About Me
Starting with advertising jingles for the likes of Southwest Airlines, Pizza Hut and McDonald’s, Joe Johnston moved on to the Dove Awards, the Grammy nominations, hit records, movies and television.Most recently, his songs were featured in the ABC hit comedy "Hope & Faith," and he was music supervisor for the motion picture, "No Regrets." www.noregretsmovie.comHe came to Nashville as a staff writer for Ed and Patsy Bruce, and was soon manager of the publishing company. Then his producing skills came to the fore on dozens of albums by stars like Mark Chesnutt, Kathy Mattea, Alabama, Restless Heart, and the soundtrack albums for the movies EIGHT SECONDS and SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT.He earned a reputation as one of Music Row’s most passionate A&R men with hits like Alabama’s smash “Cheap Seats†and the title cut on Restless Heart’s, MATTERS OF THE HEART.He wrote “Honestly,†on the debut “Blue†album of Curb Records sensation LeAnn Rimes. Hear it: HonestlyOther tunes he’s written have been included in Mark Chesnutt’s platinum ALMOST GOODBYE, in the gold EIGHT SECONDS motion picture soundtrack, and in the Emmy-wining TV shows ALL MY CHILDREN and WEST WING.Johnston wrote “Go Tell,†a Grammy-nominated Christmas favorite originally recorded by The Martins. “Count Your Blessing†won the Dove Award for Country Recorded Song Of The Year, and has been recorded dozens of times.His Gospel hits have appeared in six of the gold and platinum selling Bill Gaither Homecoming videos, as well as in various song books. He cowrote the title cut of The Martins’ album, “Windows.†Others who’ve recorded his Gospel songs include Lordsong, Brian Free & Assurance, Karen Peck, The Cumberland Quartet, The Southern Brothers, Paid In Full, SoulReal and Gina Vera.Joe cowrote, produced the music, and provided voices for a line of toys. He has helped secure record offers for up-and-coming artists, and continues to be involved in artist development projects, while managing two music publishing companies.He has taught songwriting seminars in Canada and across the U.S., served on the Nashville Songwriters Association International legislative committee, and coordinated NSAI’s Thirty-Minute Mentor program. Among his charity work, he co-founded The Marathon Jam concert benefitting The National Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.Joe plays Taylor guitars and uses D’Addario strings.
