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There are very few artists who are held in equally high esteem by both the rockabilly and country fraternity. Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty and Bob Luman spring to mind, as does the Singing Fisherman, Johnny Horton who cut some classic rockabilly for a few years before a change of direction to country based saga songs.
Although he made his name singing of historic battles, he could have been excused for singing trucking songs as his formative years were spent constantly on the road. His parents John "Lolly" Horton Snr. and Ella Claudia Robinson were married in 1912 and spent their first years of wedlock near Tyler, Texas. After having three children they moved to San Diego and then to east Los Angeles. It was here on April 30th 1925 that John LaGale Horton was born. The next few years were spent crossing back and forth between east Texas and southern California, once as many as four times in a year. They tried a variety of jobs, from picking fruit and cotton, to John Snr. even spending time as deputy sheriff in Blythe, California and Yuma, Arizona. The early thirties provided their most stable period, based around the Tyler area. By 1941 all his siblings had moved away from home, leaving Johnny alone with his now feuding parents. Claudia and Johnny left for California but returned shortly after.
After graduating in 1944, he went to Lon Morris Junior College in Jacksonville, Texas on a basketball scholarship. Putting in to practise what he'd learnt from his parents he moved on, first to Kilgore College then to Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Whether he wanted to or not, Johnny's shoes marched him back to California where he found work in the mail room of the Selznick Studio. It was here that he met his future wife, secretary Donna Cook.
Johnny and elder brother Frank, decided to study geology at Seattle in 1948 but both dropped out after a couple of weeks. Next stop was Florida, then back to California before Johnny took off to Alaska to find gold. He did find it in a way, as it was here that he took up songwriting, only for his own amusement at this stage. He joined Frank again in Seattle, headed south to Los Angeles, then after Frank married, Johnny took off again, seeing a familiar sign, "Welcome To Texas". Following much prompting from his sister Marie, he entered a talent contest in Longview, sponsored by radio KGRI of Henderson. Hosted by station dee-jay and future star Jim Reeves, Johnny took first prize - an ashtray on a pedestal. Thankfully, there would be bigger rewards to come! Encouraged by the contest, Johnny did what he knew best. He left. Obviously the car headed back to California and once settled he bought some western clothes and starting entering talent contests.
Horton came to the attention of entrepreneur Fabor Robinson, whose first job as manager was to land him a spot on Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jubilee on KXLA-TV in Pasadena. During his early guest spots he worked with the likes of Merle Travis and Tennessee Ernie Ford. The station then gave him a regular half hour Saturday night spot billed as the Singing Fisherman where he sang and showed off his casting skills with a fishing rod. Around this time he also hosted Hacienda Party Time on KLAC-TV in Los Angeles. During 1950 he is rumoured to have appeared in two movies with Gary Cooper, The Story Of Will Rogers and Distant Drums.
A mixture of Horton's TV appearances and Robinson's contacts landed him a couple of singles on the small Cormac label. The first coupled Plaid And Calico with Done Rovin' and the second Coal Smoke, Valve Oil And Steam and Birds And Butterflies. The label then folded and Robinson acquired the masters and started his own Abbott Records. By mid '52, ten Horton singles had been issued but none hinted at cracking the country charts. They were, for the main part, run of the mill, western style songs lacking any sparkle but providing a vital role in developing his vocal styling.
Following marriage to Donna and a honeymoon in Palm Springs, he moved back east to be near the Louisiana Hayride where he was now scheduled to appear on a regular basis. Another move was also completed when Robison persuaded Mercury Records A&R man Walter Kilpatrick to land the fisherman. Things at the new label started promisingly with First Train Headed South b/w (I Wished For An Angel) The Devil Sent Me You (Mercury 6412), but despite good reviews in the trade papers and high profile gigs on the Hayride, nothing happened.
In September '52, he acquired a full-time band in the Rowley Trio from Nederland, Texas. Featuring Jerry Rowley on fiddle, his wife Evelyn on piano and sister Vera (Dido) on bass or guitar, they were working at KFDM in Beaumont following a spell backing Lefty Frizzle. Whilst playing in Beaumont, Horton and Robison heard the Trio and were sufficiently impressed to offer them a job touring. They started off driving Johnny to their engagements, but he kept stopping to fish and hunt, so they soon bought him a Pontiac and met him at the venues! The new foursome recruited steeler Bob Stegall but still called themselves "The Singing Fisherman and the Rowley Trio", before changing it to "Johnny Horton and the Roadrunners".
The Hayride had been running for over four years when Johnny joined the family, and in this time had helped/launched/resurrected many careers including Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Webb Pierce and Bob Luman. It was to prove a vital springboard for Horton who was by now a Shreveport resident. His marriage became a victim of the increasing touring and Donna moved back to Los Angeles, with Johnny happy for a reconciliation but unwilling to go back to the coast. In August the Hayride welcomed back wild child Hank Williams, only twenty-eight but banished from Nashville's Grand Ole Opry for his hopeless drunkenness and unreliability. On Sunday October 19th, Hank twice married local policeman's daughter Billy Jean Jones to paying audiences at New Orleans' Municipal Auditorium. Johnny frequently talked with the couple backstage at the Hayride and at one such meeting Hank allegedly told Billie Jean that one day she would marry Johnny Horton.
By New Years Eve Hank was no more, he died in the back seat of a powder blue Cadillac heading for a show in Canton, Ohio. Horton and the Rowleys were driving home from a gig when they heard the news on the radio. They were in Milano, Texas and it was to be here following a show at Austin's Skyline Club (same venue as Hank's last ever show) that Johnny Horton was to be killed.
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