Jeremy Johnson is a familiar name to metro bar-hoppers, specifically those active on Sundays who might come across his weekly "Hangover Party" at The Blue Note " a solo acoustic set rife with outlaw country and southern-fried singer/songwriter fare.
Less common to the metro is his band, Jeremy Johnson and the Lonesome Few, which he said is in the midst of an "endless Oklahoma tour" in support of the new LP, "Sides and Lines." Surprisingly, the band is just now getting around to releasing the album in Oklahoma City, and will debut the album 10 p.m. Thursday at The Blue Note, 2408 N. Robinson, with The Barrelhouse Revelers. Tomorrow's show will be the band's first in the metro since the album came out earlier this year.
DEEP COUNTRY TIMBRE
The deep country timbre of Johnson's vocals are Nashville-quality, but he said he's never been interested in following the industry into its current rut of saccharine, overly polished sounds. Johnson instead opted to sing from an earlier era, when Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Guy Clark held the reins. Now, that same sound is relegated to the "indie scene," but Johnson said that being distanced from the mainstream opens "outlaw country" musicians to all new crowds normally resistant to country music.
"It is hitting with people who aren't looking for something so corporate and poppy. It is really a grass-roots movement because I know for a fact that our crowds are more diverse than a Tim McGraw crowd," he said. "Here, it can be your punk-rock kids, your metal kids. You grow up in Oklahoma, you are exposed to country music no matter how you were raised, so they will still dig on some of the cool stuff."
Show admission is $5. For more information, call 524-5678. "Charles Martin
