James Johnston Takes Australian Country to the World

From Tamworth to Nashville, James Johnston’s rise has been built on songs about home, community and the life he knows.

 Now those songs are carrying him onto some of country music’s biggest stages, with the Australian singer-songwriter set to receive the Jeff Walker Global Country Artist Award at the 2026 CMA International Awards.

There are moments in a career that tell you just how far the road has taken you. For James Johnston, one of those moments arrived at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, where he was surprised on stage by Grammy, CMA and ACM Award-winning singer-songwriter Ashley McBryde with the news that he would receive the Jeff Walker Global Country Artist Award.

And she wasn’t finished. McBryde also invited Johnston back to make his Grand Ole Opry debut in November — another significant step for an Australian country artist whose music is increasingly finding an audience well beyond home.

The award, presented as part of the 2026 CMA International Awards, recognises the achievements of a country artist based internationally and their contribution to taking country music to audiences around the world. Johnston will be honoured at a special reception in downtown Nashville on November 17, ahead of the 60th Annual CMA Awards.

For Johnston, though, the significance of the moment comes back to something much simpler: writing honestly about where he comes from. “I’ve always just written songs about the life I know, where I come from and the people around me, so seeing those songs connect with people on the other side of the world is incredibly special,” he says.

“I’m really proud of where I come from, and the fact I get to take a little piece of home with me every time I step on a stage is something I’ll never take for granted.”

That little piece of home has been travelling plenty of kilometres lately. Johnston recently completed his debut UK headline tour, playing a string of sold-out shows and a mainstage appearance at Country Calling Festival. In Manchester, things spilled beyond the stage when Johnston joined fans for a line-dancing takeover soundtracked by his hit One More.

His international run has also taken him to Sweden's High Chaparral Country Festival and Canada, where he played his first headline show at Calgary's legendary Ranchman's. Add appearances back home at CMC Rocks, Gympie Music Muster, The Bend Classic and the Strummingbird Festivals, and 2026 has become another year spent doing what Johnston has done since the beginning — getting out there and playing.

The difference now is the size of the audience. Johnston has passed 210 million global streams, collected three Golden Guitar Awards and scored six #1 country radio hits, while his records have become fixtures on the Australian country charts.

His 20-track debut, Raised Like That, spent an extraordinary 35 weeks at #1 on the ARIA Australian Country Albums Chart and earned a Best Country Album nomination at the 2024 ARIA Awards. Its 2025 follow-up, Where You’ll Find Me, became the year's top-selling Australian country album on the ARIA Charts.

Working again with longtime producer and friend Jared Adlam, and collaborating with Morgan Evans, Where You'll Find Me captured a songwriter whose world was becoming bigger without losing sight of where the songs began. That balance — local stories with a wider reach — has increasingly become part of Johnston's identity.

It's also taken him to some unexpected corners of the country music world. In South Africa, his collaboration with local artist Appel, Country Is For Me, was named Song of the Year at the 2025 Bokkies, another indication that the distinctly Australian stories at the heart of Johnston's music can travel.

Back home, One More earned a 2026 ARIA Award nomination for Best Video, while Johnston's year also included wins at the Countrytown Awards, where fan voting saw him collect Entertainer of the Year and Male Artist of the Year for the second consecutive year, along with Song of the Year and Album of the Year.

It's been a remarkable progression for an artist whose breakthrough at the 2023 Tamworth Country Music Festival included Golden Guitar wins for Best New Talent and Best Vocal Collaboration alongside Kaylee Bell.

Three years later, Johnston is walking through doors that few Australian country artists get the opportunity to enter.
Yet what's interesting about his rise isn't simply how international his career has become. It's that the songs haven't needed to leave Australia behind to get there.

The towns, people, friendships, back roads and everyday experiences that inspired Johnston in the first place remain at the centre of his music. Nashville, London, Calgary or Tamworth — the geography might change, but the stories still come from home. “A massive thank you to the CMA for this honour, and especially to everyone who’s come to a show, listened to a song, shared it or told a mate about my music,” Johnston says. “You guys have taken these songs further than I ever thought they’d go, and I’m incredibly grateful for it.”

Next stop: the Grand Ole Opry. For a bloke who built his career singing about where he comes from, James Johnston is finding out just how far a song from home can travel.

Upcoming Australian Dates

October 2–4 — The Bend Classic, Tailem Bend, SA 
October 10 — Strummingbird, Ballarat, VIC 
October 17 — Strummingbird, Newcastle, NSW 
October 18 — Strummingbird, Sunshine Coast, QLD