Australian country music artist James Johnston has been praised by Ray Hadley for his “phenomenal” in-studio performance ahead of his upcoming tour.

Born in a small town in Wingham, Johnston is being hailed as the next big breakout country star.

The country music artist just returned from performing alongside Lee Kernaghan at the 50th Tamworth Country Music Festival and Golden Guitar Awards.

James performed his most successful single so far ‘Raised Like That’ in-studio and told Ray the song led to people sharing their rural experiences.

“Raised like that is what kicked everything off for me, a lot of people just started to share their story, especially a lot of people from the bush,” he said.

James’ latest single ‘Country Boys’  expresses his “childhood” in a song and highlights how grateful he was for his upbringing.

“I was surrounded by music as a kid,” James told Ray.

Press PLAY below to hear the full interview and James’ upcoming tour dates