Jamey Johnson Joins Willie Nelson's Country Throwdown Tour

Johnson says it was "easy" working with the legendary gospel group on a project that includes Hank Williams Jr., Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Willie Nelson and the Oak Ridge Boys. Johnson sang with the group on "Have Thine On Way, Lord" and recorded such classics as "I Saw the Light," "Jesus, Hold My Hand," "Lead Me Home" and "I Know a Place."

"It was a lot of fun," Johnson says. "We would play a song that we thought would be a sure fit and look around and not see any reaction. But if we played one that we saw heads bobbing and people singing along, we knew that it would be the next song we were about to go in and cut."

Johnson also invited music legends such as George Jones and Bill Anderson to stop by during the sessions. Jimmy Carter, a founding member of the Blind Boys of Alabama, told Johnson that he had heard about a bar named Tootsies Orchid Lounge in Nashville, but he thought that it might just be a legend. Johnson not only assured him that the bar really existed, he took him there.

"I wound up onstage there, singing," Carter says. "That was a great, great moment in my life. And Jamey later took me to the Station Inn, where I sang along with Vince Gill and the Time Jumpers.

"I told Jamey I've been in many recording sessions before, but I have never enjoyed one as much as I have this one," Carter says. "I had a blast. It became like family."

Adds the Blind Boys' Ricky McKinnie, "Jamey allowed us to be able to work with some of the people we've always wanted to work with, and his spirit has been one that has touched the Blind Boys. I feel like what is from the heart will reach the heart."

But Johnson gives the credit to the group. "It was very easy to create music with the genius of the Blind Boys behind you."