There’s a little knot of anxiety forming in my stomach as blues artist Jeremiah Johnson talks about his album Heavens to Betsy, released last February. The record was a bit of a departure—more Southern rock than blues, an homage to the KSHE of Johnson’s youth—but a successful one. It hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Blues Albums Chart. The artist had quit his day job to work as a full-time musician with his five-piece band, playing festivals and touring Europe. Gulp. I know what’s coming next. Johnson barely made it back from touring before the pandemic hit, effectively putting him out of work. He holed up at home with his young son.
“I had this Southern rock and blues album that was No. 1 in the country, and I was sitting at home with my baby boy, which isn’t bad, but not exactly what [I wanted] to do for my career,” he recalls.
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The last thing an artist wants to do after releasing an album is put out another. Who wants two records competing for awards? But this was 2020, and rules went out the window. Johnson connected with Paul Niehaus IV at Blue Lotus Recordings and laid down eight new blues songs for his record Unemployed Highly Annoyed. He originally planned it as a digital download to recoup some lost income, but when his label, Ruf Records, heard it, they sent over a contract. The album débuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s Blues Albums Chart. On February 6, Johnson will play a show at Blue Strawberry featuring songs off the two albums. The cabaret venue will offer a virtual streaming option—for $15, five bucks less than the in-person show—for those wanting to enjoy the set at home.
Unemployed Highly Annoyed is like a time capsule that shows the progression of hope during the pandemic. In “Burn Down the Garden,” Johnson remarks that “it seems like the whole world’s breaking down.” In “Love and Sympathy,” he asks for understanding while wondering “how it got this way.” But for an album of songs that were mostly written while Johnson was on hold with the unemployment office, the title track feels like a cathartic jam by three friends. Yes, Johnson’s singing about hard times, but he’s not bringing us down. He grooves on guitar, hitting the listener with a delicious lick a minute in. Tony Antonelli drives the beat on percussion. Niehaus colors in the rest on bass and keys and steers the production and engineering. All three men sing, making three-part harmonies possible. “We’re making a lot of sound for three dudes,” Johnson says.
Johnson has no plans to change things up—he’s digging the sound. He’s hoping for a comeback year, to get back to touring when it’s safe. But he appreciates being at home for the first year of his son’s life. “He crawls up to my leg and calls me Dada,” he says. “I wouldn’t have had that in a normal 2020. I would have been in Europe for 136 days.” (The track “Leo Stone” off Heavens to Betsy is a sweet tribute to the baby.)
The return to blues couldn’t be more fitting for the times, Johnson admits. “Maybe before, things were going really well for me, and it’s a little harder to write blues songs when you’re so happy,” he says, laughing. “That sounds a little goofy, but life was great… To then have it all taken away made the writing process and wanting to play blues music in particular more natural.”
