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Artist
Johnny Bush
12+ albums
countryamericanatexasAllHonky Tonk
about
Johnny Bush, born February 17, 1935 as John Bush Shinn III in Houston, Texas - died October 16, 2020, was a country music singer, songwriter, and drummer. Bush, nicknamed the "Country Caruso," is best-known for his distinctive voice and as the writer of "Whiskey River," a top-ten hit for himself and Willie Nelson's signature song. He is still popular in his native Texas. Born John Bush Shinn III in the blue-collar neighborhood of Kashmere Gardens in Houston, Texas, Bush listened to the western swing music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and the honky-tonk sounds of artists like Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Thompson. Thanks to a disc jockey uncle, Bush got a taste for performance. In 1952 he moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he began solo career in area honky-tonks like the Texas Star Inn before switching to drums. It was during this period that he earned his stage name, when an announcer mistakenly introduced him as "Johnny Bush." As a drummer he worked for bands like the Mission City Playboys, the Texas Plainsmen and the Texas Top Hands. A series of regional hits on the Stop label, including Marty Robbins's "You Gave Me a Mountain", "Undo the Right", "What A Way To Live" and "I'll Be There", soon followed. Rock critic Robert Christgau said that Bush's version of "You Gave Me A Mountain" "brings a catch to the throat and a tear to the eye." These songs did very well in Bush's native Texas, and reached the national top twenty. In 1972 he was signed to RCA Records
