900 miles between Crofton, Nebraska and Nashville, Tennessee.
From the time Joanie Keller was a little girl, she dreamed of making that trip one day with everything she owned in tow. That trip happened in 1998.
Joanie Keller grew up listening to her dad’s LP’s of Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and her favorite compilation of Country’s Best Songs. She literally wore out an 8-Track of her Dad! Her Dad’s record collection and his Country Song Round-Up Magazines were the only things that could hold her attention. So at age 7, her Dad cut down an acoustic guitar for her and within months she was on stage with his band. She was 8 years old and singing, Ray Price songs, Merle Haggard, Leona Williams, Tanya Tucker, Tammy Wynette, artists of the 60’s and 70’s. Her mind was far from school books and always on music. By the time she turned 10, she was a full time, paid member of the band. At 11, she picked up the bass guitar and worked in bands playing and singing for the next 25 years.
At age 12, Joanie, known in northeast Nebraska and southeast South Dakota as Joanie Haberer, won a talent contest at Bogner’s Steakhouse. The grand prize was a 2 song recording session and 1000 pressed 45’s. With her songs playing on the radio and selling her records for $1.00 a piece, the bookings were steadily coming in for the family band!
When her younger sister graduated from High School, the family hit the road full time and toured Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, Texas, New Mexico, South Dakota and Nebraska. Joanie and her sister, Jill took a liking to a couple cowboys out west and decided to move to Wyoming. Joanie continued working in bands throughout Wyoming, Colorado and Montana before joining a band based out of Nashville.
Shortly after arriving in Nashville, Joanie worked as a receptionist at a recording studio, played songwriters nights and sang everywhere she could. That’s how she was heard by the man who eventually signed her to a record deal with BBR, Broken Bow Records in 1999.
BBR released 3 singles from “Spark Are Gonna Fly”. As a brand new artist on a brand new independent label, they were quite happy with the strides they made. CMT and GAC aired Joanie’s video, “Three Little Teardrops” in medium rotation. With lots of changes taking place at the label, Joanie continued writing for BBR and in 2003 released another single to radio, “If Heartaches Had Wings”. It was short lived, as radio called it 'too country'. If you’ve ever talked country music with Joanie, you’ll learn very quickly her views on traditional country music. Joanie wasn’t willing to change her heart for radio chart position.
As a songwriter, Joanie has had cuts on Bluegrass artists, Alecia Nugent and Don Rigsby, along with cuts on “Sparks Are Gonna Fly” and her CD released in 2006, "It's Me Again".
Currently, Joanie is part of the classic country band “45 RPM”. It consists of studio musicians, Mike Johnson, Hank Singer, Gregg Galbraith, Jimmy Melton, Mark Johnson, Dirk Johnson and Eddy Anderson. They play at Douglas Corner Café in Nashville the last Wednesday of every month. If you love 60’s and 70’s country music, come out and give this fantastic band a listen!
Joanie is married to Mike Johnson, one of the busiest studio musician in Nashville. If you turn on your radio, there's a good chance you'll hear him on Steel Guitar, Dobro or Pedabro. Occasionally Mike will play a Steel Guitar Show and you'll find Joanie playing bass and singing with him. Joanie's latest release is a CD of country standards. The CD is titled "Me and Dad" and featues Joanie's Dad, Bob Haberer on 3 selections. This CD was released July 31, as Joanie was inducted into the NEBRASKA COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME.
The CD is available at: www.mikejohnsonproductions.com