The reason Jamey Johnson stepped away from the studio. In 2004, Jamey made a triumphant return of sorts to music after a 14-year gap between albums. Although let it be known that he never stopped playing live shows, just with old material. This may have been due to a head injury sustained years ago, but Midnight Gasoline proved he’s still got a lot of gas in the tank. In fact, we’re not that far off from hearing more from this new era of Jamey Johnson, as he’s shared he’s been making music at the historic Cash Cabin and has over 50 songs in the bank during a recent sit-down with the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast hosts, Shelby and Quinn. “I’ve got so many songs recorded. Over 50 still unreleased just from the past couple of sessions. We’ve got more sessions coming. I don’t know… at some point we’re gonna have to just start throwing songs out. All this stuff, we recorded over at Johnny Cash’s cabin – the Cash Cabin Studio. There’s a presence out there, and there’s an immediate reverence from the band when we get there. But there’s also this open avenue for anything goes. Grab your guitar, your keyboard, whatever you’re playing, and let’s give it hell. We’re out there making some of the best music I’ve ever gotten to record right now.” @whiskeyriff “There’s a presence out there, and there’s an immediate reverence from the band when we get there.” // Check out the latest Whiskey Riff Raff podcast with @JameyJohnsonOfficial available now on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff #jameyjohnson #countrymusic #johnnycash ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff However, Midnight Gasoline marked his triumphant return to the studio and to writing songs. Johnson shared with us that a big reason he was not making new music was that he gave up smoking after his head injury. However, once he was on a trip with many of his songwriting friends, he relapsed on the herbal medicine, and the songs came flooding back to him. “I didn’t smoke again until we wrote ‘What A View.’ When we sat down to write that song, I told you, we all knew a song was coming. The first thing I did was sit down and start thinking of reasons this song ain’t ever gonna fly. If you listen to the wrong voice, you are gonna get the wrong information. And I was sitting there coming up with reasons why I didn’t want to write this song. I looked over and one of my dear friends had put a joint in an ashtray. I could see where this session was going anyway. So I went ahead and smoked one and started writing songs again. They came in like a flood after that.” @whiskeyriff “All the inhibitions had been lifted. There were no more restrictions.” // Check out the latest Whiskey Riff Raff podcast with @JameyJohnsonOfficial available now on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff #jameyjohnson #countrymusic #whataview ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff While the mental block of writing seemed to be a massive factor as to why he didn’t record music all of those years, apparently, there was another factor. During a recent appearance on the God’s Country podcast, Johnson shared that there was no money in recording solo records. “The end result was making records didn’t make me any money. It didn’t move the needle for me financially. When it got down to fight or flight, and I was stuck in fight mode, I was just like, man, that’s the last thing I need to be messing with right now. It was just like leave that alone.” Johnson admits he was still writing during this period of studio abstinence; however, he was gifting them to friends or playing them on the road with no plan to re-record them. “I sent songs to people and got some songs cut. But I just enjoyed my time. It was just taking some time and getting to be a true songwriter… I don’t write because it’s Thursday at 10:00 AM. I write because I can’t sit here thinking about this and not write this down. I’ve got to stop what I’m doing and go write. That’s why I want to write something.” It seems like Johnson had a lot to work through after his head injury, and while going 14 years without new music from the famed outlaw was a long and arduous wait, it was well worth it to be gifted Midnight Gasoline and a whole lot more in the pipeline. Sometimes you need to give yourself time to heal, and Jamey Johnson’s patience with himself allowed him to come back better than ever. Fire up a few tunes while you’re here: “What A View” “Bad Guy” The post Jamey Johnson Says Money Was Part Of The Reason He Took A Break From Making Albums: “It Didn’t Move The Needle” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.