Joseph Hudak
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Jaren Johnston, the frontman of the Cadillac Three, will release his debut solo album 'The Guest Room' on Nov. 13. Alex Berger* When the Cadillac Three walked offstage at the Born and Raised Festival in Pryor, Oklahoma, on Sept. 13, 2024, fans of the Southern rock band didn’t realize they’d just witnessed the trio’s last public performance. A week later, the Nashville band announced they were canceling the remainder of the year’s gigs so that singer-guitarist Jaren Johnston could prioritize his health. The group has yet to return to the road.
Johnston, a songwriter behind radio hits like Tim McGraw’s “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” and Keith Urban’s “You Gonna Fly,” had been through the wringer. His father, the musician Jerry Ray Johnston, died at 65 in 2022, and the Cadillac Three’s busy touring schedule didn’t allow the frontman time to heal. The future of the group, known for hard-hitting songs like “Tennessee Mojo” and “White Lightning,” was in doubt. Drummer Neil Mason pivoted to songwriting and artist management; lap-steel player/bassist Kelby Ray played guitar in the house band for Taylor Sheridan’s country-music series The Road.
This Friday, Johnston will resurface with his debut solo album, The Guest Room, a collection of 13 songs written and recorded in the spare room of his home.
So, where does that leave the Cadillac Three? Johnston tells Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast the band members are slowly starting to pick up the pieces.
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“The three of us just want the best for the three of us, each one of us. When I had to come off the road, they understood,” he says. “Obviously [they were] not happy about not being able to play shows and not being able to explain to everybody why. But they probably saw it coming, a little bit.”
Johnston says he, Mason, and Ray met at a local Mexican restaurant in Nashville recently to reconnect. “All we did was sit and laugh for an hour and a half,” he says. “You can’t mess that whole thing up.”
While there are no current plans to return to the road just yet as the Cadillac Three, Johnston says fans hoping to hear songs like “Tennessee Mojo” played live once again likely won’t be disappointed. “We love getting together and playing, that’s what we do,” he says. “And that song’s too badass to not play somewhere.”
