Thesongadayproject was created by the American singer-songwriter, Zachary Scot Johnson, in September 2012. The first day (September 6, 2012), featured a cover version of Donovan's "Catch The Wind". Johnson set out with a goal to record a song a day, every day, for as long as he could. The channel has currently run for over three years and 1, 350 consecutive days, and has accumulated more than 34 million views.
Johnson performs originals songs and favorite covers. He includes his email address on most videos so that viewers can send in their requests. He often performs music by favorite singer/ songwriters and has replicated many of his favorite albums in their entirety, including records by Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, John Prine, Kacey Musgraves, Neil Young, Brandi Carlile, Elvis Costello, Kate Wolf, Tom Waits, Paul Simon, Johnny Cash, James Taylor, Suzanne Vega, Justin Townes Earle, Guy Clark, John Gorka, Dar Williams, Gordon Lightfoot, The Tallest Man on Earth, Todd Snider, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Petty, Tom Paxton, Townes Van Zandt, David Bowie, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tift Merritt, John Hiatt, Ryan Adams, Merle Haggard and more.
His videos are recorded completely live, with no editing.
After the first full year of videos had gone up, Johnson began asking his favorite musicians to join him for guest collaborations. Over 75 musicians have joined Johnson for these videos, including:
Shawn Colvin, Rosanne Cash, Jeff Daniels, Creed Bratton, Noel Paul Stookey, Peter Yarrow, J.D. Souther, Lisa Loeb, Tom Paxton, Melissa Manchester, Jeremy Messersmith, Nellie McKay, Kris Allen, Mary Gauthier, Mary Black, John Gorka, Cheryl Wheeler, Sister Hazel, Sam Baker, Jon McLaughlin, Erin McKeown, Chris Pureka, David Wilcox, Ellis Paul, Peter Mulvey, Willie Nile, Fred Eaglesmith, Slaid Cleaves, Michael McDermott, Antje Duvekot, Storyhill, Alice Peacock, Run, Boy, Run, Al Stewart, Natalia Zukerman, Rebecca Loebe, Ben Nichols (from the band Lucero), Will Kimbrough, Brigitte DeMeyer, Trace Bundy, Jake Armerding, Wild Ponies, The Kennedys, A.J. Croce, Chris Koza, The Black Lillies, The Okee Dokee Brothers, The Grahams, Rachael Sage and more.
The 1, 000th consecutive day featured a collaboration with Jeremy Messersmith. The two performed a duet of a Sia Furler song entitled Chandelier (Sia song).