Tremayne Johnson

Tremayne Johnson is a musician, composer, educator, mentor and business owner whose story is one of hard work, tenacity and resilience.

Johnson, son of Danny and Marilyn Johnson, grew up in Smyrna, a small community outside of Huntingdon, in a family full of musicians.

Johnson is the Director of Percussion for Bethel University's Renaissance, the Director of Music at Brooks Chapel Kingdom Harvest, the founder and owner of On Tha One School of Music and the owner of Masterworks Detail Shop. His career has also included studio work and composition.

As the first and only Director of Percussion, named to the position in 2012, Johnson teaches and manages percussion across Renaissance's many programs and productions, including composing music. He said, "The way our department is set up, it allows us to be able to really do things outside the box. It's allowed me to be creative over the years, that's been really fun."

Renaissance Regiment, Bethel's answer to marching band, is one of the biggest lines on Johnson's agenda, but before its creation in 2015, there was Renaissance Revolution.

Revolution was the vision of Renaissance founder Peter Jeffrey, who wanted to do something unique. Johnson said, "He basically gave me a blank slate and said, 'This is what I'm thinking, but I'm going to put this in your hands."

What started with seven students grew within two years to nearly 70 kids performing as a full stage band with a small orchestra, horns and a full percussion line. Johnson wrote all of the arrangements.

He compares the performances to that of groups such as Nu Deco Ensemble and Snarky Puppy, who have become successful in recent years. "These different things that are now taking off, we were already doing it. Those guys were just coming into that sort of realm where they were taking pop music and classical music and turning them into orchestral arrangements but with a rhythm section and maybe two drum sets."

Johnson laments that Revolution has gone by the wayside, but it's one of many experiences to come from Renaissance that he cherishes.

He recalled another, when he and some of his students contributed to gospel singer David Phelps' album Freedom. "I was blessed to be able to write some percussion parts, and our percussion line was featured on the album." Freedom spent multiple weeks at number one on the Southern Gospel charts.

Johnson expressed his love for the annual Christmas with Renaissance, particularly the year that one show was performed at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville. "There were a lot of moving parts. At that time, we did seven shows [reduced to four in recent years]. We had finished a show [in McKenzie] the night before, packed up that entire thing, put it in vans and drove to TPAC. It was a long day, but definitely a great experience."

Johnson championed the creation of the Renaissance Marching Invitational high school marching band competition, which has grown since its inception. "We've done so much," he said.

Recruitment is a big part of any college program, and Renaissance is no exception.

Johnson said, "That process to me, I don't recruit a kid to the idea of a university, I recruit a kid to the concept of life-changing events. That's what I do. I believe in sowing into that kid, them trusting me enough for me to help them to get to the next stage in their life. If this is the avenue that works for you, then let me be a part of that. Let me guide you in a direction that's going to help you be able to succeed in life. Bethel is the catalyst in which I'm able to give them a chance, an institution to go to to be able to achieve their goals. End of the day, it's about sowing into the person, sowing into the student. Because at the end of the day, that's the only thing that matters is the student. And if the student experience is not good, what do you have?

"I don't necessarily look for that kid that might be the greatest. I never have. I like the underdog. I like the ones that are struggling. That I see struggling. For me personally, I like that kid that has that untapped, unseen potential. Because my specialty is getting that out of them. That's my personal calling card, is that I'm able to see something in that kid that they don't see in themselves. That's how I've been successful at Bethel all these years."

Another big pillar of Johnson's life and career is church music.

"My mom and dad are phenomenal singers and musicians, two of my biggest cheerleaders and inspirations. I grew up in a van travelling to churches and singing, playing, things like that. I've been playing drums since I was two. So I was able to grow up in that environment, and as I got older, I started playing a little bit of piano.

"I've played with quite a few quartets. Black gospel quartets, George Dean and The Gospel Four, Melvin Bufford, a good friend of mine, people that are in that world. We had a quartet that we built from the ground up when I was a teenager, did a couple of albums.

"I've always taught choir. Love teaching choir music. Getting the choir to understand that you've gotta set the table. That is what music does for the ministry. It sets the table for the pastor to be able to move forward."

Johnson was part of the music program at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Yuma for 12-15 years before becoming the Minister of Music at St. John #2 Baptist Church in Denmark, Tenn. for 12 years.

He's now the Director of Music at Brooks Chapel Kingdom Harvest in South Fulton, where his uncle Jessie Webb leads the worship.

"It's been very instrumental in the process, growing, understanding more about ministry and how it ties into what I'm trying to accomplish," he said.

Johnson reiterated how deep church music runs through his blood. "Believe it or not, at one point in time, between my entire family, we serviced over 60 percent of the local churches in this area. My entire family is all musicians and singers."

Long before Renaissance Regiment, Johnson was a "band kid" at Hollow Rock-Bruceton Central. "I've been up under [longtime Central band director] Keith Breeden since fourth or fifth grade. I've literally been teaching bands since I was 15 or 16. I had a lot of inspiration there, Brian Lowe, Chris Abbott, Keith Breeden, Nancy Matheson, a lot of other people."

Indeed, Breeden and Johnson have a long history together. When Breeden left Bruceton for McKenzie, Johnson followed as an instructor, a role he continued for much of Breeden's tenure. [Breeden recently retired from full-time teaching and is now again the director of the Central Marching Tigers.]

Band came naturally to someone from a family as musical as Johnson's. "It's band. You get out there, you learn your music, you make sure it's good to go. Use all of the core values that it takes to build a good band, understand everything that comes with that. I enjoy it so much, because you get to see the growth. You get to hear the music when it's really, really bad, and then by the end of the year you've got this phenomenal product that's running like a well-oiled machine. I've been able to translate that well to what I'm currently doing."

Johnson carries a unique distinction in this area. He won a percussion championship both as a student and as an instructor. His Central Tigers won the title his junior year (1998), and Breeden's Marching Rebels won it in 2001 with a squad that included longtime Renaissance Director Matthew Holt, who would later recommend Johnson for the Bethel percussion position.

Johnson also takes pride in another accomplishment from his high school years. "We never lost on the street," he said, referring to Central's unblemished record during his marching career in the spring parade circuit.

He offered big praise to his mentor, friend and colleague Breeden. "That man created a legacy."

Never quite satisfied with his own status quo, Johnson has added private instruction to his repertoire in recent years, leading to the opening of On Tha One School of Music in McKenzie on January 1 of this year.

"The vision actually came as my brother [Ethan] was passing away. I told him I was going to open a music school, and he said, 'Duh, why are you not already doing it?'"

Longtime friends Jobina and Kenny Gordon provided Johnson a room to get started. He began with a couple of students and kept growing from there.

He said, "I attest my growth in the beginning with the vision that I cast with my brother. I was fortunate to be able to have a really, really in-depth conversation with him before he passed away."

Johnson's students now include Ethan's daughters, Emari and Janeya, fulfilling a promise made to his late brother.

On Tha One has 25-30 active students, with more on the waiting list. Johnson says he's trying to go slowly. "I'm gonna do it right. Anytime you grow something too fast, it's not necessarily the healthy thing."

The staff includes eight instructors, and he plans to hire three or four more.

Lessons are available for nearly any instrument, including strings, percussion, winds and vocals.

Johnson plans to expand to more locations.

Johnson also officially launched another venture on January 1, Masterworks Detail Shop at 534 N. Main Street in McKenzie.

The business employs six detailers, but Johnson has immediate plans to add some daytime detailers and mobile detailers. "We'll have mobile units that will be out. If you can't get to us at the brick-and-mortar, we'll come to you."

He's considering additional locations in Camden, Paris and Lexington.

Just over a year after the loss of his brother, Johnson himself would stare into the face of death and confront the biggest challenge of his life.

On March 26, 2023, he fell off the stage at Brooks Chapel during Sunday service. "I still can't tell you exactly what happened. I fell face-first, and my body burned."

Johnson had fractured multiple vertebrae, C3-C7, in his neck. Had the C2 been affected, he would have been paralyzed for life.

"While the doctors were talking to me, my parents and uncle were in the corner praying. They got up and walked over to me. My daddy tapped me on the foot and said, 'Son, you're gonna be fine.' And they walked out the door."

He said, "I made a promise to the Lord while I was laying in the hospital. The devil came to me and he wanted me to die. He wanted me to quit. I woke up screaming. 'I'm not going to do it.'

I made a promise then, if you let me get out of this bed, I'm not going to play with it. At all. With anybody in any shape, form or fashion. Because I know I've got favor on my life. I understand. I get it."

Johnson had surgery that Thursday to fuse the affected vertebrae and began therapy immediately. By Saturday, he walked the floor with no cane or walker. By the next Tuesday, he walked three floors of the hospital, including the floor where his brother had died.

The neurologist and other doctors were in disbelief at the speed of his recovery. "Most people with a situation like this don't recover that fast," he said.

Johnson was out of the hospital in less than two weeks.

He had just bought a house in Smyrna, but he had to stay in his camper during his recovery. His parents wanted him to stay with them, but they live in a two-story house.

Johnson expressed his gratitude for his family and the community and said the experience gave him a new perspective. "That whole process made me realize that I had favor on my life. My father always told me 'you're different.' I never understood until I started doing the real legwork of figuring out just how many people have recovered from this."

Renaissance Regiment camp started a couple of months later. Johnson noted, "I've never missed a band camp… I taught all of my band camps laying down in the middle of the band room floor."

Johnson faced another health scare the next year when he nearly lost a foot to diabetes. "I was stubborn, I didn't think it was that bad. I taught nine days of camp outside in a walking boot on a cane. I was going septic. Those kids on the percussion line picked me up out of the truck every day and took me into band practice. Every day. So you wonder why I have so much respect for those guys over there, because they've been there with me. I'd be hollering and jumping on them, and they're the ones holding me up. They would take me out there to yell at them and then take me back so I could yell at them over there."

He credits the Center for Wound Healing in Paris for saving his foot, though he had a toe amputated.

Another year later, in the summer of 2025, Johnson had a minor surgery on his other foot, putting him in a boot for another camp season.

He said, "I've been through a lot. Your average bear would have quit, but I don't consider myself an average bear. There's no quit in me. And I'm not going to let you quit on me. If we start together, we're not going to quit. Just part of it. That's one of the things I live by."

Johnson spoke to The Banner about his experience growing up Black in this area.

"I've experienced racism over the years. We were already prepared for these things because our parents had been through the same things. Racism is taught. The question is how do you handle your story? Yes, [something] might not have been handled the right way on somebody else's part, but what did you do to do your part right?

"Racism will always exist. It will never go away, especially in the south. It will never happen. And it's ok. Because if I'm who I say I am, I understand that I'm either going to be persecuted for my color or I'm going to be persecuted for what I believe. So, in other words, you're not going to get away from persecution."

Johnson also spoke of an evolution of the issue. "People have got to understand that it's no longer Black versus white, it's wrong versus right. When we get away from caring about a person's color, then you can really start to see people for who they are. Some people are just ignorant, it doesn't matter what color they are."

He cited a few figures who have inspired him over the years.

He credits Mr. Ivory Adkisson, a longtime Carroll County educator, with showing him the importance of having Black educators in the classroom. "The absence of the African-American educator in your rural public schools is what causes a lot of these issues. It's because there's not enough of us that are being seen to get any kind of understanding."

Johnson continued, "One of my big inspirations as far as understanding Black History was [the late] Mr. Alvin Fields. He was our manager when my parents had our family group and he was really big into the civic leagues and everything Black. He was a very big inspiration as far as understanding who I was as a young Black kid. At the time I didn't realize that the seeds that he was sowing into me would be something that would come to fruition later.

"And Mr. Joe Jones, who used to work with my dad. When I first got the job at Bethel, he was one of the ones that I talked to daily. He really gave me some words of encouragement on moving forward, how to handle myself, how to carry and conduct myself. He took care of me. He really sowed seeds into me."

He also cited his family, particularly his parents and uncles, including his pastor, and Holt.

Johnson said, "My main goal in life is to sow seeds. I'm gonna sow seeds into any and every thing that I can get my hands on. When I'm gone, when it comes time for you all to put me in the ground, I want it to be to the point where you have to have my funeral on the football field."

He noted one of his favorite Bible verses, Hosea 4:6, "My people perish for the lack of knowledge."

"That line and those words is one of the things that I try to instill into kids. You know the old saying 'knowledge is power.' Yeah, but only if you use it."

Johnson, 45, has three sons, Zayveon Johnson, Korvelle Johnson and Boston Johnson, and a daughter, Da'Shauna Parker, along with four grandsons.