James Johnston To Duet With Lee Kernaghan, Hits Massive Tenth Week As #1 Australian Country Album

The James Johnston ascendency is about to continue, as the Australian country music sensation has scored a collaboration with the one and only iconic Lee Kernaghan.

As Kernaghan discussed in a recent Countrytown interview, he’s proud to see the accomplishments new country artists in Australia are achieving. “It's a super exciting time. So many incredible artists out there like, like James Johnston, and The Buckleys, Brad Cox, The Wolfe Brothers,” he said. “There are so many brilliant artists. So I think it's in really good shape, Australian country music right now. Maybe better than it's ever been.”

Kernaghan knew he was onto something exciting with this part, though: “James Johnston, we've recorded a duet with him, and we'll be releasing that, I think, next month. But I think back to the first time I saw him busking in Tamworth; he was only about 11 years old.

“Now all these years later, we've recorded a single and written songs together. So definitely think the world of him and The Wolfe Brothers will forever be my damn good mates. And it's been wonderful seeing them reach higher heights in the Australian country.”

Stay tuned for that duet, and read the complete interview here.

Songwriter and academic Gavin Carfoot recently took to Instagram to applaud Johnston for spending a whopping ten weeks atop the ARIA Top 20 Australian Country Albums chart.

In October, James Johnston announced a regional Australian tour in support of his debut album, Raised Like That. He wrapped up the tour in late November.

“As the father of two boys, I want my concert to be for all country music lovers, regardless of age or where you come from,” Johnston said in a statement. “This show is for everyone to come and sing their hearts out and just have a damn good time.”

Since releasing Raised Like That, the song, two years ago, Johnston has experienced six #1 airplay hits, 110 consecutive weeks in the Top 20 of the Countrytown Hot 50 National airplay chart, 55 million global streams, two Golden Guitars and the song now being certified ARIA platinum – it’s fair to say that 2023 has been the year of James Johnston.

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