For Johnnyswim, it's all about family and music. Catch them at District Live on Thursday

Johnnyswim is more than just a singer-songwriter duo — they’re a family. For married couple Abner Ramirez and Amanda Sudano-Ramirez, their relationship and family life are central to the sweet and moving music they produce.

Abner and Amanda began writing songs together (and fell in love) at a Nashville writing session in 2005. They released a self-titled EP in 2008, and tied the knot a year later. HGTV fans might recognize Johnnyswim’s 2014 hit song “Home,” which became the theme-song for the show Fixer Upper. They also star in a few of their own television series including In the Kitchen with Abner and Amanda. (They suggest you try Amanda’s osso buco with polenta, or Abner’s croissants.)

Making music, touring, and raising three children is all interwoven for Abner and Amanda. All of the triumphs and turmoil that they’ve encountered in their career and relationships take shape in their gorgeous songs, which range from touching ballads to Latin and jazz rhythms to rousing folk-pop. Abner and Amanda’s captivating duets, delivered with powerful, soulful vocals, pull listeners into their open-hearted storytelling.

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Family influences Johnnyswim's songwriting and performances

It’s difficult to label the kind of music Johnnyswim produce. Their influences can sometimes stem from their family backgrounds, but the answer isn’t always that cut-and-dry. Abner is the son of Cuban immigrants and his father is a pastor. Amanda’s parents are disco legend Donna Summer and songwriter Bruce Sudano, who not only penned songs for Summer, but for Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, and Reba McEntire, as well.

“Sometimes it draws from my pastor father and really trying to drive the point home with illustrations and passion,” said Abner of his songwriting. “Or the way my mom can quietly sit in a cut and tell the story once and it rocks you, and she'll never repeat the story again, while my dad tells a story 20 times.”

“I think in the same way, musically there's been a lot of varied influences on both Amanda and I. Maybe a lot of Latin influence, which there is on me, but also folk and bluegrass and old jazz for Amanda. You know, being the daughter of an icon, you would imagine dance music and all that stuff, which is an element, but also she grew up listening to Joni Mitchell and The Carpenters.”

“So one thing that goes back to the theme of openness and honesty, when we create we don't pick a lane and try to start there, we pick ourselves and we start there and we allow the freedom to create from whatever space we're comfortable in in that moment.”

Abner and Amanda’s open-book approach to their music and lives is exemplified by their reality television series, The Johnnyswim Show, which airs on the Magnolia Network and Max. The show follows Abner and Amanda as they struggle to balance (not)touring, producing new albums, and raising a family, all in the shadow of the pandemic. Spending time off of the road inspired their most recent self-titled album.

“The pandemic influenced it a lot,” said Amanda. “We were at home with our three kids, some things were kind of opening up, but we were ready to get writing again. We were already writing again about a lot of the transitions that we went through. There's a lot of songs that touch on relationships changing. For us, that was with friendships and people that we were used to seeing every day and then all of the sudden you don't see them so much and things get a little weird.”

As for many folks during that period, some of Abner and Amanda's relationships with friends and family were strained by differences in opinion when it came to politics, the vaccine, or other sensitive topics.

“We were kind of going through it with a lot of people in our lives, and I think a lot of that came up in the songs,” said Amanda.

Amanda and Abner were used to touring constantly, so being home for an extended period of time, slowing down the pace of their lives, and growing together in new ways, also informed the new album.

“It was kind of the most ‘us’ album that we've put out, maybe since our first one, because we were just at home together,” said Amanda. “We were just in our little studio writing and recording. That's why we self-titled it because it was the most ‘us’ that we've had in the recording process in a long time.”

Streaming show gives insight into Johnnyswim's process

Abner pointed out that the openness they exhibit on their television series and their songwriting stem from the same source.

“The impetus for it all, if I could put one big cap on it, is the building of community,” explained Abner. “Whether that's close friends and family, or this extended family we visit a few times a year on tour in these different venues and clubs around America and the world. And I think the basis of any good community, any solid community, any lasting community, is honesty and openness.

“I believe that ‘call,’ if you will, in our lives has educated and informed all outputs of our art, whether that's TV, songwriting, concerts, all that stuff.”

Openness and honesty is certainly essential for maintaining a marriage, but Abner has further advice for artist couples.

“Don't fake it,” said Abner. “Don't try to become something you're not to fill a void that you feel like you need to, or God forbid, you try to bend yourself into something you're not to try to achieve success because then, even if you achieve that success, one, you won't enjoy it like you thought you would, and two, you won't have the passion to stick to this new false thing.”

Johnnyswim are performing at District Live on October 12. They will be joined on stage by their music director and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Grant Berlin for some extra punch to the live production.

“We call this the ‘Story Tour’ because we're telling a lot of stories behind the songs and we're also, hopefully, getting stories from the people in the audience as we're singing the songs, and we just wanted to be really communal,” explained Amanda. “It's been really fun — maybe a little bit chaotic at times. It will be like, people start asking questions and we'll start playing random songs that they bring up that we think we've forgotten, but maybe remember it, so we'll try and see, but it ends up being a really fun time.”

Abner added, “It's been really fun to just keep us on our toes. We have 96 songs in our catalog published and out in the world, and we wanted to not just keep it exciting for the crowd — the audience have been so faithful to come to shows so many times — but for ourselves on stage to keep things alive, because if it's not alive, it's not live.”

If You Go >>

What: Johnnyswim

When: 8 p.m., Oct. 12

Where: District Live, 400 W. River St.

Cost: $37-40

Info: plantriverside.com/district-live/

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Johnnyswim brings their open-hearted music to Savannah's District Live