An American Singer-Songwriter

NEWS | TUESDAY, APRIL 7 | BY FUSION STAFF WRITER, RUDOLFO CARRILLO

When I first heard I had the opportunity to interview Jack County Line’s John Dennis Johnston, I reflected on the fact that such candid encounters with notable American musicians were once a weekly facet of my professional life. But instead of thinking on that feeling for too long, I turned my attention to the music behind that man, the work of a recently formed yet formidable trio of musicians here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and their upcoming residence at FUSION, which begins on Sunday, April 12, at 2:30 PM, and continues monthly, on Sundays, through September 27.

The music Johnston makes as a solo artist and with Jack County Line—a collaboration among singer-songwriters Johnston, Michael Allison, and multi-instrumentalist, studio engineer, and producer Norm Toy—belongs to the most glorious sort of the American folk-rock tradition, often disguised in minor keys that predict melancholy but ultimately resolve as a form of sublime harmonic uplift that acknowledges acceptance and resilience through a constantly evolving melody. The instrumentation that Johnston and his cohorts employ is reminiscent of the tones and types used by his predecessors over in the depths of Laurel Canyon. That’s interesting too, because Johnston spent some of his recent career near those places that were haunted and held fast by the likes of David Crosby and Joni Mitchell. Indeed, the music of Jack County Line is sonorous in a way that draws on classic works yet improves upon and individualizes timeless forms employed previously by artists and singer-songwriters such as Kris Kristofferson and Jessi Colter.

Tunes like “100 Miles From Somewhere,” sung by Michael Allison, demonstrate a narrative intimacy that reveals a super-high level of craft but also a sort of craftiness that is compelling, plaintive at first, but as the final lyrics reflect, the song resolves with an existential twist that defies the wistfulness of the overarching, sparkling melody.

Not only that, but these dudes can totally rock in the classic SoCal funky-tonk fashion (read: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, or alternatively that notorious Bakersfield sound or its Dead derivations) that was crystal-clear on a track I listened to by Jack County Line called “Hard Times.” That tune fairly rocks and shows off excellent ensemble musicianship, bittersweet harmonies, and sinewy rhythm section. And while the song’s narrator sings therein that he hides “behind my six-string for all the world to see,” I’ve got to take a moment here, as a music writer, to implore those singers to play out more often: “Gentlemen,” I would say, “your work is genius, and quite listenable, too. We want to know who you all are, and yes, that guitar jamming is damn cool.”

Of course, and toward that end, I rang up John Dennis Johnston so that we could converse about how he found himself in Albuquerque, how his work as a musician is progressing, and what is next for one of our community’s singular singer-songwriters and bandleaders. We had a great talk; he’s articulate, affable, and most importantly, authentic. So here’s the thing itself, the place where music might very well become myth; here is part of the talk we had about Jack County Line and related subjects.

Johnston told me that he came up in Nebraska and eventually migrated to sunny Califas, where he became a well-known character actor. He’s known for playing a wide range of well-remembered film and television characters, from a rowdy patron at Torchy’s Bar in 48 Hours to Frank Stillwell in Wyatt Earp. He recalled, “I retired from film and TV and moved here. You can Google me. I had a forty-year career, 125 guest-starring roles on TV shows; I don’t know how many movies…and a lot of stage stuff in Omaha, Chicago, Milwaukee, and LA. I was fortunate enough, blessed enough to raise my family, buy a house, live in California, work in Australia and Spain and Mexico and Canada. I am one lucky SOB, I’ll tell you that.”

Things changed for Johnston when he pulled up stakes and headed for Albuquerque in 2014. He met a couple musicians he could really groove with, began expanding his musical and songwriting praxis, and started getting solid gigs in a town where singer-songwriters like Clark Andrew Libbey and UNM’s Kristina Jacobsen have been drawing grateful audiences since the aughts. In that process, he’s become an accomplished musician, although, humble as ever, he is loath to admit such, telling your reporter, “I have not yet had the nerve to claim myself as a musician. Although, I guess if you stand up and perform in front of people, you shouldn’t apologize for being there. And, I truly love it. I’m really blessed to be at this point in my life, finding something that was more exciting than doing film and television, frankly.”

Johnston’s collaborative work with singer-songwriter Michael Allison and producer/bassist Norm Toy has informed his ascendance here in Burque’s music scene, and he’s proud to admit to that, adding to his narrative by emphasizing the togetherness and vision he found with the two: “I started doing open mics where I met Michael Allison, a prolific songwriter. And somehow we got together and started harmonizing. I liked his lyrics. He liked my lyrics. We got together and formed Jack County Line just about three years ago. I contribute to his lyrics. He contributes to mine. We started recording. We picked up Norm Toy, who was my bass player, in a rehearsal at his studio out in the East Mountains. He calls it the Little Red Barn.”

So far, Johnston says this combination of creatives has resulted in substantive advances for listeners and the artists. “We’ve recorded two EPs. We’ve got ten ready to go. And we’re working on an album,” he reminds readers.

That commitment to music will surely come through at Jack County Line’s upcoming residency at FUSION. Johnston is confident of the direction the music is taking them, concluding, “These six shows are really, really important to us personally, because both Michael and I are single singer-songwriters at heart. And so the show will be the three of us. We’ll all do our big songs, but we’ll also do our solo songs. Those types of performances hail back to where the songs were created on the couch, you know, straight from our minds and our hearts to our fingers to our voices. And we hope that that will resonate. Because what I learned as an actor was that if you tell the truth, it can be felt. What’s so wonderful about music is that you can really feel something when you’re up there singing. And I think in a situation like FUSION, I think that those feelings might be palpable.”

Jack County Line presents “Songwriter Sundays”: A Residency at FUSION

Sunday, April 12, 2026
2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
FUSION | The Cell
700 1st Street Northwest Albuquerque, NM, 87102
Pay What You Wish Tickets Here.

Stream the music of Jack County Linehere.