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Interview with Johnny Western - Excerpt

Could you tell us about your background and how you became involved in music?

I saw a Gene Autry movie called Guns And Guitars when I was 5 years old. From that time on I wanted to be a singing cowboy like Gene. That was in 1939. Sixteen years later he put me under contract and I worked for him from 1956-1957. I actually started in radio 1949, when I was 14.

You made your first studio recordings in the early fifties, can you tell us some more about these recordings?

They were for a regional label called JOCO Records, in Minnesota. I did a few original things, like The Violet And The Rose and a couple of cover tunes that were hot at the time: Carl Smith’s Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way and Lefty Frizzell’s Give Me More, More, More.

In the mid-fifties you moved to California. It was there that you mixed with people in the movie industry. Did this lead to more work, and in particular within movies and TV?

When I first moved to California I did shows with Roy Rogers and The Sons Of The Pioneers, Tex Ritter and Rex Allen. None of these shows got me into the movies but did get me some TV work on L.A. based shows like Town Hall Party.

Was it around that time that you met and worked with Gene Autry?

I was asked by western TV star Dick Jones to sing at a private party one nite for ‘a few friends.’ Little did I know that the ‘friends’ would include Mr and Mrs Gene Autry. I had known Gene since the early 1950’s, when he was a guest on my radio show in Minnesota. Johnny Bond was leaving the Autry show after 17 years and when Gene heard me sing and play that night he remembered me and called me 2 weeks later to replace Bond on his shows. Dick Jones would later play Billy Joe in The Night Rider with John and myself. When Gene retired in 1957 he put me with his movie and TV agent, Mitchell Hamilburg. The prestige of being with Gene for 2 years got me the chance at my first movie and TV roles.

You turned your attention to movies and television? Can you tell us about some of the movies and tv series you were involved in?

I did such shows as Gunsmoke, Tales Of Wells Fargo, Boots And Saddles as well as feature films with Ben Johnson, John Russell and Joel McCrea. These films led to an acting job on Have Gun-Will Travel. It was while working on that show, with Richard Boone, that I got the idea for the theme song The Ballad Of Paladin, which I wrote in 20 minutes on March 14, 1958.

You recorded the song Ballad Of Paladin. What did it feel like to see your name displayed at the end of every episode?

It was a terrific thrill to see my name on those weekly credits. The show was #1 in the world in the late ‘50’s and CBS executives told me I was being heard by 350 million people around the world each week. We were in 78 foreign countries as well as the U.S. and the U.K.

Did this lead to more TV work?

It did musically. I landed a Columbia recording contract with Mitch Miller and then John asked me to work on the songs Johnny Yuma-The Rebel and Bonanza with him, for the TV shows and recordings.

Can you remember the first time you heard Johnny Cash’s music?

Oh yes! I was driving down the Hollywood Freeway listening to KXLA Radio when they played Folsom Prison Blues. I nearly wrecked my car, I got so excited with his voice and that beat! The beat was nothing I had ever heard before. Boom-Chicka-Boom!

And when did you first meet John – was it during the making of Night Rider?

Oh no! The Night Rider was made in 1963. I met John at the Casino Theatre in Toronto, Canada in the late summer of 1956. I was appearing with Gene Autry at the Canadian National Exposition in Toronto. I saw 3 of his shows and met him briefly there. He was quite ill the whole time he was there but he made all the shows.

Am I right in thinking it was Gordon Terry who introduced you?

Gordon re-introduced us in the summer of 1958 at John’s office in Hollywood. John was thinking of putting a package show together and said he might call me for a few dates if I was interested. In the meantime my song went on the Have Gun... TV show and John called me to play 3 dates in California with him the first week in November, 1958. Those 3 days turned out to be 39 years of shows with him, on the road, with our last one in 1997

Can you tell us more about the sessions you worked on with John?

The first sessions I did with John were some transcriptions for radio stations, sponsored by the U.S. Military Services. Then we went to Nashville and did Johnny Yuma-The Rebel, Lorena, The Ballad Of Boot Hill, etc. On that same session we did the Christmas song - The Little Drummer Boy. I love working with him because he rarely took over 2 or 3 takes to get a perfect record!