Introducing Paige King Johnson
Hey Paige, good to speak with you. To start, give us some context to your day, where are you right now, and what are you up to today?
At the moment, I’m in Nashville doing some work meetings, some co-writes with friends and getting ready to play a writers round tonight at The Local in Nashville.
In two sentences describe your new album, Honky Tonk Heart.
Honky Tonk Heart is everything I wanted my first album to be - real and fun and country music to the core. I made this album for any other country fans that were raised on classic country & miss those sounds & storytelling in today’s music.
I believe you wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on the record, what can you tell me about one of the ones you didn’t, ‘Baby Don’t’.
‘Baby Don’t’ was sent to me by my mentor & hero, Pam Tillis. She knew I was working on this album and had asked around town for some songs to send my way. She thought this song would be a fun, more modern sounding tune to add to the list that would cover some storytelling ground that all the other songs hadn’t. The icing on the cake with this song were the incredible writers - Lori (McKenna), Hillary (Lindsay) and Liz (Rose) are three of my favorite Nashville powerhouse writers, and I’m so honored to be able to call one of their songs mine.
One you co-wrote is ‘Why God made Small Towns’, which is a wonderful song, what can you tell me about how you wrote that?
‘Why God Made Small Towns’ was one of those songs that I wrote just for me. On this particular day of writing, my co-writer, Mike Astrachan, and I were just reminiscing on the special places we call home and how much those places have shaped us and continue to shape us even after we have moved on from them. Reflecting back on those memories, the words to this song just flowed out seamlessly. My faith is something that’s very important to me, and I think this song was a really nice way to open the door to share those thoughts and conversations with my listeners.
‘Homes In The Hometowns’ is one you wrote on your own, how different was that from co-writing?
Writing solo is a huge change from my normal day-to-day. When I moved to Nashville, I quickly learned to love the art of co-writing, so I don’t take much time to write on my own. But ‘Homes in the Hometowns’ was one of those songs where the experiences and memories being told were so personal and close to me, I had to write it on my own. Once I started jotting down thoughts and ideas, I couldn’t stop. It was a very quick song to write that didn’t start out with intentions of being a song at all. Songs like this one that come from out of nowhere & practically write themselves are usually the best ones!
Which song has been most surprising for you, from the start of writing it to how it turned out on the album?
I really loved & fought for ‘Used To’ to make it on this album. Growing up listening to classic country, I loved all the slow waltz songs that seemed to just stand out amongst the others on an album. I wanted a song like that for myself, so Mike (Astrachan) & I sat down one day and just wrote completely outside the boxes of modern, commercial country music to craft my own slow waltz song. I love the story that’s told in this song, and I REALLY love the way Bill McDermott, my producer, helped bring it to life in the studio.
You’ve played the Bluebird Cafe, what was that experience like?
Playing the Bluebird Cafe was unreal! I’ve heard about how legendary the venue is and was so honored to be able to play the same stage that so many talented singers and songwriters in Nashville have played.
What can you tell me about The Country Yard Party?
The Country Yard Party is an outdoor music festival I started in my hometown back in 2020. In high school, I started a dinner theater in my hometown as a way to provide a space for myself and other artists like myself to perform as well as providing a space for local friends and family to enjoy entertainment. As that grew, I started dreaming up ways for it to become more of a festival type show to showcase North Carolina singer-songwriters like me. Prior to COVID becoming what it was (we won’t dwell on that…), I had started planning for The Country Yard Party as the first outdoor country festival of its kind in our area in North Carolina. Once shutdowns started happening, it forced me to step back & reevaluate how I was going to play the whole event out. With help from my family, we were able to safely put on the first outdoor event in August 2020, at a time when people really needed & craved live music, or any kind of in-person entertainment. I’ve been so grateful for the local support, and have loved watching it grow over the past three years.
You grew up in North Carolina, what can you tell me about your hometown?
I grew up in a rural farming town in North Carolina called Angier. As a young girl, I didn’t appreciate the quaintness of a small town and being surrounded by people who have known you since you were born, but as I’ve grown and spent more time apart from it, I’ve grown to love that about it. I’m grateful to have been raised in such a place, around people who care for me & my family & support my career to no end.
What kind of thing did you do for fun growing up?
I grew up riding and showing horses, up until I moved to Nashville. That was my whole life for a long time and I miss it so much now that I’m on the road and busy all the time.
With the poor $ numbers from streaming, what’s the best way for people to support you and your music?
I have autographed albums available in my merch shop on my website. I also have a lot of other fun merch items like hats, shirts, koozies & even hand-written lyric sheets for sale there.
If you could recommend one artist to listen to this week, who would it be?
I’ve recently been listening to Kimberly Kelly’s new album. She’s an artist I’ve been following for a few years and her new music she’s coming out with is just so good! If you like classic country music, you will love her.
What’s the question I should have asked you today but haven’t?
What hobbies do I have outside of music. My hobbies include doing anything outdoors (running, walking, gardening, etc.) or spending time in the kitchen cooking & baking.
Finally, how do you take your coffee?
I don’t drink coffee often (my body sort of rejects caffeine weirdly enough), but when I do I get decaf with some kind of good tasting cream like caramel or hazelnut in it.
To find out more about Paige you can visit her website or check out what she’s up to on TikTok, Instagram or Facebook. Her album Honky Tonk Heart is streaming everywhere now. Tidal embed is below.
