- According to his manager, Tillman B. Franks, the reason Johnny wanted to get back to Shreveport as soon as possible after the November 4 show at the Skyline Club was that Saturday, November 5, was the opening of duck season in Louisiana. Johnny wanted to be up early that morning. Claude King (famous for recording "Wolverton Mountain") and his brother Perry had set up camp at a place called Hall's Brake, near Ajax, LA, on Friday evening and were awaiting Johnny's arrival to go duck hunting with them. Franks also disputes the story that Johnny was scheduled to meet with Ward Bond, the star of Wagon Train (1957), on the afternoon of November 5 to discuss an appearance on the TV series, calling it "hype". As it turned out, Bond himself died that afternoon of a heart attack after attending a football game.
- Made his final public appearance at the "Skyline Club" in Austin, Texas, on Friday night, November 4, 1960, the same venue where Hank Williams made his final public appearance in late December 1952.
- In his autobiography "I Was There When It Happened", Tillman B. Franks, Johnny's manager, says James Davis, the drunk driver who ran into Johnny on November 5, 1960, suffered only minor injuries. Some accounts mistakenly claim Davis was killed in the accident along with Johnny. Franks himself was critically injured in the crash (he was in the front passenger seat, next to Johnny, who was driving). Franks says Davis pleaded "no contest" to "murder without malice" several months later, and was given a two year suspended sentence - he served no time in prison.
- In Tillman B. Franks' autobiography, he says Johnny once had a live radio show in Shreveport that was sponsored by Holsum Bread. Johnny would read scripted ads for the bread between songs. He lost Holsum as a sponsor when once, after reading the last line of the ad that said "Holsum Bread is never touched by human hands", he added, "They mix it with their feet".
- "The Battle of New Orleans" was a No. 1 hit on both Billboard magazine's country singles and Hot 100 charts for 10 weeks, and was among the top songs of 1959 on both charts.
- Mentioned alongside Hank Williams (who also was married to Billie Jean Jones at the time of his death) as the two friends whom Tex Ritter meets in his 1961 country song "I Dreamed of a Hillbilly Heaven.".
- Best known for "saga songs", such as "The Battle of New Orleans" and "When it's Springtime in Alaska (It's 40 Below)" (1959), and "Sink the Bismarck" and "North to Alaska" (1960).
- Despite being a country-western singer, Johnny didn't like playing at venues which served alcohol. Before his last show at the Skyline Club on November 4, 1960, he told several people he was worried about being hit by a drunk driver while in Austin. As it turned out, he was, but in Milano, Texas, while driving back to Shreveport.
- Inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content