Jamey Johnson and Ronnie Dunn are sharing “Never Gonna Be,” which has special meaning to Johnson because Dunn and co-writer Terry McBride wrote the song about Johnson 15 years ago, just as the Alabama native’s career was taking off.
A joint Instagram post read: “In 2009, @ronniedunn wrote a song about Jamey Johnson and what it’s like trying to make it in Nashville. After all these years, they finally recorded it.”
Johnson and Dunn first crossed paths in 2005-06, when Johnson opened shows for Brooks and Dunn. In 2010, Dunn and McBride wrote the song about Johnson in Saskatchewan, Canada, during a break from the tour
Johnson says: “It makes me think of my early days in Nashville, bringing my guitar downtown to play. Once I was playing Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge and came back out, and my 1986 Dodge had been towed. It reminds me of those days when everybody out there was working hard and trying to get noticed and write a better song and perform a version of it live.”
When asked what it meant to Johnson to have Dunn write a song about him, he replied: “It was awesome! I never ever really knew what to do with it because I don’t think I knew he was pitching it to me to record. I don’t know what I thought at the time. I thought he nailed the concept as far as everybody coming to Nashville and it chews them up and spits them out. I guess I never did know which of those categories I fell into. Now I think I do: I’m a ‘never gonna be,’ and I’m OK with that.”
Stream Never Gonna Be – HERE.
