Sarah Johns (born 1979) is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist. Signed to

BNA Records BNA Records, formerly known as BNA Entertainment, was a label group that shared ties with Arista Nashville and RCA Nashville from parent company Sony Music Nashville, which itself is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Nashville, ...

in 2006, she released her debut album ''Big Love in a Small Town'', which accounted for two charting

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

charts, including the No. 39 "The One in the Middle".

Musical career

Sarah Johns was born in Pollard, Kentucky. She began singing regularly while attending the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

. In early 2006, Sarah Johns signed to Show Dog Nashville (now

Show Dog-Universal Music Show Dog Nashville is an American independent record label specializing in country music artists. It was founded in 2005 by singer Toby Keith. It was later merged with Universal South Records into Show Dog-Universal Music in December 2009 until ...

), a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

owned by

Toby Keith Toby Keith Covel (July 8, 1961 – February 5, 2024) was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman. Keith released his chart-topping debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy", in 1993. During the 1990s ...

. Although she toured with Keith on his Big Throwdown 2 tour, she did not release anything on Show Dog, and left the label that April. A year later, Johns signed with

. She released her debut single "The One in the Middle" on April 30, 2007, and made Top 40 on the ''

charts with it. On June 2, 2007, Johns made her debut on the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

. Johns' debut album, ''Big Love in a Small Town'', was released on August 28, 2007, and peaked at No. 198 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic Thom Jurek rated the album three stars out of five, comparing Johns' song choices and attitudes to those of

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a ...

and

Gretchen Wilson Gretchen Frances Wilson (born June 26, 1973, in Pocahontas, Illinois) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She made her debut in March 2004 with the Grammy Awards, Grammy Award-winning single "Redneck Woman", a number-one hit on th ...

and saying, "This record isn't all the way there, but it's well on the way and might blow up the charts anyway. ''Big Love in a Small Town'' is an auspicious debut by a young talent." Its second single, "He Hates Me", peaked at No. 47 on the country charts.

Discography

''Big Love in a Small Town'' (2007)

Track listing

Album chart positions

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johns, Sarah American women country singers American country singer-songwriters BNA Records artists Country musicians from Kentucky Living people 1979 births Singer-songwriters from Kentucky Women musicians from Kentucky Singers from Kentucky 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers