Daily Inspiration: Meet Paige King Johnson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paige King Johnson. Them and their team share their story with us below:

In a quiet North Carolina town 22 miles south of Raleigh, as a young 9-year-old girl, Paige King Johnson spent her summers under the crepe myrtles imitating the styles of Loretta, Patsy, Waylon, and Merle. Having a grandpa as her biggest fan also meant receiving the gift of her first guitar – a baby Taylor – and enrolling in lessons. After her grandpa passed, the bright-eyed dreamer carried on his memory by taking her newfound discovery to local fairs, festivals, and any other stage she was allowed to stand on.

As she grew older, Johnson added “opening act” to her resume, supporting chart-topping artists like Kane Brown, Joe Nichols, Gabby Barrett, Jimmie Allen, Scotty McCreery, Neal McCoy, and James Otto. And with high school graduation came the realization that this was more than a hobby. The Angier native traded in horse pastures and back roads for the bright lights of Music City in 2015. Upon starting school at Belmont University for Music Business, Johnson honed in on the magic that had heavily influenced her as a child: the art of storytelling thru songwriting.

“I started finding my own voice thru writing, becoming more confident, and owning the fact that my personal feelings and experiences were worth talking about, singing about, and putting on paper,” Johnson reflects.

The famous Bluebird Café was just one of many writers’ circuits around Nashville that provided a safe space for Johnson to meet other writers, try out new tunes, and get feedback. In return, Johnson began captivating audiences with her down-home stage presence, cut straight to the bone stories and raw country voice, reminiscent of the classic country era.

In the last six years, Johnson has traveled back and forth between Nashville and the Carolinas, playing shows like the North Carolina State Fair and running her festival series, The Country Yard Party, all while continuing her dinner theatre, Country on the Outskirts of Town, that she founded in high school. Johnson has a passion for bringing live music to her hometown area and giving young songwriters and artists a place to share their talents.

A three-time Carolina Country Music Awards Winner for Female Vocalist of the Year, Country Emerging New Artist, and Tour of the Year, Johnson’s devoted homegrown fan base continues to expand farther than just her backyard.

On Thursday, February 3, 2022, at the annual Southern Farm Show Ag Development Forum, North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Troxler and Got to Be NC Agriculture, North Carolina’s official business development and marketing program in the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, announced a new partnership with Paige. With her Harnett County roots, Paige will be the voice of the Got to Be NC agriculture marketing program while promoting her single “Homes in the Hometowns”.

After spreading her wings with her debut single “Water Down The Whiskey”, climbing to the #29 spot on Music Row charts, Paige moved on to her next project with the release of her second single “Just Like You”. Working alongside country-legend Pam Tillis, Johnson created a stunning music video that premiered on Country Music Television (CMT). She then followed with “She Holds This House Together”, a tribute to her own mother, and a heartfelt music video with memories of her and her mother premiered on Newsmax.

Paige is now stepping out with yet another side of her as she releases her third single to country radio, “Baby Don’t”, written by Nashville legends Lori McKenna, Liz Rose, and Hillary Lindsey. The song’s official music video, which premiered on Heartland TV and CMT.com, was Johnson’s second collaboration with Pam Tillis as the director. With a conviction to write and record genuine songs she can be proud of for years to come, Johnson is ready to go down any path that calls her name – as long as she can walk it in her favorite pair of boots.

“My main goal with music is to keep it authentically me and authentically country. As long as I continue to achieve those two things, I will remain satisfied and happy on this journey, no matter where it takes me.”

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t believe that music is ever a smooth road for any artist. Has it been fun and exciting? YES! But has it also been frustrating and challenging and sometimes defeating? Absolutely! Starting out as a young musician, there are many frustrating days spent in practice or music lessons where the technique just isn’t coming as quickly as you want it to.

And then you get to the performance aspect and the struggles that come with getting comfortable with being on stage and in front of strangers all the time. Then came when I decided to move from my hometown in North Carolina to go to college and chase my music dreams in Nashville, TN. Being on your own for the first time in a brand new city has its own set of worries. It was then that I also started writing my own music for the first time, and putting emotions and stories down on paper is an art in itself, but getting up the courage to play those songs for other people took a lot of work for me.

And once I started getting more comfortable with that, the real struggles of being an artist in a super competitive industry started coming up. Being an artist, you have to find a balance of being accessible to the public and your fans while maintaining aspects of your life that should be private. You have to manage the different voices and opinions you have coming at you from all sides, filtering every comment before taking anything to heart.

You have to fight for yourself and your career every single day harder than you’ve fought for anything else before. You have to constantly deliver music, videos, merchandise and so many other things to your fans while still staying true to the kind of artist and musician you want to be. It has taken me many years to even start scratching the surface of managing all of these struggles, and I continue to battle new ones with each new season in my career.

Being in the entertainment industry is not for the faint of heart, but I wouldn’t trade my job for the world. I love what I do and that is what keeps me going each day!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a country singer/songwriter. I spend most of the year touring around the United States (and sometimes even outside of the country) playing shows and meeting new fans. When I’m not on the road, I spend my time writing new songs, preparing new show sets, organizing festivals and other music events near my hometown, planning for new music releases, filming new video content, meeting with my team, partnering with brands I believe in to provide content for them, and so much more.

Since I was a sophomore in high school, I have poured a lot of my time into creating a live music scene in and around my hometown. At the age of 15, I started my own dinner theater in Angier, NC where I brought in different NC artists to perform for my local friends and family. Over the years, that grew into a very popular dinner theater that would have 4 multi-night sold-out shows a year. On top of that, I also began a songwriter’s showcase in the same venue that would take place every other month. I would bring in local NC songwriters to share their original music in a listening room environment.

I fell in love with those events as I gained an appreciation for songwriting when I moved to Nashville. When COVID hit, we had to shut down both the dinner theater and songwriters nights with them both being indoors, but I still wanted a way to bring live music to my local community that had grown to love and appreciate those events. So, in the midst of the 2020 pandemic, I began an outdoor music festival featuring artists with NC roots. This was the perfect solution to the need for social distancing and the need for live entertainment in a very dark time.

Labeled as The Country Yard Party, we are now working on the 3rd annual event coming up in May of 2022. This festival has gained a huge place in my heart and has been so much fun to cultivate and watch as it continues to grow each year. I’m so very proud of my event staff that has been by my side since day one, on top of the local small businesses who have supported us as sponsors to get this event off the ground.

I was recently able to partner with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services to be named their first musical ambassador. This role will allow me to travel throughout my home state of North Carolina to meet farming families and other agribusiness owners as well as share the importance of agriculture in our state with the younger generations of students.

Agriculture has been a huge part of my life since I was born, and music is right below that. I’m so grateful for this new opportunity to mesh those 2 passions in a new way to educate the younger generation and continue that legacy of agriculture appreciation that was instilled in me from a young age.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
For more information on music release or to see my complete tour schedule, visit www.PaigeKingJohnson.com or follow me on social media @PaigeKingJohnson everywhere!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.paigekingjohnson.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paigekingjohnson/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaigeKingJohnson
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PaigeKingJohnson/videos

Image Credits
Stephanie Barnhill, Neal Alex Berger, and Jessica Bratton