Jamey Johnson, Jackson Dean and The Skeeters at Sand Mountain Amphitheater
September 25th, 2026
Thanks to Sand Mountain Amphitheater and The Percy and Face Podcast, I had the opportunity to attend Jamey Johnson’s show at the amphitheater last Friday night. It was a perfect night for a concert- not too hot, not too cold. North Alabama had been experiencing record high temperatures for the month of September and it finally cooled off some at the end of last week.
The Skeeters, a North Alabama based band who have been around for over 20 years, opened the show. The band’s self-titled debut album was released in 2004 and you can tell they were heavily influenced by Waylon Jennings. Billy Joe Shaver made a guest appearance on that album. I was told they have 2 albums worth of new material ready to for release.
Country singer Jackson Dean, who I wrote about in my feature for Florence, Alabama’s “Skydog- The Shoals Experience” a few weeks ago, performed next. Dean’s latest single “The Moon And The Wolf” is from his upcoming album Magnolia Sage (In Full Bloom), which will be released in a week. Dean also performs the closing song, “My Cross To Bear” for the documentary, “Greg Allman: The Music Of My Soul.”
When Johnson took the stage, his studio band took their places: legendary pedal steel player “Cowboy” Eddie Long, who also toured and recorded with Hank Williams Jr for many years, songwriting legend and multi- instrumentalist Jim “Moose” Brown, who co-wrote Alan Jackson’s “It’s 5 O’ Clock Somewhere” and also toured with Bob Seger for many years, James Mitchell on electric guitar, Kevin Grantt on bass, and Cody Leppo on drums.
When the band kicked off the first song, I knew which one was coming when I heard Long’s classic pedal steel intro: “High Cost Of Living” from Johnson’s 2008 album, That Lonesome Song. Brown played some great piano and Mitchell played a nice guitar solo. The song is about the perils of addiction and many fans have said they can relate to it. It reached #34 on the Country Chart.
The band’s next offering was another song from “That Lonesome Song”, “The Last Cowboy”, which mentions Waylon Jennings and the sound is heavily influenced by Waylon with the “out of phase” sound from the guitar and the steel solo. Johnson also added a nice acoustic guitar solo.
Next up, Johnson paid homage to the late, great songwriter Danny “Bear” Mayo, from Gadsden, Alabama with “Feed Jake”, recorded by The Pirates of The Mississippi- he also wrote many other classic country songs in the ’80s and ’90s. I remember talking to Mayo’s father in front of Bear Video in downtown Gadsden when Alabama’s “If I Had You” was up for a Grammy in the early ’90s. He said, be sure and watch the Grammy Awards tonight- Danny’s song is up for a Grammy. Mayo was the first real songwriter that took the time to help me out when I started writing songs in the early ’90s. Mayo also wrote “Jesus And Mama” by Confederate Railroad, “Keeper Of The Stars” by Tracy Byrd, and many others. His daughter Amy, and son Corey have also written many classic country songs. Amy, along with her husband Chris Lindsey and Troy Verges wrote “Someday When I’m Old” for Johnson’s 2024 album “Midnight Gasoline”.
Next up was “Lonely At The Top”, a song co-written by Keith Whitley, Chick Rains, and Don Cook, which features the classic line, “it might be lonely at the top, but it’s a bitch at the bottom”. The song featured a cool steel solo by Long.
Moving on, Johnson did “Can’t Cash My Checks” from the 2010 album, “The Guitar Song”, which is one of my favorites. He has a knack for writing great songs in 3/4 and 6/8 times. Brown played some solid Hammond B3 parts, and Grantt played some nice bass parts. Mitchell also played a cool guitar solo. The song is about going deeper in debt as everyday passes and trying to make an honest living in “a world that’s headed straight to Hell”- “you can take my word- but you can’t cash my checks”. Brown alternated between Wurlitzer and B3 on that one, and he, Long, and Mitchell played extended solos.
I knew from Brown’s Wurlitzer part what the next song would be: Ronnie Millsap’s “There’s A Stranger In My House” another one of my favorites. Mitchell played a fantastic guitar solo on that one.
The title track from That Lonesome Song came next, which starts out as a slow 4/4 acoustic song before it shifted to an up-tempo song with great pedal steel from Long and the out of phase sound from Mitchell’s guitar once more. Brown played more great Hammond B3 parts. The song shifted back to the slow acoustic tempo before it ended.
“My Way To You” from The Guitar Song featured some great pedal steel by Long and some nice Mark Knopfler style licks by Mitchell.
“Mowin’ Down The Roses” from That Lonesome Song was prefaced by a short drum solo by Lippo and featured great B3 work by Brown, cool guitar licks by Mitchell, a pedal steel solo by Long and some nice bass licks.
You can really hear the Waylon influence on Johnson’s cover of “The Door Is Always Open.” The song, written by Bob McDill and Dickey Lee appears on Jennings 1975 album Dreaming My Dream. Long played some great steel parts on this one as well.
The next selection was a cover of Kenny Rogers “The Gambler” that got the crowd singing along. It seems that Rogers’ early hits have been overlooked over the past 20 years and that’s a shame.
Up next was the song that really describes Johnson’s sound, a co write with legendary Nashville producer Buddy Cannon. “Between Jennings and Jones” was written after Johnson split from his first record label. This song features great pedal steel and includes the line, “I left Montgomery on North 65, restless and ready to give Nashville a try.” The song featured Long’s inimitable pedal steel and the distinctive out of phase sound from Mitchell’s guitar once again.
Next up was “Give It Away,” a song co-written by Johnson, Cannon, and Bill Anderson in 2007. Johnson played some Bluesy acoustic licks on this one with nice Wurlitzer work by Brown. Anyone who has ever been through a painful divorce can relate to this one. A wife tells her husband that they are through and he can keep all of their possessions because material things don’t matter to her anymore. Long played a steel solo, Brown was great on Wurlitzer and Grantt played some amazing bass licks in the upper register of his 5 string bass.
Next Johnson teased the crowd by describing the next song as “the greatest country song every written” and even I was expecting him to do his best known song and he launched into “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” a fun song he co-wrote with fellow ace songwriters Randy Houser and Dallas Davidson. They were hanging out drinking free beer at The Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville and were watching a woman dance who had a big ‘booty’ and one of them came up with the word “badonkadonk” and the rest is history. The song was a huge hit for Trace Adkins and popularized the the line “got it goin’ on like Donkey Kong.” Donkey Kong was one of my top 3 Arcade games in the early ’80s when I was winning tournaments.
Johnson prefaced Alabama’s “Dixieland Delight” by telling the audience that he had talked with Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry earlier in the day and they wanted him to tell the people of Albertville that they love them. If you grew up in Northeast Alabama and were a country music fan in 1983, there’s a good chance you loved that song. One of my high school classmates, Lisa Sanford, was in the music video portraying Owen’s love interest. Mitchell did a phenomenal job of playing the numerous fiddle parts on guitar. At Alabama football games, fans sing this song during the 4th quarter.
Next up it was really time for “In Color,” which is truly one of the greatest songs ever written. The song tells the story of an elderly grandfather sharing black and white pictures from his life with his grandson. It describes 3 photos representing stages of the grandfather’s life- The Great Depression in 1935, World War II, and his wedding day. My grandparents used to have an old antique photo viewer that you could insert pictures into and view scenes of battlefields during The Civil War, World War I and World War II. As disturbing as it was to see those scenes in black and white, they didn’t do those shocking events justice. It looked to me that literally the entire audience broke out their cellphones on this one and sang along as well. The song peaked at #9 on the US Hot Country Singles chart in 2009.
Johnson ended the show with an uptempo, R&B/Gospel flavored version of Hank Williams’ “I Saw The Light,” driven by great drumming and a great walking bassline by Grantt. Brown’s B3 was on the money as well. If you grew up in Alabama and are in my age group, more than likely you have been to Hank’s gravesite in Montgomery at least once.
Over the last year, I have seen Johnson in concert 3 times and had the chance to interview him back last summer. He is really intelligent and has a vast knowledge of country music as well as other genres. His shows always keep your interest because you never know what cover songs he is going to do, and does a great job of keeping the music of the classic country stars, many who have passed on, alive. I look forward to the next one.
Find more information here on his website: https://www.jameyjohnson.com
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: Video Premiere: Tommy Emmanuel “Daddy Frank (the Guitar Man)” feat Jamey Johnson, Jimmie Fadden & Bill Payne