The Award-Winning Singer/Songwriter Will Debut Song on
PBS' National Memorial Day Concert on Sunday, May
26, at 8 p.m. E.T.
WASHINGTON, May 15, 2024
/PRNewswire/ --On May 24,
Jamey Johnson will release his
much-anticipated new song called "21 Guns," which was inspired by
attending the funerals of fellow Marines who paid the ultimate
price in service to their country.
Johnson will perform the national
television debut of the powerful song during PBS' National Memorial
Day Concert.
Johnson will perform the national television debut of the
powerful song during PBS' National Memorial Day Concert,
which airs live nationwide on May 26
from 8 – 9:30 p.m. ET (check your
local listings.) The concert is also streaming on
www.pbs.org/national-memorial-day-concert and YouTube, and can be
seen by our troops serving around the world on American Forces
Network.
"I wrote it because I have gone to too many funerals of Marines
I served with that were just too young," Johnson says. "When they
die young, you always remember them that way, which is unfair. Guys
that heroic that die that young deserve the right to grow old and
they didn't get to.
"But it is also being at those funerals and seeing their parents
who seem much too young to have a child die in that way and
wondering what must be going through their minds. This song is the
answer to that question."
The lyrics include:
Standing in this field of limestone
Watching flags wave in the air
You know we'd love to take you back home
But there ain't no place like this there
A preacher stammers through a nice verse
Does his best to eulogize
But times like this there ain't no right words
The rifles fire and your life flashes right before my eyes
But I don't need no one to tell me you're a hero
Hell, I've known that ever since you were young
There ain't words to say how proud we all are of you, son
Nothing says job well done like 21 guns.
Johnson attended Jacksonville State
University for several years before joining the U.S.
Marines, serving from 1994 until 2002.
"Since I was a young child, I always knew I was going to be a
Marine," says Johnson, who reached the rank of corporal. "I knew
when it was time to leave college and do my time in the Marine
Corps. I signed up with a recruiter and went to Parris Island. It's this same drive that I have
today about doing this kind of song."
He wrote '21 Guns" with Nashville musician/producer/songwriter Jim
"Moose" Brown about a year ago and has performed it several times
during his concerts. It will be released on his own label,
Big Gassed Records.
"I wrote '21 Guns' because I have been feeling this way for
years," he says. "I want to put it out there because I think it
will help. There may be somebody out there who doesn't know how to
express what they are feeling, and maybe this will help."
Johnson has received emotional emails and letters from soldiers,
veterans and their families who shared with him the difficulty of
losing someone they loved so much.
"It's especially hard to lose them when they are young and in
the line of duty," Johnson says. "It is even harder when they are
overseas and you never got to say goodbye."
He felt PBS' National Memorial Day Concert, which will be
hosted by actors Gary Sinise and
Joe Mantegna, was the perfect
setting for the song's broadcast premiere.
"When I was asked to do a song for the Memorial Day concert,
this was the first song that came into my mind because it is
literally about Memorial Day," he says. "I think this show is well
worth doing.
"I love the fact that they gather that many people out there to
celebrate the men and women who died to make our country what it is
today. We do owe them a debt of gratitude and should stop what we
are doing to be thankful for what they have given us. I am proud I
get to be a part of it."
This is the second in a series of announcements Johnson will
make this year. Last month, he revealed that he will embark on the
four-month What a View Tour. The tour begins on June 20 in St.
Augustine, Fl., and makes stops in nearly 40 other cities.
Support artists include Mae Estes,
Charles Wesley Godwin, Emily Ann Roberts, Whitey Morgan, Ben Haggard, Drake
White and Southall. More news will be revealed soon.
About Jamey Johnson:
Jamey Johnson, who has received
11 Grammy nominations, is "one of the greatest country singers of
our time," according to The Washington Post. He
has received tremendous praise from The New
York Times, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal and
other publications, many of which have hailed his albums as
masterpieces.
His album That Lonesome Song was certified platinum for
more than 1 million in sales, and his double album, The Guitar
Song, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard country album
charts and was certified gold. He also released the
Grammy-nominated Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran, which featured performances
with Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Alison
Krauss, Emmylou Harris,
Ray Price, Elvis Costello, George
Strait and Vince Gill.
He is also widely regarded as one of the greatest country
songwriters of his generation. He is one of only a few people in
the history of country music to win two Song of the Year
awards--for "Give It Away" and "In Color"--from the Academy of
Country Music and the Country Music Association. His songs have
been recorded by George Strait,
Trace Adkins, Willie Nelson, James
Otto, Joe Nichols and
others.
He is also an in-demand musical collaborator. He recorded "I
Forgive It All" for the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers tribute
album, Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom
Petty, which will be released June
21. He and Elle Langley
recorded "Young Love (Strong Love)"
for A Tribute to the Judds that was released in 2023.
He was honored to be invited to turn two of Johnny Cash's unfinished poems into songs. He
completed "Spirit Rider" for the album called Forever Words,
and he and Cash's son, John Carter
Cash, turned the late icon's words into a song called
"California Poem."
About PBS' National Memorial Day Concert:
America's national night of remembrance,
PBS' NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY CONCERT, returns
live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol for a special 35th
anniversary broadcast. A tradition unlike anything else on
television, the 90-minute broadcast honors the service of our men
and women in uniform, military families and all those who have
given their lives for our country through a unique blend of
dramatic storytelling and uplifting music. Hosted by Tony
Award-winner Joe
Mantegna and Emmy Award-winner Gary Sinise, both steadfast champions of
veterans' causes and active service members,
the NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY CONCERT will air
on PBS and stream nationwide
on www.pbs.org/national-memorial-day-concert and YouTube
on Sunday, May 26, 2024 from
8:00 to 9:30 p.m. E.T. The concert
will also be available as Video on Demand, May 26 to June 9, 2024, as well as to our troops
serving around the world on American Forces Network.
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SOURCE Capital Concerts