about me

Hi! Thank you for checking out my site...which is still under construction...but I'm excited to be learning as I go, and sharing as I learn!

A little about me: I'm a California native; Sacramento has always been my home. Being the oldest child in the Grant & Christa Johnson family (12 kids) is such a blessing; my sisters are my best friends.  I felt very ready to be a mom with all the practice I got! I'm a stay at home mom (my dream job) to five incredible kids. I love spending time with my best friend of 22 years, my husband Anthony - hiking, traveling, serving in church, and of course music. Listening to music (we love going to concerts, and discovering new bands), singing music (our house always has someone playing piano or guitar and singing Coldplay, U2, The Lumineers, The Killers, The National Parks, the Beatles...I could go on a long time)... writing music (I've been writing music since I was 17, Anthony has a few songs and my two oldest boys and 15 yr old daughter got the creative bug also and are always working on their songs), and sharing music. I can't tell you how many hundreds of times I've shared music throughout my life, whether they were my own songs, or not. I have preformed musical numbers at church, at firesides, at girls camp, at funerals, at weddings, at Christmas parties; people's homes, nursing homes, community concerts,  talent shows, and I have been the pianist for primary on and off throughout my life (even did it for a short while as a kid in primary!) as well as the organist and the choir director at church. 

Music has always been a huge part of my life, of who I am. Particularly sacred music, that invites the spirit of God. I may not be the best performer. My songs definitely have flaws. What matters to me is that people are moved by the song; that they are touched by the sweet feeling it brings; that it causes them to reflect, and think about the message. Music is a powerful way to communicate and I see it as great opportunity to share the deepest feelings of my heart, and to testify of sacred eternal truths.

September, 2018

My husband Anthony asked me on our first date what I wanted to be when I "grew up" and I told him my 3 M's: a mother, a missionary, and a musician. Today I am living that dream as a busy mom of five beautiful children ranging from age 4 to 17, teaching and living the gospel with all my heart as I serve in this great work, currently as the primary music leader of a huge primary, Cub Scout den mother, and girls camp 6th years counselor. I've also served in a Relief Society presidency,  young womens presidency, and as the choir director, organist, and pianist for most of my life. Throughout it all music has been a huge part of me - helping to build, and strengthening my testimony. My desire is to share that burning testimony of truth with others through the power of music. Songs flow into my mind at a rate faster than I can keep up, and I struggle with how much we have going on to find the time to record and make sheet music.  I have over 50 original songs and arrangements and while I often feel overwhelmed, I am also excited to make these albums. 

A precious highlight for me was hearing my arrangement of Abide With Me preformed by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square for Music and the Spoken Word in August 2015 with Alexandria Sharpe as the guest soloist. I can't describe the tender feelings in my heart for that beautiful moment in time. What an honor. Be sure to check out that video on my Hymn Arrangements page.

Other interests of mine include photography, art, hiking, exploring National parks/traveling with my husband Anthony, journaling and family history.

 I am so excited to have this site up and running.

 I've been "trying" to get a website up for yearrrrs, and always had a reason I couldn't get it done.  

 Kids. Busy schedules. Demanding callings. Plain old fatigue. Whatever. None of this has changed, but here I have my website up and running. What changed so that I could get it done? My attitude. My decision to finally just do it. Also, a new person in my life who challenged me - literally gave me a homework assignment - to get it done within a week's time. (It also helps that she referred me to Bandzoogle, which I found to be very easy to use to create a website, unlike Wordpress or other website companies I had tried in the past!) 

 Getting a domain name and creating the website wasn't the only part I was putting off -- it was also my hesitancy to share my songs because I felt they weren't "Ready" yet. I still feel they aren't ready. But with her homework challenge Stephanie told me "Just do it. Just stop waiting. Don't worry about whether they are professional enough or not. Get them online, start sharing with people, and you will be more motivated to edit them and get them where you want." 

 I don't love that the majority of my tracks are me singing. This will change, as I get other singers to learn the songs and record them for me, but I decided to stop having so much pride about the sound of my voice and just share the music. People can hear past the flat notes and unskilled singing. ....hopefully. lol! 

 But I decided to stop with the excuses. There will always be plenty of those. "I don't feel I'm a good enough singer." "I don't feel comfortable doing a live video because I'm overweight." "I don't have professional sheet music yet." "My synthesized sounds are crappy and I need to wait till I get a better instruments library." I realized that if I'm always waiting for the perfect time, or until I'm professional enough (??), that it may never happen. These songs are from my soul, and these videos I create are unprofessional but they're a work of art and the message can still touch people. It's not about impressing anyone! It's about sharing a love of music and love for life and the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

 Thank you, Stephanie for pushing me 2 weeks ago. Thank you Erin, for pushing us to meet & talk! Thank you Tera, for pushing me in recent months to get sheet music and videos available to share with people who are asking, and to my Dad as well, for his example/inspiration, and for believing in me. Thank you most of all to Anthony for always supporting, encouraging and pushing me through the years. 

Contact me: rae382@gmail.com