Zachary Scot Johnson is both a well-traveled singer-songwriter, having shared the stage with artists like Shawn Colvin, Keb' Mo', Marc Cohn, Jane Siberry, The Be Good Tanyas, Suzanne Vega, Lisa Loeb, Steve Forbert, The Verve Pipe, Richard Shindell, The Greencards, Cheryl Wheeler, Lucy Kaplansky, Susan Werner, Juliette Lewis, Shawn Mullins, Julia Nunes, Catie Curtis, Peter Mulvey, Willy Porter, Maria Muldaur, Rita Wilson, Kevin Costner and Modern West, Steve Poltz, Billy Joe Shaver, John Fullbright, Vonda Shepard, James McCartney, John Hammond, Natalia Zukerman, and others and a strong internet presence, including a YouTube channel with well over 40 million views, a strong Facebook fanbase, and more. He has performed for legends including Tony Bennett, Bernadette Peters, and others. He has been touring nonstop since 2001 and has performed just about everywhere within the US. He has released four CDs, including 2004's Moment of Clarity, 2008's To Whom It May Concern, 2011's Live at the Guild with longtime collaborators Mark Paffrath and Jeff Ward, and 2017's Sad Songs.
Born and raised in Racine, WI, Johnson now resides in Saint Paul, MN. He graduated in 2006 from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI as a triple major student of music performance, theatre arts, and psychology. As an actor, he has over 50 regional credits, including national tours, and is proud to have founded and run an improv comedy group for four years at Lawrence University. Zach's music has brought him to stages of all sizes across the country and onto multiple NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX morning and evening shows, radio around the country, and more.
Johnson's mastery of many instruments lead to exciting live shows, where Johnson performs on piano, 6 and 12 string acoustic and electric guitars, baritone guitar, dobro, banjo, mandolin, violin, lap steel, harmonicas, octave mandolin, viola, bass, drums, percussion, banjolin, dulcimer, ukulele, pedal steel and more. His repertoire covers a wide range of styles and genres, from folk to jazz, rock to spoken word, blues to pop, country to a cappella, gospel to instrumental and more. Johnson is a nationally touring artist, performing 75 or more dates annually and is a proud member of the Grammy Recording Foundation.
His hit YouTube channel, thesongadayproject has Johnson bringing a song--either original or cover--from wherever he is on any given day and has run for over 3, 200 consecutive days (over 9 full years without a single missed day), and garnered an astonishing number of loyal viewers. Over 250 guests have appeared on the channel in collaboration with Zach including Donovan (who flew Zach to Ireland to record together), Shawn Colvin, Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, Marc Cohn, Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber, The Newsroom, etc.) Noel Paul Stookey & Peter Yarrow (from Peter, Paul and Mary), Creed Bratton (The Office and The Grass Roots), Lisa Loeb, J.D. Souther, Paula Cole, Mary Gauthier, Melissa Manchester, Nellie McKay, Eliza Gilkyson, Cheryl Wheeler, John Gorka, Gretchen Peters, Ruthie Foster, Collective Soul, Over The Rhine, Stephen Kellogg, Jeremy Messersmith, Mary Black, David Wilcox, Tom Paxton, Ellis Paul, Lucero, and many more. He's also the host of The Joni Mitchell Podcast and Meryl Streep and The Movies, both available for free on all podcast platforms.