Jamey Johnson Says He ‘Barely Survived’ Addiction. Why He Refuses to ‘Play Games’ with Alcohol Anymore

Jamey Johnson is getting candid about his experience with addiction.

The country singer, 49, opened up to Billboard in a new interview about the inspiration behind his new song “Sober,” written about his choice to stop drinking alcohol.

“I had my last drink in September 2011. Then I quit smoking pot in 2015. I think that lasted about eight years. Nine years,” Johnson told the outlet.

“In that time period, it was all about sobriety,” added the “In Color” musician. “And with a sober mind, I’m able to do things like get a pilot’s license, manage a business, start a product line.”

Today, Johnson identifies as “sober for the most part.” However, “every now and then, I may still break out a joint if I’m writing or something like that,” he said. “But I don’t play games with the alcohol.”

“That’s what led me down a dark path of self-destruction back then and I barely survived,” he added. “Alcohol was an incendiary way of destructing myself.”

The Grammy-nominated musician explained, “Everything just went up in in flames and you couldn’t put the fire out, you just had to wait for it to all come to ashes and then try to rebuild when you got done. And it seemed to me like I owed myself a better way to live than that.”

Johnson’s new album, Midnight Gasoline, arrives Nov. 8. Elsewhere in the Billboard interview, he opened up about how friend and collaborator Toby Keith’s death at age 62 in February impacted the creative process.

“The writing was already coming back to me, piece by piece, but I still didn’t have any ambitions on making a record,” recalled the artist, whose last full-length album of original material, The Guitar Song, came out in 2010.

“When Toby passed away, it moved everything into high gear because I realized that that was the end of his discography, that we weren’t getting another Toby Keith record,” said Johnson. “And that’s what drove me to wanting to finish my own discography.”

He added, “It’s what made me understand that I’m nowhere near done, and so it’s time to get busy. After he passed away, I immediately started talking about this session and started trying to get all the particulars in order. It was time for me to get in the studio again.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.