Taking a page out of the Willie Nelson playbook. While it’s unclear whether this was the intention in buying a golf course, Jamey Johnson could have followed in the footsteps of the famed Willie Nelson. For those who are not familiar, the red-headed stranger actually bought his own golf course back in the day, so that he could go play some in the middle of his studio sessions while the sound engineers were mixing his songs after he laid down the vocals. Pretty epic, right? During a recent conversation with Joseph Hudak for an episode of Rolling Stone‘s Nashville Now podcast, the two discussed the significant amount of time Johnson spent away from releasing albums. This break 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 an 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.” While Jamey Johnson was not writing and recording his own music during his decade-plus hiatus, he was experimenting with other ways to bring in income. Johnson was still touring heavily at this time, which was his main stream of revenue, but he experimented with a few side-hustles, if you will. However, he told Joseph Hudak that one business venture was far from a money-maker for him. “Yeah, it damn sure wasn’t in golf.”  Hudak then asked Johnson if he owned his own golf course, to which Johnson confirmed he once owned one in Montgomery, Alabama. “Yeah, you don’t make money on those… My partner and I, we really hoped better for it. But it wasn’t in the cards.” While Johnson no longer has the golf course in his possession, the business venture finally started bringing in revenue during a time when all other businesses were suffering: “Well, after COVID (we sold it). During COVID, it made its own money for the first time… since I was down there.” I am sure that owning a golf course had many perks, like free rounds, but at the end of the day, if it’s sucking money out of your bank account, it was probably best to part ways with it. However, it would have been super cool if Johnson had turned into a Willie Nelson-style golf course, where he could play a round between studio sessions. Maybe it’s a blessing that the golf course didn’t pan out for Jamey Johnson, because he eventually moved past his mental blocks, and now we are getting new music from the outlaw legend. Check out the whole interview while you’re here. The post Did You Know Jamey Johnson Once Owned A Golf Course? first appeared on Whiskey Riff.