Johnny Western (born October 28, 1934) is an American
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and radio show host. He is a member of the
Western Music Association Hall of Fame and the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame.
Early life
Johnny Western was born Johnny Westerlund in
Two Harbors in
Lake County in northeastern
Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
but was primarily reared in
Northfield in south central Minnesota.
His father was an instructor and officer in several
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...
camps, where Western spent some his earlier years. He also lived on
Indian reservations
An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...
along the
Canada–United States border
The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...
.
When he was five years old, Western's parents took him to see the western film ''
Guns and Guitars'', which starred the actor/singer
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...
. The young boy decided he wanted to be a singing cowboy. At the age of twelve, he received a guitar. Within a year, he was performing professionally.
Musical career
Johnny Western's professional career began as a young teenager, singing and playing rhythm guitar with a collegiate singing trio. He got a job on radio at the age of thirteen,
a feat publicized in ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' as the youngest disc jockey and singer on American radio.
At age sixteen, Western began performing with the
Sons of the Pioneers.
He made his first professional recordings in the summer of 1952 in the studio of WCAL Radio station of St. Olaf College of Northfield, Minnesota. The six songs which resulted from those sessions were released on three singles on the local J-O-C-O label. After having played a supporting role in an episode of "Have Gun, Will Travel", Western wrote "
The Ballad of Paladin" as a musical "thank-you-card" to Richard Boone. This landed a deal for him with
.
Between August 1958 and May 1963, Western recorded seven singles and one album (''Have Gun, Will Travel'', released in May 1962) for Columbia, until he was dropped from their roster. He then signed a contract with the
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
label, but only one single resulted ("Light The Fuse" b/w "
Tender Years").
''Have Gun Will Travel'' included the haunting
Stan Jones song "Cowpoke", which members of the
Western Writers of America chose as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
The album was a mature work, redolent of Western lore. It also included Western's third version of "The Ballad of Paladin", a fine and introspective performance of "The Lonely Man", the gallows ballad "Hannah Lee", "
The Streets of Laredo", "The Searchers" and "The Last Roundup".
After this, Western was left without a recording contract. Over the years, he recorded various songs for small local labels such as Hep in Missouri or a promo-single for Dodge City. It was not until Johnny Cash invited him to record at his House Of Cash recording studio that Western was able to compile enough material for another LP, which was released under the simple title of ''Johnny Western'' in 1981. Apart from the House of Cash recordings, it contained some unreleased songs Western had recorded for the Hep label.
Western's third album was recorded September 17–20, 1984 at Jack Clement Studio in Nashville, with Art Sparer producing. It was released under the title ''Johnny Western Sings 20 Great Classics & Legends''. Amongst others, it contained a new version of Western's own composition "The Gunfighter", featuring
Harold Bradley on gut-string guitar, imitating the original "
El Paso
El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
" sound, since Western had originally written that song with
Marty Robbins in mind.
His scarce recording output notwithstanding, Johnny Western remained a consistent performer for over sixty years and so his name was never lost on the general public.
He performed with
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...
and was a part of the
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...
road show from 1958 until 1997. He wrote and performed the theme song "
The Ballad of Paladin" for the
CBS television program ''
Have Gun – Will Travel
''Have Gun – Will Travel'' is an American Westerns on television, Western television series that was produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television and radio from 1957 through 1963. The television version of the series starring Ri ...
'', with
Richard Boone. In collaboration with Johnny Cash, he re-wrote the lyrics of
NBC's ''
Bonanza
''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...
'' and the theme song, "The Rebel – Johnny Yuma", from the
ABC series ''
The Rebel'', starring
Nick Adams.
In October 2013, Johnny Western announced that he would stop touring and giving concerts.
[cf. information on: www.johnnywesterntouring.com, retrieved December 23, 2013.]
Albums
Guest appearances
Acting career
Western has appeared in several television programs, including the westerns, ''
Have Gun - Will Travel'', ''
Tales of Wells Fargo,'' ''
Pony Express
The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company.
During its 18 months of opera ...
'' (in the 1960 episode "The Story of
Julesburg"), and ''
Boots and Saddles''. He has had roles in several movies including ''The Night Rider'', ''Fort Bowie'', and ''
The Dalton Girls''.
Radio career
In February 1986, Western returned to radio with a daily country music show on
KFDI (1070 AM, later KFTI) a country music station calling itself "The Radio Ranch" in Wichita, Kansas.
The station and
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
KFDI-FM were sold to Journal Broadcast Group in July 1999.
In early April 2010, Johnny announced that he would retire from broadcasting. His last day on the air was Saturday, April 10, 2010. Just over a month and a half later the station would switch to an oldies format.
The Johnny Western Theatre
The Johnny Western Theatre in
Wild West World, a theme park located in
Park City, Kansas near
Wichita, had concerts scheduled to begin in October 2007. However, the park declared bankruptcy in July 2007.
Western was never able to perform in his namesake theater, which now sits among the ruins of the Wild West World amusement park, just outside Wichita, Kansas.
Awards and honors
*
TV Theme Hall of Fame (1993)
*
Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame (2000)
*
Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame (2000)
*
Western Music Association Hall of Fame (2001)
*
Wichita Professional Broadcasters Hall of Fame (2002)
*
Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame (2004)
*
Kansas Western Swing Hall of Fame (2004)
*
Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame (2013)
References
External links
Johnny Western Tour Information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Western, Johnny
1934 births
Living people
American country singer-songwriters
American male film actors
American radio personalities
American male television actors
Male Western (genre) film actors
People from Two Harbors, Minnesota
People from Northfield, Minnesota
Singers from Los Angeles
Male actors from Los Angeles
Singer-songwriters from Minnesota
Country musicians from California
Singer-songwriters from California