Paige King Johnson is Feelin' Old

Out today, a thoughtful slow burner from PKJ: I Get Old Too

Paige King Johnson is becoming one of my favourite up-and-coming traditional country artists. There’s plenty of steel guitar and slide in her recent songs, and she brings a girl-next-door freshness with plenty of sass and a steely determination. Let’s unpack I Get Old Too, this week’s release.

British audiences love the idea of an American porch. I cannot overstate this. Your porches are the size of our houses, and they go all the way around! You have front ones, back ones, and side ones. And there’s room for a child’s swing. This, friend, sounds like heaven. When you grow up a bit, they work beautifully as stages for a show.

I hope someday
I get to waste time
On an old front porch swing just laughing and
Remembering the people I loved
And all the crazy things that I got to do
I hope & pray that someday
I get old too

Whereas October’s Cowboys Ride Away was an action movie, admittedly one with some sad reflections on addiction and an observation that even the preachers have their demons, this one is more reflective. It grows surely and steadily on you.

I am almost too excited and keen to blurt out that Paige is on her way to the UK as I write this. I am optimistic that I will be able to share a Q&A in a couple of weeks. If you’re not otherwise engaged on March 11, I strongly recommend a bus to Ron’s Honky Tonk at The Water Rats on Grays Inn Road. I will be there. It might be your last chance to catch her at a smaller venue before she hits the Albert Hall or the O2.

I hope someday I get to tell my grandkids
Of my days and all the highways and places
I ended up going and my heart in that moment
Their granddaddy first walked in the room

When I became a father, my cold, scientific brain went to mush. I now tear up at the slightest provocation. The first time I heard Paige’s grandfather’s voice at the end of the song, I had to stop writing. It’s one of those things that is so unexpected that it is even more powerful. Even as I edit this, there are tears in my eyes. He’s left an answerphone message to say that he didn’t quite reach the phone in time because he was on the lawn mower, perhaps slowing up in his later years. I think the cover artwork makes his importance in PKJ’s life clear.

Paige King Johnson is a Belmont-trained songwriter with a home base in Nashville and North Carolina. She is seven Carolina Country Music Awards deep, has charted on MusicRow, premiered videos on CMT and Heartland, serves as the official Got To Be NC musical ambassador, and contributes regularly to WRAL television with stories that spotlight music and culture in her home state. In short, Paige is multi-talented. You can follow her on Instagram, TikTok and read more on her own website.