Jamey Johnson Brings the 'Traveling Truebadour' to Margaritaville
If Dwight Yoakam is honky-tonk with the top down, Jamey Johnson is the same road at 2 a.m. with the windows fogged and something weighing on the driver. The Alabama-born outlaw-country singer-songwriter brings his Traveling Truebadour tour to the Margaritaville Resort Casino in Bossier City on Saturday, Aug. 1 — a fitting close to the first weekend of August in a metro that takes its country seriously.
Johnson is one of the genre's genuine writers' writers. Before he was a bearded, gravel-voiced headliner he was penning hits for other people; his own records — "That Lonesome Song," the double album "The Guitar Song" — are the kind country obsessives press on friends like contraband. He doesn't chase radio. He plays long, unhurried sets heavy on songcraft, covers that reveal his taste (Merle, Waylon, the occasional left-field choice), and a band that follows him wherever the night goes.
That makes the Margaritaville showroom an interesting fit. Casino rooms reward a certain kind of act — a headliner with catalog, a crowd willing to sit and listen, a bar in the back. Johnson, who tends to treat set lists as suggestions, will test whether a Saturday-night Bossier crowd wants a jukebox or a journey. Bet on the journey.
The broader point: the Bossier casino corridor has become a dependable stop for exactly this tier of artist — too big for the clubs, not chasing arenas, carrying a devoted audience that will drive from three states. Margaritaville, the Riverdome, and the Silver Star stage have effectively split the touring Americana and country market between them, and the result is that a metro this size gets a Jamey Johnson on a summer Saturday. That's not nothing. In a lot of comparable cities, a show like this is a two-hour drive away.
So make the weekend of it. Get in early, let the band settle, and don't expect him to rush. A Jamey Johnson set is a slow pour — the reward is in the patience.
Sources: Margaritaville Resort Casino, 2026 Event Schedule (Ticketmaster); Bossier City, Louisiana Concert Tickets 2026 (JamBase); Margaritaville Resort Casino show schedule (Live Nation)