For some, the odd drink can be a nice way to unwind or enjoy a social situation, for others, it can be a life-altering vice. In an interview with Billboard, Jamey Johnson came clean about his problems with alcohol, and just how drastic the situation got.
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Drinking seemingly goes hand in hand with country music, but that isn't always the glamorous life they play it out to be. It can sometimes start to take over a life, reducing productivity, destroying health, and ruining relationships. Jamey Johnson decided to go dry and quit alcohol after he realized the damage he was doing.
Speaking with Billboard about his new track Sober, Jamey Johnson speaks openly about his struggle with alcohol. He says that it "led me down a dark path of self-destruction back then and I barely survived. Alcohol was an incendiary way of destructing myself." It was beginning to take away from a life he was building and working towards.
Johnson Left Alcohol Behind For A Better Life
After noticing just how much damage he was doing to himself, he used the moment of introspection to make a change. It isn't easy to cut alcohol out completely, but when you have a moment to realize what's at stake, it is sometimes the only option.
Continuing the interview, Johnson says " Everything just went up in flames and you couldn't put the fire out, you just had to wait for it to all come to ashes and then try to rebuild when you got done. And it seemed to me like I owed myself a better way to live than that." Johnson was able to see what alcohol was doing to him and pull himself back from the brink.
What it came down to was his own sense of self-worth and desire to achieve. Alcohol can sometimes take over every other element of a life, leaving nothing but the bottle. It takes a strong person to realize that and make the change. Johnson has been sober and free from alcohol since 2011 and mostly stopped smoking weed since 2015.
However, he's a country singer, he can't be expected to be completely straight edge. As he will openly admit, "every now and then, I may still break out a joint if I'm writing or something like that." But, there is a world apart from smoking the odd joint for the creative juices and turning to the bottom of a bottle for hope.
