"PLEASE NOTE THAT JOHNNY'S MYSPACE IS RUN BY A RECORD LABEL,
WE WILL TRY ARE BEST TO FORWARD ANY MESSAGES TO HIM"
Born John Bush Shinn III in 1935 in the hardscrabble blue-collar neighborhood of Kashmere Gardens in Houston, Johnny Bush became an early devotee of the Western Swing music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys and the honky-tonk sounds of Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Thompson. Thanks to his uncle, Jerry Jericho, who had a radio program on KTHT, John and his brother made fledgling broadcasts that imbued the thrill of performance into John Bush Shinn's young musical soul.
He was only 17 when he moved to San Antonio to pursue his passion, a passion that introduced him to the honky-tonk universe of wine, women, and song. As a regular performer at the Texas Star Inn he picked up the moniker that would accompany him though decades of stage and recording work when the club's announcer mistakenly introduced him as "Johnny Bush."
Johnny was a natural performer with a soulful sense of time and meter, a unique gift that led him to the drums and a series of great gigs on the dancehall circuit with groups like the Mission City Playboys, the Texas Plainsmen and the Texas Top Hands. But when he joined Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys in 1963—along with a brash young kid named Willie Nelson—Johnny became the timepiece for the honky-tonk dream team. Price's inimitable voice and the band’s mastery of the Texas shuffle dance beat as exemplified in Ray’s massive hit, "Crazy Arms," made the Cherokee Cowboys America’s top-shelf country band.
His association with Price led Johnny to Nashville in the mid-sixties and he soon landed a deal singing demos for a prominent song publisher. He kept his finger on the rhythm of the road by playing in Willie Nelson’s new group, the Record Men, which in turn led to Johnny’s first single recording, "Sound of A Heartache" backed by Willie's "A Moment Isn't Very Long." Willie was primarily known as a songwriter in the sixties but Johnny found him infinitely inspiring and creative and Willie went on to produce Johnny's first album, Sound of A Heartache in 1967. The friendship and mutual admiration that these two struggling Texans enjoyed 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 Johnny’s ascent as a popular performer in his own right. Most of his records reached No. 1 on the Texas charts and reached the Top 10 or 20 on the national charts. By 1972, Johnny was well on his way to national prominence. He was newly signed to RCA Records whose Nashville division was headed by the legendary Chet Atkins. His first RCA single, "Whiskey River," was climbing the charts with airplay on countless radio stations, he was selling out enormous clubs, and was looking forward to a vigorous touring schedule in support of the release. Then it all came crashing down.
"It was the summer of 1972," Johnny related in the prologue to his autobiography, Whiskey River (Take My Mind), "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."
He lost half of his vocal range and was unable to talk at all. RCA dropped him in 1974 after three albums, he developed a Valium dependency, and was consumed by performance anxiety when he was able to perform at all. Worst of all, after countless doctor visits and failed treatments, his medical prognosis was as cloudy as his future. Finally, in 1978, Johnny was correctly diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a rare neurological disorder that affects the signal between the brain and the larynx that essentially shuts down the muscles surrounding the vocal cords.
Johnny was tremendously relieved to discover the nature of his condition. Unfortunately, there were only experimental treatments available at that time. Still, despite his struggling career, he stuck with it. The singer once dubbed "The Country Caruso" for his exceptional vocal skills never stopped performing. He developed vocal and performance techniques that enabled him to deliver quality shows with his limited range, but he never stopped looking for a cure.
In 1985, with the help of some innovative voice exercises developed by speech therapist, Gary Catona, Johnny was able to regenerate a large part of his singing range and improve his day-to-day speech skills. It was the beginning of a career renaissance.
In 1994, he released a big-band Western Swing album entitled Time Changes Everything, recorded at Willie’s studio outside of Austin. 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. Finally, in 2002, with a new treatment involving Botox injections into the muscles surrounding the vocal cords, Johnny reclaimed his speaking voice and his "Country Caruso" range.
Somewhat to his surprise, his renewed visibility has made him a mentor figure to younger Texas musicians who revered the honky-tonk/hardcore country sound that Johnny has done so much to perpetuate. Austin musicians like Dale Watson and Cornell Hurd sought Johnny out to play on their albums; the cream of the new generation of Texas country artists regularly invited him to share the stage; and his audiences began to swell with fans who weren't even born when "Sound of A Heartache" was a hit. In 2003, he was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame with his life-long compadre Willie on hand to do the honors.
Johnny’s story is far from over. He has recently completed his autobiography, Whiskey River (Take My Mind): The True Story of Texas Honky Tonk published by University of Texas Press with a March 1, 2007 release date. He teamed up with his friend and autobiography co-writer, Rick Mitchell, to produce a new album, Kashmere Garden Mud: A Tribute to Houston’s Country Soul. The album is scheduled for a February 27, 2007 release on Icehouse Music—an innovative Texas label creating new avenues in artist relations and alternative distribution throughout the Lone Star State and beyond.
With the success of his recent Botox treatments and his successful career revival, Johnny has come to be a spokesman for people afflicted with vocal disorders. He was honored in 2002 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.
With his vocal range restored and a new album and autobiography set for release in early 2007, Johnny is busier than he’s been in years. He’s scheduling tour dates and intends to appear in Austin during the 2007 SXSW music conference in March. Johnny has some fresh, new wind in his sails and shows no signs of slowing down now. On the subject of retiring, Johnny has some definite thoughts: "Retire from what? Breathing? People only retire from jobs they don’t like. Performing is not a job—it's what I do and what I love."
