A little over a week after releasing his first album since 2011, singer Jamey Johnson was arrested Sunday just outside of Nashville.
The country singer-songwriter, who has written with Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and George Strait, is facing a felony drug charge after he was pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for speeding, the Tennesseean reported. The “In Color” artist faces up to a $5,000 fine, if convicted, and is scheduled to appear in a Williamson County courtroom on Feb. 6, according to the outlet. Rolling Stone reported that marijuana was found in the car.
“Right now, we can confirm that Jamey Johnson was arrested on Sunday, November 17th in Williamson County. The incident is still under investigation,” Tennessee Highway Patrol Sergeant Andrew Perez said in an email statement to The Times.
Representatives for Johnson as well as the Williamson County sheriff’s and district attorney’s offices did not reply immediately Tuesday to The Times’ request for comment.
The arrest comes just days after Johnson released “Midnight Gasoline,” his first album in more than a decade. Ahead of the album’s release, he dropped six singles including “Sober” — in which the Grand Ole Opry member speaks about his struggle with sobriety in an industry that he said “glorifies drinking and other kinds of debauchery.”
“I am 13 years sober now,” Johnson said on his website upon the release of “Sober” in early September. “I haven’t had a drop of alcohol since 2011, and I know that could end this afternoon. It is a day-to-day, hour-to-hour decision.
“Most of the places I play are bars, or I am still hanging out in bars. That’s where most of my friends are,” he continued. “Now I can hang out in them and not be drinking like I used to.”
In 2016, multiple members of Johnson’s band were arrested in Mississippi for possession of a controlled substance, but the singer was not charged in the incident. Earlier this year, Johnson’s country peer Darius Rucker was arrested — also in Williamson County — and booked on minor drug possession charges.
Despite Johnson’s decade-long recording hiatus, he has touring regularly. Last month, he joined Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Eric Church and other musicians in a five-hour tribute concert honoring Robbie Robertson, the Canadian singer, guitarist, songwriter and composer who died last year at age 80.
Perhaps explaining how long it took to release “Midnight Gasoline,” Johnson told The Times in 2010 that his fans have “been following us from the beginning, and they’ll follow us till the end.
“They’re not looking for any measure of [commercial] success. And neither am I,” he said. “That works out real well for both of us, don’t it?”