The Ballad Of Johnny Horton (MP3)

Forty-eight years ago today, on November 5, 1960, country singer Johnny Horton died in a car crash near Milano, Texas on Highway 79.  Horton, who was married to Hank Williams' ex-wife Billie Jean, played his last show a few hours earlier at the Skyline Club in Austin, which, by weird coincidence, is the same place that hosted Hank Williams' final live performance.

Horton's greatest commercial successes came in the form of saga songs, history-themed tunes that combined elements of country, folk and pop music.  Music fans of many persuasions swarmed the record stores to make huge crossover hits out of songs like The Battle Of New Orleans, Sink The Bismarck and  North To Alaska.   Despite the chart-busting nature of such songs, Horton probably hit his artistic high water mark a bit earlier in his career with an impressive string of rockabilly and honky-tonk numbers like Honky Tonk Man, Got The Bull By The Horns, I'm Coming Home, and I'm A One Woman Man, all of which feature the killer guitar work of studio whiz Grady Martin. 

Several years after his death, Horton was memorialized by Jerry Dee with The Ballad Of Johnny Horton (misspelled on the label as The Ballard Of Johnny Horton), a song-poem recording that was released on the Brosh label, headquartered in Carpentersville, Illinois.  Strangely, the song itself lacks any trace of stylistic compatibility with the records of Johnny Horton and is instead characterized by a sort of low-budget big band pop vocal sound.

Jerry Dee  -  The Ballad Of Johnny Horton  (2:28)

Comments

[Rich]

The "low-budget big band pop vocal sound" on this recording is sung by, "Bob Storm" and the interesting story on this sleazy company's history can be found here:
http://www.songpoemmusic.com/labels/halmark.htm

[Devlin Thompson]

Eek! Wrong Hank widow! It wasn't Miss Audrey, but wife #2, Billie Jean Eshlimar (who recorded at least one pretty passable 45 as "Billie Jean Horton"). She had the worst luck with letting her men travel in cars.

[Listener Greg G.]

Devlin, thanks for the correction! The post has been updated.

[david]

Hello. Billie Jean wasnt Hank's ex-wife. She was married to him when he died, though for only a couple of months. They were married twice, once in Monroe Louisiana and then again in New Orleans, before a huge crowd. I think an admission charge may have been in place for the New Orleans wedding. I have known Billie Jean for 26 years, though I havent seen her for many of those years. She is now residing in a Shreveport retirement home after suffering a stroke several years ago. She is certainly a hoot to know and a lot of fun to have around.