Inside the life, music, and upcoming album of one of the Black Hills’ busiest musicians
On Memorial Day weekend, Johnny Hastings played outside at Canyon Grille near Boulder Canyon to a crowd spread across the lawn and patio. It was one of those early summer afternoons that remind us all why we love it here. I had been looking for an opertunity to take some of my family to see him play and this was the perfect oppertuity. At one point Johnny slipped into Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day,” and it felt like the exact right song for the afternoon. We enjoyed this beautiful place we call home, and we enjoyed the tunes Johnny played for us.
If you spend any time in the local music scene, you’ll notice his name starts popping up everywhere. Sometimes it’s a solo set on a patio somewhere between Deadwood and Sturgis. Other nights it’s the heavier blues sound of Stillhouse Down, or the funk and reggae grooves of Camp Comfort pulling people onto a dance floor. The only real question anymore is which version of Johnny you’re going to get.
After a while you cant help but notice how naturally he seems to feel on every stage, and in every iteration of his performances. Venue owners bring him up unprompted and audiences plan their weekends around his shows. None of it seems to have changed him much, Hastings still comes across like someone who just loves playing music wherever he happens to be that night.
While sitting outside that ‘lovely day’, my uncle leaned over and asked the question: “So who is this guy?” Honestly, that is probably part of why I wanted to write this article in the first place.
The short version is that Johnny Hastings has become one of the most recognizable working musicians in the area, but the longer answer takes a little more time to explain.
After my uncle asked the question, I realized I had been wondering the same thing myself. I recently had the chance to sit down with Johnny and ask him about the life he has built around music, the new album, and what I think we all are thinking privatly in our own minds:
Why stay in the here when he clearly has the talent to chase something bigger elsewhere?
But before getting there, it helps to start a little earlier than the packed schedules and familiar venue lineups people know him from now.
Hastings grew up with his mom who was a longtime music teacher and bass player in a local rock band, and some of his earliest memories involve tagging along to rehearsals and falling asleep near the stage while the band played late into the night. The Beatles, B.B. King, Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan were all part of the soundtrack around the house growing up. The way Hastings talks about his mom makes it clear how much of his musical foundation traces back to her support and encouragement. Growing up around rehearsals, instruments, and working musicians also made the idea of building a life as a musician feel attainable from an early age. Years later, that path would eventually take Hastings out to Los Angeles for a period before ultimately pulling him back toward the Hills again.
Hastings does not talk about the Black Hills like someone who feels stuck here. Nashville has crossed his mind more than once, along with a few other cities, but there is very little urgency in the way he talks about leaving. Over the years, he has built a career here that already feels meaningful to him. The venues know him, the audiences keep showing up, and the Hills themselves still seem to give him something creatively that he is not eager to walk away from.
As Hastings carved out a reputation his songs gradually became more reflective. That process led him south to Georgia, where he spent time recording what would become his upcoming solo album, Older.
Johnny Hastings new album
Rather than tracking the record in a traditional commercial studio, Hastings and his dog Graham loaded the car with nearly a dozen guitars, amps, pedals, and recording gear before heading south to Georgia. There, he and producer Woody Earwood built much of the album out of a lake house setup surrounded by woods, water, and long stretches of quiet between sessions.
Earwood, a longtime songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Georgia, helped shape the album alongside a group of musicians Hastings deeply admired long before the sessions ever began. Among them were drummer Aaron Sterling and bassist Sean Hurley, both widely known for their work with John Mayer and countless major recording sessions.
The resulting album still carries traces of the blues-heavy guitar playing Black Hills audiences already know Hastings for, but the focus feels more personal this time around. These songs are less interested in showing off technical ability and more interested in revealing the experiences that shaped him.
The two singles released so far both center around hardship, but in very different ways. Dad’s Song looks backward at the loss of his father and the emptiness left behind after growing up without him. Devil on My Shoulder turns toward addiction, struggle, and the uneasy feeling of wanting to change while still being trapped inside old habits. One reaches toward something completely outside his control, while the other wrestles with something internal and ongoing.
Devil on My Shoulder is carried by dark slide guitar and slow bluesy twang and hits heavy in the same way addiction does. Dad’s Song carries more of a back porch Americana vibe, with Hastings singing through hardships and that never fully go away after losing someone too early.
I have not heard the full album yet outside of a few live performances and the released singles, but after spending time with these songs, it’s clear that Older is less about trying to impress listeners and more about letting them understand Johnny a little better.
Johnny Hastings Album Release Show
With Older set to release May 30, Hastings will bring the new material to the stage June 12 for an album release show at the Custer Beacon in Custer. He’ll be joined by Woody and Ansley Earwood, the collaborators who helped shape the album during the Georgia sessions.
Johnny was guided through unimaginable loss by a remarkable woman who helped shape both his life and his music. He has wrestled with the pull of addiction and the slower work of figuring out who he is on the other side of it. He has chased his talent across the country and found his way back to the Black Hills. My family and I sat on that patio on that “lovely day” and listened to Johnny play, and by the time we left my uncle’s question had already been answered. I just didn’t need to spell it out for him anymore, had already done that himself.
photo by Josh Williams
Listen to “Older” By Johnny Hastings
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