James Johnston Embarks On 110km Charity Run: "If Anybody Knows Me, I'm Fairly Determined.”
Between a double-marathon charity run, new single, and a stacked week at Tamworth Country Music Festival, singer James Johnston aims to keep pushing.
James Johnston (Supplied)
It’s a humid morning - not ideal conditions for country singer and now amateur charity runner, James Johnston.
“I'm not going to lie, it's not the hottest morning I've gone for a run, but it's definitely the most humid one that I've tackled so far.” He says, laughing off the muscle soreness.
For those who had to do a double-take at the new occupation, Johnston confirms that, since 19th January and all the way up to 23rd January, he will be taking on that title to raise money for all the fighters at the Ronald McDonald House that have inspired him in their perseverance. For Johnston, perseverance is currently in the form of sweating out across 110 kilometres of rural New South Wales terrain.
Alongside his five-day running spree, Johnston has also teased at a new song to soundtrack the campaign. New song HELL BOY will be officially released at the end of the run on January 23rd.
“I think it's a mix of, like, reflection and a mix of inspiration, right?” Johnston says of the new track, which is available for a sneak preview via his socials.
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“...it was inspired looking at, kind of my story and my mine and my dad's story, and now how that's kind of carried on to be mine and my boy's story. And you know, so much of that fun, advice and wisdom, and everything that my old man passed on to me is now, you know, I'm flowing that onto my kids.
“And it's funny how you know, life is this full circle. But one thing that my old man always instilled in me is that if you're going to go and do anything, you know, just give it everything you got.
I didn't come from a musical family, or anything like that. Mum and dad, you know, they were, they sold tractors, so it was completely out of the realm. Music was not something that they understood about. Really wasn't a big part of our family. But one thing that my old man always said to me, he said, “Well, if you're gonna go and do this music thing, you know, just work your ass off”. You know, it's, it's every day. Treat it like a job. If a trade is waking up at five o'clock, you're waking up at five o'clock, you know what I mean, and go to work every day. Go out and and get it for yourself. “
HELL BOY echoes that sentiment “And I think, you know, a lot of that sentiment kind of is what I'm trying to push through the song, is that if you, if you're going to run, run with everything you have, you're going to love, love it like, give it everything you got.”
To stress the extent of the situation once more, James Johnston is embarking on a HUGE run - the equivalent of two marathons to give a ball park. Johnston, who will be running all the way from Armidale through to Tamworth just in time for the Tamworth Country Music Festival, aims to raise $10k for the Ronald McDonald House.
“So I’ve had a bit to do with the Ronald McDonald house. Over the last kind of, really, three years since my career has really kicked off. I've seen, you know, there's one instance where a kid that was a big fan of mine came to a bunch of my shows ended up being diagnosed with cancer and needed to be in the Ronald McDonald House. So I've seen the work that they do, and I want to do something and give back, you know?
I thought about the message that comes through in this song and the whole idea of being a fighter. And I think the biggest fighters in the world are these young kids that are in the hospital. It's the hardest thing that a family or a child could go through, but they're resilient. “
They're out there fighting every single day and and I think that's inspiring for everyone else. And if I can show that, and if I can, you know, through my little part help keep those families and those kids being looked after in the in the house as long as possible, then I think that's that's something that's worth doing.”
For people wanting to get involved, the song is available early via a pay-what-you-can scheme, where you can pay anything from $1 to even $100, with all proceeds going towards the Ronald McDonald House. For those wanting to leave the song as a surprise for official release day, you can even donate directly or join in the run with James along Tamworth’s Peel Street on Thursday 23rd January.
As of the first 2 hours of his 6 day run, the singer hit over $4k’s worth of funds raised, almost half of his minimum aim already. $500 of this alone has come from fellow songwriter Adam Brand.
Pushing the body to the human limit for the greater good of your peers is not a new concept, with professional and novice athletes like Ned Brockman and Hardest Geezer (real name Russ Cook) having completed huge running feats in 2024 and raising millions of dollars for unhoused and displaced people. Giving power back to the fighter is also the goal for Johnston, but his choice to release his latest single early is something now seen less and less amid label scheduling.
“Yeah, I just wanted to do something different. At the end of the day, it's at the core. And I'm a musician, and what I do is, is write music. You know, I'm not a… I'm not a runner.
The core of what I do is music. So if that's something that I can give and if I can, you know, being my song, can give it to people early, that can help raise more money, let’s do it”
An as a non-runner competing a mammoth run, how has Johnston prepped himself for the challenge?
“I have a habit of kind of just jumping in the deep end and just going, “Well, I'm just going to do this really big thing”, and everyone around you goes, “how you going to do it?” I'm like, “I don't know, but I'm going to figure it out”.”
Since the start of the year, James has been running 10 kilometres everyday, absolutely annihilating all of us at our New Years fitness goals.
“I've got to be honest, this first time I did it, I couldn't run a single kilometre. Um, I just cracked my first hour, you know, which is, to any runners, not very impressive. But for me, it was this progression.”
Putting both creativity and endurance to good use, Johnston also tried singing while running on the treadmill to increase his lung capacity and make both running, and his upbeat live shows, just that little bit easier. Unfortunately this activity was not a popular one for the singer.
Once the run has commenced in Tamworth, Johnston’s stamina will still be kept up with events like Tamworth Country Music Festival, KIX Live In The Park, his own intimate headline show at Tamworth Town Hall, and working as a co-host alongside Max Jackson for this years Golden Guitar Awards.
“I'm a little nervous.” He says of the Golden Guitars, his first time hosting anything since age 18.
“We've got a few things lined up that have never been done before. And I think, if you know me, I was like, you know, (I’ll) talk about little easter eggs. There's a few things lined up that I said have never been done before. And I just, I spent about a week ago chatting to the event - the organisers - there at the team for the the Golden Guitars, and throwing some crazy ideas at them. And luckily, they said yes to nearly all of them. So I'm excited for everyone to see what we've got.”
To add even more to Johnston’s resume of accolades, the singer is nominated for a whopping four awards for the night, all thanks to the Lee Kernaghan collab hit Who I Am. The nominations are for Song of the Year, Video of the Year, Single of the Year and Vocal Collaboration of the Year. The collaboration between Kernaghan and Johnston is extremely special when you take into account that they met for the first time over 2 decades ago, when Johnston was a child aspiring to Kernaghan-level dreams. Between being nominated with Kernaghan, playing Tamworth Town Hall, and co-hosting the Golden Guitars, there couldn’t be more full circles in 2025 for the musician.
“Tamworth is such a massive part of my story. It really is, like, I, I've told this story many times, but, you know, I started busting on the streets from about the age of about eight, and did it for the next 10 years.
“That was kind of my musical upbringing. You know, that week of my life every year as a kid, was the best week of my life…that was Country Music Week, and I just got to sing and busk on the street and, you know, all the rest of it.
So to have all of this happening and be a part of that kind of era, you know [sic], is, is really exciting. And to then be up for an award with my hero, the person that I, as a little kid, I used to look up to, winning those awards and hosting the awards and all that sort of stuff. It's pretty surreal. It really is.”
As James runs towards the rest of his life in Australian country music, he’s only got one mindset:
“I have a lot of people around me doubting me, but I'm, I feel like, if anybody knows me, I'm fairly determined.”
As of the time of writing this, Johnston has already reached his 10k goal and has now raised the bar to 20k you can donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charity here
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