Naomi Cooke Johnson

Raised in rural Virginia to Cherokee Indigenous descendants, Naomi Cooke Johnson was given her first guitar at age 7 and quickly found that her inherent talent gave perfect accompaniment to her powerful singing voice that cut through the noise of a traveling family with 11 children. At 15, she helped support the family by waiting tables in a Florida restaurant until the seas of Alaska came calling and she found herself working as a deckhand on a salmon fishing boat. Here she was able to save up enough cash to chase her dreams to Nashville where she began performing at the legendary Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge as a staff musician playing late night gigs to the lower Broadway honky-tonk crowd. Leaning on influences Bonnie Raitt and Shania Twain, Naomi began crafting songs about her lives’ struggles and determination to overcome them. These songs soon became well-known radio hits for artists like Tyler Farr and her former band Runaway June. It’s no surprise that Cooke Johnson would come out of the gate strong with her solo debut. “Girls of Summer” is a bombastic celebration of carefree fun with a chosen family of friends. Soon to follow are more songs chronicling her childhood years of homeschooling and living on a renovated school bus to her current moment as a working mom. She will serve as co-producer on this project, to be released by BBR Music Group/BMG.