ANDERSON
John

• 1. Early career

John David Anderson is an American country music singer and songwriter with a successful career that has lasted more than 40 years. Starting in 1977 with the release of his first single, "I've Got a Feelin' (Somebody's Been Stealin')", Anderson has charted more than 40 singles on the Billboard country music charts, including five number ones: "Wild and Blue", "Swingin'", "Black Sheep", "Straight Tequila Night", and "Money in the Bank". He has also recorded 22 studio albums on several labels. His newest album, Years, was released on April 10, 2020, on the Easy Eye Sound label and was produced by Nashville veteran producer David Ferguson and Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys.

Anderson was inducted to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame on October 5, 2014.

Early career

Raised in Apopka, Florida, Anderson's first musical influences were not country artists, but rock and roll musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. He played in a rock band until the age of 15, when he discovered the music of George Jones and Merle Haggard and turned to country music. Anderson moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1971, arriving unannounced at his sister's home, and took on odd jobs during the day – including one as a roofer at the Grand Ole Opry House – while playing in clubs during the evenings.

The club appearances finally paid off in 1977 when he signed his first recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. He first hit the Billboard Country chart in 1977 with the song "I’ve Got a Feelin’ (Somebody's Been Stealin')", then broke into the country Top 40 with "The Girl at the End of the Bar" the next year. Anderson's decidedly backwoods accent and distinctive vocal timbre helped land him in the forefront of the "New Traditionalist" movement with artists like Ricky Skaggs and George Strait.

A steady stream of singles through the late 1970s and early 1980s continued to build Anderson's name in the country genre. The song "I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I'm Gonna Be a Diamond Someday)" from the 1981 album John Anderson 2 netted Anderson a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.