Johnny Horton

Back in the late 50s, Johnny Horton was one of the hottest names in country music.  Even folks who were not country fans will probably remember songs like "North to Alaska" and the "The battle of New Orleans."  

The one I'm posting here was not one of his biggest hits but it is probably my personal favorite.

In the early 60s, I worked at KTLU in Rusk, Texas.  Johnny had died in 1960, and his mother lived in Rusk.  When she visited the station, Emmet Whitehead, the station owner, gave her our entire collection of Horton records.  That was fine until the next week when she called in to request one of her son's songs.  Even though we no longer had any of his songs in our library, she continued to call once or twice a week.

It got so sad, so uncomfortable telling her no that I finally went out and bought a couple of his albums so I could play a Johnny Horton song when she called.