ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Johnny Russell

(Jan. 23, 1940 ~ Jul. 3, 2001)

Career Highlights

Grand Ole Opry Member 1985

Film, Night Club, Radio & TV

• Austin City Limits, 4
• Billy Bob's Texas, 2
• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree, 3
• Gilley’s Club, 2
• Hee Haw, 4
• Nashville Now, 4
• Pop Goes the Country, 4

1-Film, 2-Night Club, 3-Radio, 4-TV 

Billboard Chart Data 

• No. 1 Singles: 0
• Top-40 Singles: 12
• Crossover Singles: 0
• Charted Singles: 28
• Chart Years Active: 1971-1987

Awards

Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame -2001

Career Labels:

• RCA Records (1971-1977)
• Mercury Records (1978-1981)

Billboard Top-40 Singles 

1. Rain Falling On Me -1972
2. Catfish John
3. Chained -1973
4. Rednecks, White Socks & Blue Ribbon Beer#
5. The Baptism of Jesse Taylor
6. She's In Love With a Rodeo Man
7. She Burn't the Little Roadside Tavern Down
8. That's How My Baby Builds a Fire -1974
9. Hello, I Love You -1975
10. The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp -1976
11. You'll be Back -1978
12. How Deep in Love Am I

#-Biggest Chart Single

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Russell Composition Catalog

• Act Naturally
• Makin' Plans
• Let's Fall To Pieces Together
• Got No Reason Now for Going Home
• Beautiful Unhappy Home
• The World's Meanest Man
• It Sure Seemed Right
• That's What I Tell Them
• Hurt Her Once for Me
• You'll Be Back

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rednecks, White Socks & Blue Ribbon Beer: The Johnny Russell Story

Grand Ole Opry star Johnny Russell first gained notice as a songwriter in 1960 after Jim Reeves recorded his In a Mansion Stands My Love and came into his own after Buck Owens and the Beatles recorded his Act Naturally.

Russell's own hit singles earned him Grand Ole Opry membership and later, regular The Nashville Network (TNN) appearances. 

Johnny Russell was an accomplished songwriter famous for his song Act Naturally, which was made famous by Buck Owens, who recorded it in 1963 and The Beatles in 1965. As a performer and recording artist in the 1970s and 1980s, Johnny Russell had several moderate hits, most notably, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer. As a composer, his songs were recorded by artists ranging in time from Jim Reeves to George Strait. 

Johnny Russell was born in Sunflower County, Mississippi, USA. Russell’s family moved to Fresno, California, when he was twelve years old. His early ambitions were centered around country music and he began writing his own songs and performing as a singer/guitarist.

Jim Reeves heard his first composition, In a Mansion Stands My Love and recorded the song as the b-side of He’ll Have to Go. With this success, Russell moved to Nashville, Tennessee.

Other early Russell compositions include Loretta Lynn’s Two Mules Pull This Wagon and the Wilburn Brothers’ Hurt Her Once For Me. 

Russell was working on a song about Hollywood, but a chance remark, ‘They’re gonna put me in the movies, enabled him to complete the song as Act Naturally. Russell’s co-writer, Voni Morrison, placed the song with Buck Owens and it became a number one country hit in 1963. Act Naturally was recorded by the Beatles in 1965 with Ringo Starr on lead vocals and was also the b-side of their number one, Yesterday. 

Russell, who had recorded as a sideline for MGM Records and ABC Records, kicked his own recording career into high gear when he signed with Chet Atkins for RCA Records in 1971. Russell had top-20 country hits with Catfish John, The Baptism Of Jesse Taylor, Hello I Love You and, most significantly, Rednecks, White Socks And Blue Ribbon Beer, which reached number 4 in 1973 and became his signature song. 

In 1978, Mr. Russell moved to Mercury Records and his singles included How Deep in Love Am I, While the Choir Sang the Hymn (I Thought of Her) and Song Of The South. Russell married his second wife, Beverly Heckel in 1977 when she was only seventeen. Heckel had her own chart success the following year with Bluer Than Blue and subsequently joined Russell’s stage show. 

Although his own chart career effectively ended during the 1980s, Russell’s compositions continued to chart with George Strait taking Let’s Fall To Pieces Together to No. 1 (1984) and Gene Watson charting with Got No Reason Now For Goin’ Home (No. 7, 1984). 

Inj 1985,  Russell joined the Grand Ole Opry as a comedy and singing act. Mr. Russell first played comedy with Archie Campbell and when he had a show of his own, he made comedy an important part.

A mild stroke in 1987 put Russell out of action for some time, but he returned to the road until dialysis treatments slowed him down once more.

Mr. Russell returned to recording in 2000 with the popular compact disc (CD), Actin’ Naturally, but died of complications relating to diabetes the following July. Russell was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001

The rotund singer/songwriter's favorite line was, "Can everybody see me all right?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, written and compiled by Richard Bell. Roots of Country Music. Jan. 15, 2012.