Interview with Robby Johnson

When ROBBY JOHNSON went to Nashville to cut a couple of songs, he never imagined that he’d end up in the recording studio as a full-fledged artist with six of his own tunes on the project and then shooting a music video for the song South Of Me with director Ryan Smith. The Canadian-born singer grew up with French as his main language, but from early childhood, he found himself inexplicably drawn to everything American. When his parents went through a painful divorce and his mother moved Robby and his brothers to a small town in Quebec, the boy turned to television as a way to handle his loneliness. He soaked up American programs, songs and movies, perfecting his accent-free English through exposure to a variety of videos, shows and networks. Fast forward to present: In Nashville, renowned studio musician/producer Jimmy Nichols was brought in to oversee arrangements, but when he recognized the potential of Robby’s talent, Nichols turned to Grammy and multi-award winning songwriter/guitarist Frank Myers (“I Swear,” “I’m Already There,” “Tomorrow”) and together they crafted a powerful 12-song debut that showcases both Robby’s vocal strengths and his songwriting skills. “The minute we started working with Robby, we threw out the rule book,” says Nichols, explaining why he and Myers have inked Robby to their new full-service artist development company, Vision A. D. “Everything was so different with him from the beginning. He has the makings of a true artist.”