Dallas musician has Whitefish roots
Dallas singer/songwriter Sarah Johnson was in the Flathead Valley recently performing at a number of venues, including the Brash Rodeo at the Blue Moon Arena in Columbia Falls.
Johnson knows the rodeo well, having grown up spending at least 25 summers at her grandparents’ home on Whitefish Lake.
“My family spent every Thursday at Brash Rodeo when I was a kid,” Johnson said. “I have so many memories of the valley I hold dear. What I remember most is playing and watching sunsets on the lake, raspberry picking, Avalanche, giving my grandmother’s horse, Blue, a bath, and going to Mrs. Spoonover’s on Central Avenue (now Stumptown Art Studio) for huckleberry ice cream.”
Johnson, 33, has been singing her original song from her music video “Red Bandanna” at her performances at Brash Rodeo and around town this summer. Released in August 2020, Johnson wrote the catchy song in August 2018 after visiting her family here in the Flathead Valley.
“I went to the rodeo and had this scenario play out in my head and it kept unfolding,” Johnson said about her inspiration for the song.
“Red Bandanna” tells a sweet, romantic story of a Texas woman who meets and falls in love with a cowboy at the rodeo. He gives her his bandanna to remember him by as he heads off to travel the rodeo circuit.
The video was actually shot at the Blue Moon Arena and around the Flathead Valley. It opens with a shot of the old Blue Moon readerboard sign that still sits inside the rodeo grounds. The man who plays the bull rider Johnson meets in the video is her real-life boyfriend. Local photographer and videographer Andrew Chad, a high school friend of Johnson’s, shot the video. They met in Texas but his family also vacationed here and bought a house in Whitefish when he was growing up. The Flathead is basecamp for him now as he travels for his outdoor adventure photography career.
Johnson’s grandfather Jerry Johansen started one of the first music festivals in the area in 1986. The Flathead Valley Festival of the Arts was an annual classical music event that drew world-class musicians and used parks, theaters, churches and private homes as its venues. He and her grandmother started visiting the valley in 1969, fell in love with it and, some years later, made it their full-time home. Johnson recalls their family vacations at Kamp Karefree on Whitefish Lake.
Johnson says she wrote her first song when she was 2 years old and she’s been a singer/songwriter ever since.
“It’s always been a love of mine,” she said. “I decided to make the leap two years ago to be a professional musician after realizing I was writing songs I was proud of and that resonated with people.”
She was encouraged by other musicians and songwriters to head for Nashville, and did, for six weeks in the fall of 2019.
“But I realized I could be a stronger voice in Dallas and could shine a light on the art community there,” she said. “I found a producer who I love (Dallas music veteran Beau Bedford) and I started recording with him that winter.
“Dallas is home to some really incredible talent. Everyone is very supportive and it feels familial, Johnson said. “There are great opportunities for musicians there and it’s making its way on the map.”
“Red Bandanna” now has over 73,000 streams on Spotify. Johnson’s six track EP “Volcano” was released last September. Written over the course of five or six years, Johnson says she picked the best of the best of her songs to make her EP debut in the music world.
“It’s like reading my diary,” she said. “For me ‘Volcano’ is symbolic of me bursting into my dreams.”
She is currently working with Chad to produce music videos for the songs on the EP, which should be out this fall.
Johnson’s love of storytelling and Americana roots music shines in her unforgettable song “Red Bandanna.”
“If anyone loves Montana or has had a wonderful experience here, I hope the song can be a reminder of that.”
LEARN MORE
Johnson will be performing at the Firebrand in Whitefish this Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m.
Her “Red Bandanna” music video is available on YouTube. Her EP “Volcano” is available for purchase on Apple Music and streaming across Spotify and other major platforms.
For more information about the artist, visit www.sarahjohnsonofficial.com
