“I couldn’t give a s— about being famous,” says Jamey Johnson, who’s on the country charts now with “In Color.” But that doesn’t mean he’s not getting recognized. Driving back to Nashville after a Fourth of July show in Mobile, Ala., he decided to spend the night in his hometown of Montgomery, Ala.

“I stayed at a Hampton Inn downtown in Montgomery, right next door to the Hank Williams museum, and I went in there the next morning just to check out the museum,” he says. “The lady in there knew who I was. Next thing I know, people in the museum were coming up, just starting up a conversation. I’m in there in my shorts and flip-flops with my t-shirt on. I look like a bag of death over there, but I’m doing autographs and talking to people.

“It kind of took me by surprise, I didn’t know how to act. Hell, I’m in my hometown. I didn’t really think anybody knew me there. Next thing I knew, the Montgomery Advertiser is out there, and a TV crew to do an interview. It’s like, ‘Wow, they made it a big deal. I need to get down here more often.’ They seem to think this is a rarity.”

Johnson, who won a CMA Award for co-writing the George Strait hit, “Give It Away,” believes that Williams was a huge influence on him as a songwriter. “Being from Montgomery, if you were gonna write and sing country music, you couldn’t be just a little good at it. You better have studied the source. Montgomery has their country singer,” he says. “I’m so proud when they come out to support me down there, because I know what the heritage of Montgomery is. For people down there, you’ll never be bigger than Hank Williams, and I ain’t trying.”