Johnny Bush


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Johnny Bush
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If he had done nothing but write honky-tonk standards like "Whiskey River," "Sound of A Heartache" and "When My Conscience Hurts the Most," Johnny Bush's place in the country music pantheon would be secure. If he merely contented himself with singing standard-setting versions of barstool anthems like "Green Snakes On the Ceiling," "There Stands the Glass" and "A Moment Isn't Very Long," Bush could look back on a career well spent. If he hadn't fronted his own acclaimed ensembles, including his groundbreaking Western Swing big band, the Bandoleros, Bush could take justifiable pride in putting the swing into Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys and Willie Nelson's early group, The Record Men. In the course of a long and colorful life and career, Johnny Bush has done all of that and more. And in the process, he has met and surmounted a challenge to his life and livelihood that is almost Shakespearean in its diabolical irony. Now, with the release of a new album, HonkyTonic, Bush demonstrates that, in his fifth decade of performing, his mastery of country music literally spans generations. In addition to his old friend, bandleader and mentor, Willie Nelson and fellow honky-tonker Tommy Alverson, Bush is joined on the album by the cream of Texas' new generation of country-rockers, including Kevin Fowler, Cooder Graw and Stephanie Urbina Jones. Born John Bush Shinn III in 1935 in the hardscrabble blue-collar neighborhood of Kashmere Gardens in Houston, Texas, Johnny became an early devotee of the Western Swing music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, and the honky-tonk hits of Ernest Tubb, Marty Robbins and Lefty Frizzell. Thanks to the encouragement of an uncle, Jerry Jericho, who had a radio program on KTHT in Houston, John and his brother made fledgling broadcasts that helped infect John with the performers' virus. It proved to be a lifelong condition. After a move to San Antonio following his parents' divorce, John—only 17—began to immerse himself in the honky-tonk universe of wine, women and song. He even picked up a residency at a local club, the Texas Star Inn. Thanks to an announcer's trip of the tongue, the new vocalist was introduced one night as "Johnny Bush," and the name stuck. Bush discovered a natural affinity for the drums, which served him well during his associations with dancehall bands like the Mission City Playboys, the Texas Plainsmen and the Texas Tophands. But when he joined Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys in 1963, (along with a brash young kid named Willie Nelson), Bush finally became a member of the honky-tonk Dream Team. Price's inimitable voice and his mastery of the Texas shuffle dance beat (his massive hit, "Crazy Arms," is the classic example) made the Cherokee Cowboys the top-shelf country band in the nation. Bush played drums for Price for three years in locales as far-flung as New York and even Paris, getting an invaluable education in country music at the hands of one of its masters. His association with Price led Bush to Nashville in the mid-60s and he soon got a deal with a song publisher and began singing demos. Soon he had segued from Ray Price's band to Willie Nelson's group. Bush's first recording split his own tune, "Sound of A Heartache" with Willie's "A Moment Isn't Very Long." Nelson was just a blip on the country music radar (he was best known at the time as a songwriter, not a performer), but Bush found him infinitely inspiring and creative. Nelson produced Bush's first album, Sound of A Heartache, in 1967. The friendship and mutual admiration that the two struggling Texans crafted in Nashville endures to this day. A series of regional hits on the Stop label, including "You Gave Me A Mountain," "Undo the Right," "What A Way To Live" and "I'll Be There," marked the ascent of Bush as a popular performer in his own right. Most of the tunes reached No. 1 in the Texas market, and in the Top 10 or Top 20 nationally. Sharing bills with Nelson and working on his own, Bush became an assured and charismatic bandleader and performer. In 1969, he was named the Most Promising Male Vocalist in country music by Record World magazine, an extremely prestigious designation. By 1972, he had achieved many of the goals of any aspiring country musician. He was newly signed to RCA Records, whose Nashville division was headed by the legendary Chet Atkins. His first single for the label, "Whiskey River," was well on its way to becoming the biggest hit of his career. He was headlining in and selling out enormous clubs, like his home base at Dancetown USA in Houston. Then it all came crashing down. "It was the summer of 1972," Bush related, "and a few months earlier, something strange had happened. I began to experience a tightness in my voice. The high notes—which in the past had come as easily and naturally as breathing—became raspy and strangled. It was as if my throat was being choked off…What I felt was fear." Though neither he nor the doctors and specialists he consulted for many years were able to diagnose it properly, Bush had become afflicted with a rare condition called spasmodic dysphonia. SD, as it is called, is an unusual neurological disorder in which the vocal cords are affected by uncontrollable spasms. For the man whom admiring writers had dubbed "The Country Caruso," it was literally his worst nightmare come true. He lost half the range of his singing voice in short order, and could not talk at all. RCA dropped him from its roster in 1974 after three albums. Bush became addicted to Valium and was consumed by performance anxiety when he was able to perform at all. Worst of all, he did not know what was wrong with him. Finally, in 1978, Johnny was correctly diagnosed with SD. Although his career was struggling by this time, his song “Whiskey River” had already been cut several times by his friend Willie Nelson, and the royalty checks came at a most needed time. Though Bush's concert bookings dropped sharply and his mood was often bleak, he never stopped performing; he simply developed tricks that would enable him to deliver shows with his limited vocal capacity. And he never stopped looking for a cure for his affliction. His was a courageous battle against an intrusive enemy. In 1985, with the aid of some radical exercise techniques developed by a speech therapist named Gary Catona, Bush was able to reclaim a large part of his singing range and some limited speech. In 1994, Bush released a big-band Western Swing album entitled Time Changes Everything, recorded at his old friend Willie Nelson's studio outside of Austin. It was the beginning of a career renaissance. Between 1998 and 2001, he released a series of albums, including Talk To My Heart, Lost Highway Saloon, Johnny Bush Sings Bob Wills and Green Snakes for the Lone Star/TMG label out of Austin. It wasn't until 2002 that a new treatment involving injections of Botox into the vocal cords restored Bush's speech to a near normal pattern. He has, in recent years, come to be a spokesman of sorts for people afflicted with this still-mysterious disorder. Also in 2002, Bush was honored with the Annie Glenn Award (named for the wife of the senator/astronaut John Glenn) by the National Council of Communicative Disorders for his work in bringing attention to the condition of spasmodic dysphonia. Somewhat to his surprise, the renewed visibility has made him a mentor figure to younger Texas musicians who revered the honky-tonk/hardcore country sound that Bush has helped embody. Austin musicians such as Dale Watson and Cornell Hurd sought Bush out to play on their albums, and his audiences began to swell with fans that weren't even born when "Sound of A Heartache" was a hit. Bush has shared the stage with the cream of the new generation of Texas country artists, including Pat Green and Cross Canadian Ragweed, just to name a few. In 2003, he was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame; Willie was on hand to do the honors. Now, with the release of HonkyTonic on the BGM label, the wheel has come full circle. Younger Texas artists such as Kevin Fowler, Stephanie Urbina Jones and Cooder Graw join Bush contemporaries Willie and Tommy Alverson for a jukebox-friendly collection of shuffles, drinking songs, broken-heart ballads and beer joint singalongs—precisely the sort of stuff that Johnny Bush has made his life's work. He's finished his autobiography, but don't ask him about retiring. "Retire from what? Breathing?" he asks rhetorically. "People only retire from jobs they hate. Performing is not a job—it's what I do and what I love."
Date Venue City State Note
No Tour Dates Available
08/13/2008 - How to ... Fill the Next 72 Hours with Music - Read More
05/24/2007 - Texas State of Mind - Read More
05/02/2007 - Thanks to Botox, Johnny Bush Sings Again - Read More
04/30/2007 - Houston music legend book signing - Read More
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Average Rating : 4.8              Total Reviews: 17


Johnny Bush  11/27/2017            
Sharon
The best that ever was, that is, or will be. A talent unequivocally unmatched, a sound remarkedly unique, but JB will pass through our lifetime like no other and for the most part, without much whoop or pizazz, but believe me, he's a once in a life time event to come our way....you'll not see another like him. Just take the time to closely watch and listen and you might be lucky enough to see the amazing web he weaves as he sings!! You'll not even even be aware of others around in a room full of people. Yeah, those folks dancing hear the music they do that two step to but they aren't watching and listening!! That's one reason I like going by myself so I can watch and listen to his charisma and his voice as he sings and so smoothly spins his web. As a friend so aptly put it, The Legend is a Weave Master!!!
Johnny Bush  11/27/2017            
Sharon
Without a doubt, the purest honky tonk voice ever to come out of Texas, delivering pure country authenticity with that rare result of a mix of a great voice, superb craftsmanship and a sky-high emotional intelligence that sells any song with power, making his a very unique sound. Many up and coming musicians try following in his footsteps as he's such a highly regarded elder they all look up to with ultimate esteem. I believe he has a talent that goes much further than just talent. When he gets on stage there's seems to be an unparalleled uniqueness about him, I believe him to be a true one of a kind. He's probably the least flashy artist to ever step on a stage but once he gets started, that amazing charisma is electrafying....his music and that voice magnetically keep you drawn in to his unique sound!! Oh, did I mention that I'm a Johnny Bush fan? 😂🤣
Johnny Bush  06/15/2007            
CHIP
The greatest HONKY TONK performer ever. Bar none CHIP NALL FOREVER COUNTRY BAND
Johnny Bush  03/31/2007            
A Career Album of Bush's Career
Though Bush's commercial flame was doused by an early-70s vocal problem, his reputation remained strong. Key compositions, including "Whiskey River" and "There Stands the Glass," helped sustain Bush's legacy during his performing absence, but his presence was felt even when his songs weren't on the charts. His place in Texas honky-tonk, something he took up in the late '50s, has been referenced and quoted ever since. ¶ Amazingly, after decades without a voice, new medical treatments have brought Bush back to the studio for this superb life retrospective. Recorded as an audio companion to an autobiography published by the University of Texas, the songs reflect on Bush's personal and musical lives, and the life of music in his native Houston. The sessions, recorded primarily at the legendary SugarHill Studio, pull together players and songs with a connection to the Bayou City, mixing new compositions with Houston linked classics. ¶ The fifteen tracks (fourteen listed, plus a bonus reworking of Mickey Gilley's 1956 rockabilly "Ooh Wee Baby," the original of which featured Bush on drums) are woven from several strong threads. Jesse Dayton and band (of nearby Beaumont) provide the backing for a pair of songs with a Mexicali edge: Dale Watson's "Tequila and Teardrops" (with Watson on harmony vocal) and a cover of "Pancho and Lefty" featuring a duet with one of Bush's earliest musical amigos, Willie Nelson. Nelson's "Bloody Mary Morning" features great picking from guitarist Dayton and his steel player, Brian Thomas. ¶ A second musical thread is the brass of the Calvin Owens Blues Orchestra, swinging through "Free Soul" and a sophisticated arrangement of the classic "Born to Lose." Owens' trumpet solo introduces a scorching guitar lead from Dayton on "Free Soul," providing crossover between the two sessions. Bush dips further into Willie Nelson's catalog for one of the writer's earliest successes, "Family Bible," and the pair duet live (with Nelson's characteristic gut-string guitar as accompaniment) on "Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On." Bush also duets with Floyd Tillman (shortly before his passing in 2005) on the light western swing of "They Took the Stars Out of Heaven." ¶ This is a multidimensional project, knitting together newly produced recordings with a few earlier sessions, mixing new compositions like the superb title tune with country classics, and interspersing guest vocalists and backing bands. And just like a fine quilt, you can gaze upon the detail of a single patch, or step back and marvel at the beauty of the whole. This is a superb statement from a country legend whose artistic vision survived decades without a voice. [©2007 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com]
Johnny Bush  08/08/2006            
Deric Shaw
One can always count on Johnny Bush for some honky tonkin', crying, drinking, flat out, real country music. That's exactly what's on his new album Texas State of Mind. Where does he constantly find such great songs? It doesn't get much more country than this!!
Johnny Bush  01/08/2006            
Cpl. JHood, USMC
Johnny's music, especially "Undo the Right and Each Time." traveled with me in the valley of the tall grasses in Vietnam in 1969-70, music does transends an unlifting spirit anywhere ones' heart travels. I love the old classics and they never grow old to this old ears and heart. We left our souls in Vietnam but the songs we love redeems a struggling mind, thanks Johnny.
Johnny Bush  11/24/2004            
John
I just bought Honky Tonic and I just want to keep listening to it over and over again. It is some beer drinking two stepping music, let me tell you. I just wish he toured more.
Johnny Bush  01/24/2003            
aaron
I'll be damned, but there isn't even one Bob Wills song on here. I see among the writers are Acuff Rose, Cindy Walker, Buck Owens, Steve Mallett, but no Bob Wills. I got this album based on the review that said Johnney Bush was doing a bunch of Bob Wills songs. Apparently someone is not too familiar with what western swing is. Denny Mathis - hall of fame steel player - is on this album. Bobby Flores fiddle - is on this album. Buddy Emmons - hall of fame pedal steel player - is on this album. Johnny Bush, doing Johnny Bush - is on this album. How can you hear Johnny's voice and think Bob Wills? Nothing against Bob Wills but it's like saying this album is nothing but a bunch of Hank Williams songs. Ridiculous. This is a country music album, not a Texas music album. All those who are in to the Texas/Red Dirt sound will be severely disappointed. This living legend and these musicians are light years ahead of any so called Texas music. Superb songs done by suburb people. Johnny rocks.
Johnny Bush  01/10/2003            
Jimmy D.
Singing Bob Wills is an accurate title of this cd. It sounds like he just takes old songs and puts new lyrics to them. If you listen you can clearly hear the music for "Rolly Polly." Also, you can clearly hear "Sant Clause is Coming to Town." I admire his spirit. I am glad that he appreciates the music of Bob Wills, but it's just not that good.
Johnny Bush  04/09/2002            
David Powell
I would just like to say that Mr. Bush has released another fine album. I just bought it and I have almost driven my wife crazy by playing it over and over. the CD has a great mix of Honky Tonk classic and songs like Dos Tacos that just make you want to crack a cold one with your buddies. I really enjoyed the tid bits inside the cover and I just think it is a great album. I actually met Mr. Bush again when I bought it and he was a gracious and funny as ever. I can't recommend it enough. oh lest I mention the remake of Green snakes is great. thanks for another classic and for just being you.
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