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Jara Johnson

Jara Johnson is a breath of fresh air to the country music scene. Her soulful,pop-infused country sound is so pure&emotion filled&has a way of drawing you into the very core of every song she writes&sings about.She's an artist on the rise, making many take notice.

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Hometown	Pella, IA
Genres	Country, Pop
Band Members	Click to Edit
Achievements	» more
Upcoming Shows	None

Contact Information:	Artist / Band Member Jara Johnson jarajohnson@gmail.com 615-483-4749
# Years Experience Performing Live:	17
# Live Perfomances Past Six-months:	6
Market Draw:	TN: 151-200; IA: 101-150
Venue History:	Bluebird Cafe - Nashville, TN 12th&Porter - Nashville, TN 3rd & Lindsley - Nashville, TN Dan McGuinness - Nashville, TN The Gibson Showcase - Nashville, TN Douglas Corner - Nashville, TN Limelight - Nashville, TN The Blue Bar - Nashville, TN Country Music Marathon - Nashville, TN The French Quarter - Nashville, TN The Nashville Sounds Baseball Field - Nashville, TN Iowa State Fair - Des Moines, IA The Garrison House - Clarinda, IA The Flatiron - Shenandoah, IA Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino - Altoona, IA The Horseshoe Casino - Council Bluffs, IA Central College - Pella, IA Houston Astrodome - Houston, TX Blanco's Bar&Grill - Houston, TX Veterans Golden Age Games - Des Moines, IA Fuel - Nashville, TN Central College - Pella, IA
Opener Experience:	Savannah Jack; Sang with members of Diamond Rio for National Anthem
Similar Artists:	Carrie Underwood; Martina McBride; Shania Twain; Alison Krauss
Performing Rights Society:	BMI
Discography:	That's What I Call Home LP—2009

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About the Artist

Jara Johnson is a singer/songwriter originally from Clarinda,Iowa.She’s been singing most of her life,but it wasn’t until her 1st year of college that she decided to pursue her music career fully&so her musical journey began by taking her out of...

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Achievements

Country Finals Grand Prize Winner March 2012

Reached 5th in Best of Country chart in 2014. In the top 20 for 12 weeks.

Reached 6th in Best of Country chart in 2013. In the top 20 for 17 weeks.

Country Finals Grand Prize Winner March 2012

Reached 5th in Best of Country chart in 2014. In the top 20 for 12 weeks.

Reached 6th in Best of Country chart in 2013. In the top 20 for 17 weeks.

Reached 17th in Best of Country chart in 2011. In the top 20 for 1 week.

Reached 51st in Best of Country chart in 2015. In the top 100 for 4 weeks.

Reached 44th in Best of Pop chart in 2014. In the top 100 for 15 weeks.

Reached 68th in Best of Pop chart in 2013. In the top 100 for 4 weeks.

Reached 26th in Best of Country chart in 2011. In the top 100 for 22 weeks.

Top 10 in Singer-Songwriter (female), August 2014

Top 10 in Acoustic, April 2013

Top 10 in Singer-Songwriter (female), December 2012

Top 10 in Country, October 2012

Top 10 in Country, September 2012

Top 10 in Alternative Country, June 2012

Top 10 in Alternative Country, March 2012

Alternative Country Winner, February 2012

Country Winner, November 2011

Country Winner, October 2011

Country Videos Winner, September 2011

Press Coverage

Jekyll Hyde Blog by by Jesse Adair
Jara Johnson’s “That’s What I Call Home” Hey check out Jara Johnson’s music video for “That’s What I Call Home” This comes off her debut album of the same name. “That’s What I Call Home” This Girl is the real deal! She has an amazing voice. Not only in the music video but also live. One of the best voices and singing talents I’ve ever heard. Jara Johnson “That’s What I Call Home” Off of her debut album That’s What I Call Home Written by Jara Johnson, AJ Masters, Jesse Terry Directed by Jesse Adair Edited by Nick Parker Hair and Makup by Janell Bollard Assistant Daniela Adair

A Musical Journey by by Dann Hayes
A musical journey by dhayes on February 15, 2011 • Singer/songwriter’s trip takes her to Nashville, via Grinnell By DANN HAYES dhayes1@dmreg.com Jara Johnson has a passion for music. A singer/songwriter, Johnson has had music in her blood most of her life. She is also a medical technologist in the laboratory at Grinnell Regional Medical Center where she spends long hours on weekends drawing and analyzing patients’ blood. She commutes from Pella where she lives with her husband. Jara Johnson at 2009 Iowa State Fair. Photo by Dr. Paul H. Novak and courtesy of Jara Johnson. But every other month she makes a trek to Nashville where she continues to pursue her music career. “I write music pretty much for four days, booking my days full of song writing appointments from the time I step off the plane,” Johnson says of her trips to Nashville. “This job has been an absolute blessing,” Johnson said of her position at GRMC. “I never thought I would have a job that would still allow me to go back and forth to Nashville so often to continue writing songs and sing.” Johnson has an interesting story, and the journey isn’t about to end. So far the road has taken her to Nashville, the Iowa State Fair, Grinnell, Pella and a Houston Astros baseball game. “To me, success is enjoying the journey,” she said. That journey has taken a few twists and turns that, ultimately, have helped. But this is a story that has to start at the beginning. She calls Clarinda her home—she was born and raised in the small town in southwestern Iowa. “It’s a place that holds some of the most special people in my life,” she said. Included in the mix are her parents, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and a lot of cousins. “These are the people who have helped shape and mold me into the person I am today,” Johnson said. “They all have stood by me and supported me while also supporting my dream.” At 19 she attended school at Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville, where she played basketball, softball and sang in the choir. Keep her love of sports in mind—it plays a big part in her music. “I grew up in a family with an extensive athletic and farming background,” she said. “I learned early on that to achieve the things you want in life you have to work hard and not be afraid to get your hands dirty.” While at Iowa Lakes Community College, a family friend living in Houston invited her to come and stay for awhile in Texas. “Little did they know that I would take them up on it,” she laughed, adding the trip was supposed to be a two-week stay. Johnson stayed with them for a while and attended junior college there, all the time practicing her music. Video shoot at the family farm. “The family friend in Houston told me ‘if I wanted to immerse myself in country music, Houston was the place to be,’ and that second week turned into almost a year,” she said. The friend also loved sports. “Their son played baseball for my grandpa’s summer collegiate baseball program, The Clarinda A’s,” Johnson said. The two interests combined when they went to see the Houston Astros play baseball. “We were at the game and he asked me if I would like to sing the national anthem there,” she said. “I said ‘I would love to’ so he took me to the executive offices.” While there, she said, they were told they had to enter a tape and complete the paperwork and then she would be considered. The family friend asked the receptionist about singing the anthem right then and there in the office. “It just so happened that the lady who was in charge of scheduling the anthem was there,” Johnson said. “So, even though I was scared out of my wits, I stood there and sang. “After I was finished she said ‘OK, let’s get you in the books for a date’,” Johnson said. According to Johnson, that was a lesson learned. “Always be prepared and never be afraid to ask,” she said. “That was a huge boost of confidence for me.” While in Houston, she started writing songs on her own. On her 20th birthday, she went to a studio where she was taking vocal lessons and recorded her first CD with three songs she had written. “It was a demo,” she said. “I had never sung in a studio.” She ultimately left Houston and returned to the Midwest where she went back to school at Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, Mo., to obtain a medical technology degree. “I knew that getting my degree was very necessary,” Johnson said. “Not knowing where the road was going to take me, I knew it was important.” In 2003 she married her high school sweetheart, Kyle Johnson, Villisca, who was attending school at Central College, Pella. Jara Johnson A year later they both graduated. “We packed up all we owned and drove to Nashville,” she said. “No jobs and we did not know a soul.” Her husband, she said, had always known about her music dream. “He knew I loved it and he learned I was serious about it,” Johnson said. “He knew it wasn’t a phase. It wasn’t something I was going to get over.” They both found jobs in their career fields —he at a high-end fitness club as a personal trainer and she at the Tennessee Department of Health Laboratory in Special Bacteriology, as well as with the Bioterrorism Emergency Response Team. She spent the next four years in Nashville perfecting her artistry, including singing, writing, performing and recording. While there, one of the first places she visited was the Bluebird Cafe, a famous country western songwriters venue—a venue she that she has now played at many times since the first trip. That first night at the Bluebird Cafe she met Barbara Cloyd, the person in charge of the Monday night open microphone night. “She told me about the whole auditioning process,” Johnson said. “She also told me of a song writing class she was offering called ‘Writing for the Row,’ a class that helps aspiring songwriters.” The Row is basically two streets in Nashville where most of the publishing and record companies have offices, Johnson said. While in the class, she began co-writing with other songwriters. “In Nashville, co-writing is a norm,” she said. “My first co-writing session was with a guy named Kevin who became a great friend.” He basically introduced her to the Nashville music scene. And, best of all, he invited her to play basketball with a group of people every Monday night. “Of course, Kevin’s one condition was that since I would be the only girl, if I didn’t play well, I couldn’t come back,” she said with a laugh. “Thank goodness my basketball skills were on that night.” Unknown to her, she was playing basketball with a bunch of record executives and writers. She played well enough to be a fixture on the court for the next few years. “Wow, only in Nashville do thiese kind of things happen,” Johnson said. “I formed some amazing friendships on and off the court.” She also started running with “Team Rio”—the country group Diamond Rio’s training team for the Country Music Marathon and training team. The team raises money for Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Johnson said. Through one of her running friends, she got to go backstage several times at the Grand Ole Opry, where she met Martina McBride, “one of my favorite artists,” she said, as well as see Carrie Underwood get invited by Randy Travis to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry. According to Johnson, these are the kinds of opportunities and people she’s met which have made “this journey so memorable and special.” Her journey took another turn when her husband was offered a job as a full-time assistant strength and conditioning coach at Central College in Pella. “I knew that because of this job offer, my music career would change because of the distance between Nashville and Iowa,” she said. “But I was determined to make it work.” Soon, her journey started going through Grinnell after she landed a job as a medical technologist at Grinnell Regional Medical Center. She works the weekend shift—Friday, Saturday and Sunday—and gets Monday through Thursday off. “This allows me to devote more time to song-writing and going back and forth to Nashville,” Johnson said. During this period, her journey took another turn—as she released her debut album titled “That’s What I Call Home” in April 2009. “It’s available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon.com, emusic or Napster,” she said. “And all the songs are ones I have co-written.” Three of the songs, she said, including “The Last Time,” “Where I’m Coming From,” and “It All Could Have Ended There,” she co-wrote with Nashville hit songwriter Tim Johnson. He’s had several big hits, including Jimmy Wayne’s 2009 number one hit “Do You Believe Me Now.” “Other number ones Tim has written include “God Only Cries,” By Diamond Rio, and “I Let Her Lie,” by Darryl Singletary,” she said. Different roads have led to different tracks. She she has come back to Iowa, she has sung at the Iowa State Fair in 2009 and 2010 on the Bill Riley Stage while another route led to the release of her first music video this past September. According to Johnson, she was contacted through Facebook by Jesse Adair, who also attended Clarinda High School. “He said he was going to film school in Tampa, Fla., and his next project was to develop a music video,” she said. “He said he would rather help someone he knew.” Adair was going to return to Iowa for his class’s 10-year-reunion and wondered if they could get together. “Everything just fell in place,” she said. “We shot the video at my grandpa and grandma’s Sunderman’s farm and used my truck from high school that I used to drive in the video, too.” “It turned out better than I could ever have imagined,” Johnson added. The video won “Best of Show” when Adair’s film school, the International Academy of Design and Technology, hosted its award program. “I never would have believed that I would release my first album and make my first music video all while living back in Iowa,” she said. “That I could find a job working at a hospital where my work schedule would allow me to make five or six trips a year to Nashville. It just reaffirms my belief that nothing is impossible.” Johnson definitely has a number of goals for her life, which include writing songs, singing, a publishing deal and getting her songs cut by other recording artists and played on the radio. And to get there will be the journey of her life. “I am open to all possibilities and opportunities,” she said. “I hope to one day merge my music with my health care career in a way to raise money for the Red Cross or local blood centers and raise money for cancer research, as I have had several family members and friends who have battled cancer and I would love to be able to do my part in that fight for a cure.” But for now, the journey continues. “That creative free spirit within me from a young age is still with me,” Johnson said. “No matter what degree of successes I have in the music business, big or small, music is all about the journey. “And so far I can look at how far I’ve come and have no regrets and be happy with the way my journey’s turned out,” she said.

OurStage Live From T5: by A Spotlight on The Competition by Sam C.
Earlier this month we launched the JetBlue “Live from T5″ contest. Artists from a variety of genres are entering their best acoustic songs into the competition channel for a chance to win a live set in JetBlue’s new T5 terminal at JFK International Airport in New York City. One grand prize winner will be selected to open for a headlining act at a “Bowery Presents” show at the Terminal 5 venue in Manhattan. Here are a few entries in the competition to keep an eye out for: “I Love You” by Jetty Rae Jetty Rae is a soul-folk singer/songwriter out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. “I Love You” opens with a melancholy violin solo which introduces Rae’s sultry vocals. This track is sure to be a favorite for fans of Ingrid Michaelson and Regina Spektor. “His To Break” by Jara Johnson Break up songs are a dime a dozen, but on “His to Break” Iowan singer/songwriter Jara Johnson bears her soul. Between the accompanying mandolin and Johnson’s sincere performance, you can feel your heart melt with each line. “Stones Throw Away” by Bronze Radio Return Bronze Radio Return Fans of Joe Purdy will be right at home with Bronze Radio Return’s intimate, folksy delivery on “Stones Throw Away”. With breathy vocals and a touch of bluegrass with slide guitar, this track makes anyone feel right at home. “I Think Its Sweet” by Kaylan Rexer Kaylan Rexer’s ironically bittersweet “I Think Its Sweet” is musically an uplifting track, but its lyrics have a very different tone. Centered around “people getting stuck in their hometowns and having dreams but not working hard enough to reach them,” this track showcases Rexer’s talent as a songwriter. “Lost Boys” by Paper Bird For those of you who dig Alison Krauss and The Little Willies, you should check out Denver’s Paper Bird. The seven-member group features a banjo, multipart harmonized vocals, slide guitar and an upright bass to keep the whole thing together. It’s the perfect track for when you’re feeling a little “Oh, Brother Where Art Thou”. “Looking Over My Shoulder” by A BIG YES…and a small no One of the original Bethany’s favorite OurStage discoveries is a happy-go-lucky Brooklyn indie pop group by the name of A BIG YES… and a small no. Their entry into the contest, “Looking Over My Shoulder” is funny and folksy love ballad featuring vibraphone. Yes, a vibraphone! A BIG YES...and a small no Unfortunately time and space doesn’t permit me to write about every awesome Live from T5 entry—and believe me there are many—so I will have to stop here. Don’t forget to check out the contestants for yourself and participate by judging. You could win a free pair of tickets from JetBlue!

The Sonic Factory Studios-Blog by Weekly Update
July 6Weekly Update 07.06.2010 Posted on July 6th, 2010 at 10:22 PM by jonlocker Category: UncategorizedBusy, busy, busy around here. Projects coming in, projects going out. You can always tell when it’s busy, the blog falls behind and there aren’t any new craigslist ads from us. Usonia is about mixed and done. It sounds friggin hot. Larry & The Messengers are basically done and off to mastering. Skyler has had a few bands in like Faces Turned Ashen and Darren Challa just to name a couple. Bright Giant has been in rehearsing for a new record. The Envy Corps is rehearsing for a new record. We are working on a new record for Bonne Finken. Jara Johnson came in to do a quick version of The Star Spangled Banner. Katelyn Epperly has come in to demo a couple things. Basically it’s just been busy around here. I haven’t even mentioned the groups Tony has been working with…

Album Review "That's What I Call Home" by by Shannon Ross
Right from the start I must say this girl has a beautiful voice. She is talented in any range. She is soulful, soft, upbeat, and just plain fun. Her voice has a way of drawing you into her music. Fans can feel her emotions throughout each song she sings. While some of her lyrics can bring a tear, she still has a very positive message in each performance. Jara is a very powerful singer/songwriter. Given the opportunity this performer can bring a fresh sound to the country music world. Jara has a passion for music and you feel that with each new song. Her words are meant to inspire. To get you through life experiences. She's not afraid to talk about heartaches, tough times or even tragic days. Jara tells it like it is through her music and her fans love that. Through her lyrics you can draw closer to her, which makes you fall in love with her as a performer even more. Keep your eyes open because Jara Johnson is on the rise. For more information on Jara visit - www.myspace.com/jarajohnsonmusic

Nashville Newzine by Main Music Page Ad
Jara Johnson is a singer/songwriter originally from Clarinda, Iowa, a small town in Southwest Iowa. She began playing her new songs out at open mic nights when living in Houston, even getting the chance to sing the National Anthem at a Houston Astros baseball game in front of thousands. Later a pressing thought became a reality when Jara and her husband packed up all they owned and drove to Nashville, no jobs, and not knowing a soul, only following her passion for music and that constant drive to make her dream a reality. Three of her current songs, "The Last Time", "Where I'm Coming From", and "It All Could Have Ended There" she wrote with Nashville hit songwriter, Tim Johnson, who has had many of his songs cut by Country artists and had numerous number 1 hits. These songs and more Jara put out on her newly recorded album..."That's What I Call Home" which will be on iTunes, Amazon and several other Internet music markets soon. Contact: jarajohnson@gmail.com

True Country Website by Country Music Discussion-Thread-Jara Johnson
Jara Johnson You should check out this new country artist. She's a singer/ song writer living in Iowa. Check out the new music video she just finished. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC0HDbS79RM She's an unbelievable talent and just a really nice person. Check out her debut album "That's What I Call Home"

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Stage Specs

Technical Requirements

2Microphones, 2Mic Stands, Sound Board, Speakers, Plug-in for Guitar(s) or Guitar Microphone, lighting…this is just basics for an acoustic show for me and my guitar player, but if asked to bring a band with me…I would have a few more requirements.

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Jara Johnson

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