Jul 14, 2026 · 1 hr 24 min · 13 segments
Before finding success as a country songwriter, Brady Johnson lived a series of very different lives, working in the oil fields, fishing for salmon in Alaska, pursuing acting in Chicago and Los…
Brady JohnsonGuest
Fran HarperHost
So to overcome that and to not only finish it, but to actually be good at the job when it was done, that's something that gave me confidence immediately.
That I can go farther than I thought I could and be stronger than I thought I could.
But I will say like there's a real sense of disappointment about how I handled it, though, which is even though I overcame it technically, I kind of shut off everything in me that could feel in order to keep going.
So I kind of disassociated, kind of made myself numb and I got through it and did and did a good job.
it made me want to the next time I go through something like that, I want to get through it and do a good job.
Do you think that was pure fear? That was the only way you had two choices, quit or commit, continue and work through it, which you chose to do.
So two of my best friends were on this same trip and we were on different boats.
So we weren't actually together the whole summer, but we were on the same beach.
And these are friends that are, I mean, I had dinner with one of them two nights ago.
sense of principle or pride I guess whereas like if I quit my friends will know me as the guy who quit for the rest of our lives and they will have that shared memory where they stayed and that was the only thing that was the only reason I stayed was just kind of my my own sense of personal pride but also my sense of wanting their respect and that was that's the only reason really that I stayed
So to overcome that and to not only finish it, but to actually be good at the job when it was done, that's something that gave me confidence immediately.
That I can go farther than I thought I could and be stronger than I thought I could.
But I will say like there's a real sense of disappointment about how I handled it, though, which is even though I overcame it technically, I kind of shut off everything in me that could feel in order to keep going.
So I kind of disassociated, kind of made myself numb and I got through it and did and did a good job.
it made me want to the next time I go through something like that, I want to get through it and do a good job.
Do you think that was pure fear? That was the only way you had two choices, quit or commit, continue and work through it, which you chose to do.
So two of my best friends were on this same trip and we were on different boats.
So we weren't actually together the whole summer, but we were on the same beach.
And these are friends that are, I mean, I had dinner with one of them two nights ago.
sense of principle or pride I guess whereas like if I quit my friends will know me as the guy who quit for the rest of our lives and they will have that shared memory where they stayed and that was the only thing that was the only reason I stayed was just kind of my my own sense of personal pride but also my sense of wanting their respect and that was that's the only reason really that I stayed
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