Conversations: Jamey Johnson - 'I Don't Like People Standing in My Way'

Jamey Johnson's "That Lonesome Song" was the feel-bad album of 2008. And the ache, angst and anger weren't a put-on: Johnson was going through a divorce and had lost his record deal when he began working up the self-released honky-tonk set. But since the brilliant bummer of a country album was reissued last year by Mercury Nashville, things have been looking up for the 33-year-old brooding singer-songwriter with the Hells Angels beard: He's been racking up accolades and acclaim, and "That Lonesome Song" recently went gold. Johnson performs Thursday at the Birchmere.

Are you waiting to go platinum before you trim that awesome neckbeard?

Aw, man -- I'm not making any deals with anybody on when I'm going to cut this beard off. I kind of like it. [Laughs.]

As the famous bluegrass song goes: "There's a dark and a troubled side of life/There's a bright and a sunny side, too." Does one side generally speak to you more?

Not necessarily. Even a song on the radio that completely lacks substance is there for a reason. Sometimes, people need a break from cold reality; the song that you really don't have to put that much thought power into can be just as entertaining as something that might take you on a three- or four-minute cruise through the depth of reality.

I heard somebody call you the savior of country music recently. Does country need to be saved?

I don't know that the genre has ever been in need of a cowboy to ride in and save the day. That's not been my perception of country music. I think every artist has the right to come to town and sing whatever their idea of what country music is. Play it all on the radio together and let the fans decide that which they like the best. The only thing I've said about it is, don't try to stop me from getting my music out there to those people. If you'll play everything else, you have to play this stuff, too. . . . I don't stand in anybody else's way of accomplishing their dreams, and I don't like people standing in my way, either. That seems like a hostile thing to do.

-- J. Freedom du Lac