Canadian Country Music Star and Hit Singer-Songwriter Carolyn Dawn Johnson Releases New Single “Road Blocks”
Canadian country music star and hit singer-songwriter Carolyn Dawn Johnson makes her highly anticipated return with the release of her new single “Road Blocks.”
Produced by Carolyn and written by Carolyn, Jennifer Lynn Kennard, and Oscar Charles, “Road Blocks” encapsulates the resilience and determination needed to overcome life’s obstacles and push through those roadblocks. This electrifying song is more than a drum-thumping, guitar-driven, feel-good jam; it’s an anthem of empowerment amidst personal struggles.
Said Carolyn,
“Road Blocks may sound like it’s just a rockin’, roll the windows down jam with the groove, guitars & all the driving & vehicle references, but it’s way more than that. With all the personal roadblocks I have encountered, it’s anthemic & empowering with a deeper meaning to me. My hope is that others who have had hard things in life or are currently in the middle of something tough, will feel like they can find a bit of extra strength to get through them as they turn it up & sing along”.
First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?
I am an Alberta-born and raised, country girl who moved to Nashville in 1995 to pursue her dreams of making music for a living. I am a mother of 2 teenagers, a dog, and a cat. I love to go for walks and collaborate with other creatives in all kinds of forms, but especially music. Spending time with my kids is my greatest joy for sure. I have toured with some of the best and I love to play live for people. When asked what I like better as far as songwriting, being in the studio, performing live, etc. I have to say that I love them all, and they all have a season, and the seasons change, and flow into each other. I like that they provide different creative dynamics. If I only wrote songs and didn’t do the rest, I’d be sad, and the same in any other combination, they are all part of me. I’m still not tired of making music for a living. While it can be a job on some days, for the most part, I feel continually blessed that I can do what I love and affect people on some level.
You have unveiled your new single, “Road Blocks,” which you also produced. Tell us about the creative process behind the track.
This song was so much fun in the studio. We had a great little demo of it that was a much more stripped version of the record, but it had a vibe. It was a drum machine, but I wanted real drums, so we had to find a real groove with it and not just a machine. I feel like the drums were key in this and then also the guitar parts. I love electric guitar, so I like to sit with a player and come up with things together and really collaborate. I usually hear things in my head, so I sing them and we move on from there. I do of course also want to hear what a guitar player, or any musician for that matter, what their initial instincts are when they listen and certainly take that into consideration as well. They are never going to love the song as much as I do though, so I don’t want the pressure on them to be the complete and total magic makers, although in general, their expertise is what brings it to life. I feel like I have to be honest with them and find a spot where I am in love with what they are doing and let them know and help guide them if needed. Great players give me great joy watching them play. I love it so much! They know their instruments better than I do. When I worked on the vocals, I wanted it to be lively and with a bit of swank and attitude, not too much, but hopefully just enough with the confidence and joy behind it. When I sing in the studio I get myself in the mood and try to be inside the song, then make a comp of that, and if it needs more, I take the expression or accuracy further. A great combination of both is needed. The backgrounds are fun in this song. There are some little moments that are not really very conventional. When I first did a couple of the ‘aside” type overlay melodies with my voice in the bridge, I was just being spunky and not really trying anything in particular. I just let it roll per se. I had the music cranked in my ears and just went with it. I didn’t sit there and go “OK what should I do that’s a little different in the bridge” I was singing the whole song down and caught a vibe and it came out. I did different takes with different little pieces like that and they were all different. I had no discriminatory opinions about anything I was doing. In the end, the ones I chose were my favorite. That’s how I go about backgrounds. In all honesty, this recording has been sitting for a while, I hadn’t gotten it quite done. I wanted to get it mixed, but felt like I wasn’t totally in love yet & hadn’t put all the icing on the cake. I went back in and tried some of these things, as well as a few others, and liked them better and erased a bunch of stuff I had previously done and replaced it. Sometimes that can feel like you wasted so much time on a song because I had a bunch of other church choir-type layers in there for example, but in the end, they were a good idea, but not my favorite idea, so they went away. Having the time to not just keep your first choices is a luxury when you are doing a lot of the recording at home, which I do in my little studio. When you are on a time crunch, or a budget at someone else’s studio on someone else’s dime, sometimes you don’t get to go back and try something completely different. There are pros and cons to both. I can be-labor things to a fault sometimes, but if I do set some time boundaries in combination with the freedom, usually there are some cool things that come out of it. Hope that makes sense!!
You worked with Jennifer Lynn Kennard and Oscar Charles on the writing of “Road Blocks.” How was that experience?
Both of those writers I have written some cool songs with, and this particular combination is a good one. Jennifer and I have written a lot of songs actually and she has 4 on this album with me. We have a comfort with each other. They both offer it all, lyrics and music. I’ll say Oscar can really help make something vibe with his recording abilities, he’s a cool singer too. He put the digital drum track together for the demo like I was mentioning before after I had come up with a groove and chorus melody and it just worked together. Jennifer is a great lyricist and she can blurt stuff out quickly and then also take stuff home and digest it for a while and spit out another whole verse of something, she’s just like that. I feel like in this situation, we all got the subject, and we all had interesting ideas on how to nail the title and yet have a deeper meaning to it. I can be good at hitting the broad scope of what a song needs to be with the initial chorus hook and melody and universal lyrics and Jennifer found some sweet ear candy lyrics to make it more colorful. I’m good at putting the bow on a song once it’s mostly written. All in all, the 3 of us do good work together. I’m realizing as I’m writing this, that we need to get back on it, it’s been a while since we have done something together.
“Road Blocks” is quite an anthem, that will surely empower listeners, as well as entertain them. How important to you is it that your music has the power to motivate or encourage the listener?
Well, not every song can encourage, I wish it could!! And I don’t think I sit down with that intent every day I write, but when you get a title like this and come up with a main idea that is inspiring and you realize it inspires yourself, it is important for me to execute it in a way that hopefully if it means something to me, it will mean something to someone else. I do know that there is some accountability with the art that we put out there and I do take that seriously. I am hoping I am raising the vibration rather than lowering it!! I think this song raises it! Whether you want to think about the song or just crank it and not think at all, I hope it makes someone smile or feel powerful and motivated to keep going and maneuver through life in the best way possible.
You’re no stranger to the country music business, with over 20 years of experience. What advice would you give to a new artist?
I get asked this a lot, I need to write down some of my answers so I don’t forget. Number one, go with your gut feelings. They are given to you for a reason, if something is good, or not so good, listen. There are a lot of choices you have to make in this business so it needs to feel good. Try to surround yourself with a few real believers in you and your talent. If you haven’t found them yet, keep on networking. Networking is important. We do it in every other business, so why wouldn’t you in the music business? When was the last time you got a job without a referral or shoe-in on the job opportunity coming up? Be good to people on your way up and on your way down, it’s just a good thing to do. Period. Everyone, or almost everyone, is usually doing the best they can. You can almost always get in a door once, the key is being asked to come back another time. No one knows who the next big star is going to be, they will listen. So make sure your first meetings count. You don’t have to be perfect in those meetings, but you need to have your stuff together and have something to offer. Make the goal to be to build that relationship, rather than, they have to want to sign me today or I’m out. Gosh, I could honestly go on and on….there are so many things, but these are key. Everybody likes to be part of something good, be the good.
Last but not least, what else do you have up your sleeve for the remainder of 2023 into 2024?
My sleeve has a bunch more songs that need to get mixed to finish out the album and get it ready to put out in early 2024. I have a few hometown shows in Nashville to do while I am not travelling, so those will be fun. Gearing up to get all this music to the people and connect again in the New Year. I’m excited!!!
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