We got the chance to talk to emerging artist, Rayne Johnson, while he was on the road between shows. The up-and-coming artist has only released three songs, but has already shown us he is someone to watch. After being signed on the spot while working as a demo singer, Rayne’s first single, ‘Laid Back’ gained recognition on Spotify’s New Boots playlist and the video climbed to number one on CMT’s 12 Pack.
We asked Rayne to tell us about his recent success with ‘Laid Back’ and he expressed extreme amounts of gratitude recognizing that it was not only a personal accomplishment, but an accomplishment for his entire team. Describing the experience as surreal, Rayne told us the song “kind of released itself” and that “it’s just kinda like what the public branded.” The carefree video features Rayne’s own vintage Harley Davidson and tells the story of finding someone much more relaxed after a breakup.
Coming off the success of ‘Laid Back,’ Johnson is excited to see what his next song and first national release, ‘Front Seat’ will bring. He told us, “When we wrote it, we felt this was a really great song that had a really really good meaning. We just were trying to say, hey, we want to make women from all spectrums understand they have a lot of worth.” Inspired by a real life experience of his co-writer, Joe Jordan, the song tells the story of witnessing a girl in another relationship and knowing she deserves better. He told us his favorite lyrics from the song were in the bridge, “You know it’s getting harder and it’s like you’re drowning in the water and it feels like you need a new life,” because it’s the powerful moment when people really understand the song.
When we asked Rayne to describe his musical style he said, “I like to do runs, so soulful is a really good term to explain, but I’m a super country kind of person, so it’s been a really cool experience to blend.” With the diversity of country music styles we have today, Johnson feels that he could see himself fitting in with acts such as Rascal Flatts and Dan + Shay. Rayne reminisced of his 124-CD case from high school full of strictly classic country as we discussed his musical influences. He starting singing as a kid in church after seeing his mom perform there as a solo singer. Acknowledging his music taste has been all over the place throughout his life, he credited his soulfulness to boy bands such as Boyz II Men and to always hearing Elvis playing on vinyl at a young age.
Rayne described himself, saying he “Loves the outdoors. Huntin’, Fishin’, and music is pretty much what my life is consumed with.” He even joked about defying some of the stereotypes that might be formed about a country singer with a man bun. Rayne proudly shows off his outdoorsmanship and his love for his son regularly on his favorite social media platform, Instagram.
Johnson revealed to us that his forthcoming, seven song EP will be released this month! He told us, “We didn’t go through and pick the songs country music listeners would just like, we picked the songs we thought were good songs and we hope that will translate over. I’m really excited.”
You can keep up with all things Rayne Johnson on his Website, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.