
“I think a lot of my success is because of that personality trait that I tend not to be ‘Look at my awards I’ve won’, or ‘Look at the number of streams I have’,” Johnston says. “I don’t put any weight on it. I love creating things, and once I’ve built something I am thinking ‘OK, what’s the next thing to build?’ I think that can be a blessing and a curse. The curse is I’m always thinking ‘What’s the next big mountain that I can climb?’ And the blessing is that I’m always trying to climb a bigger mountain, so hopefully things get bigger. That’s the plan.
” WHERE YOU’LL FIND ME isn’t about chasing hits - it’s about capturing the life Johnston’s living right now. Honest, grounded, and full of heart, this is an artist who knows exactly who he is - and where he’s going.
With an album full of feel-good anthems built for stadium crowds, Johnson is stepping into his international era. He is proof Australian country music can travel anywhere, and he’s just getting started.
Connect with James:
Website: www.jamesjohnston.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jamesjohnstonmusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jamesjohnstonmusic
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@jamesjohnstonmusic
YouTube: www.youtube.com/jamesjohnstonmusic