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30 The Nashville Musician October-December 2006
Hitmaker Johnny Duncan dies
Singer-songwriter Johnny Duncan, 67,
died of a heart attack Aug. 14, in his home
state of Texas. Best known for the #1 hits
“Thinkin’ Of a Rendezvous,” “It Couldn’t
Have Been Any Better” and “She Can Put
Her Shoes Under My Bed (Anytime),” he
charted 39 singles on weekly Billboard.
Hailing from a talented Texas family,
Johnny was a cousin to fellow artists Jimmy
Seals (of soft-rock duo Seals & Crofts), Dan
Seals (formerly of England Dan & John
Ford Coley), Troy Seals (wrote such as
“Seven Spanish Angels”), Chuck Seals (cowriter
of the Grammy Hall of Fame song
“Crazy Arms”) and Brady Seals (lead vocalist
of Little Texas).
Born John Richard Duncan on Oct. 5,
1938 in Dublin, Texas, he grew up on a farm
near Stephenville. His mother Minnie
taught Johnny how to play guitar, and influenced
by such pickers as Les Paul and
Chet Atkins, he hoped to be a professional.
“About that time, a guitar became a
magic thing to me. It meant everything. All
of a sudden the whole world became a guitar,”
he said in an earlier interview.
In his teens, Johnny’s vocals convinced
him he might consider a singing career. In
high school he also had played basketball.
Johnny once performed in a band with his
fiddlin’ uncle Ben Moroney, as did cousins
Jimmy and Dan. He also attended Texas
Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 1959, shortly after his marriage to
hometown sweetheart Betty (Fisher), he
moved to Clovis, New Mexico, where he
worked with producer Norman Petty (think
Buddy Holly), who made some pop demos
on Duncan, though little came of it. He also
worked as a DJ in the Southwest.
Like idols Eddy Arnold and Jim Reeves,
his vocals were smooth and romantic.
In 1963, the six-foot, four-inch Texan
relocated to the Nashville area, working at
odd jobs, and as a DJ on WAGG-Franklin.
“We had some bad times,” he recalled,
regarding his family. “But my babies never
went hungry. When I came to Nashville, I
was laying concrete and making like $1.40
an hour.”
Duncan also appeared on Ralph Emery’s
Al Casey succumbs in Phoenix
Pop music guitarist Al Casey, 69, died
in his hometown of Phoenix, Sept. 17,
where he returned after years as a hit maker
in Los Angeles. Among those whose records
he played on were the Beach Boys, Duane
Eddy, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Cash, The
Monkees, Ricky Nelson, The Everlys and
both Nancy and Frank Sinatra.
According to Nashville producer
Ronnie Light, “Los Angeles studio players
told me Al gave Duane Eddy the low,
tremolo sound that was on all of Duane’s
hits . . . I got to work with Al in L.A. and
can say he was a nice man and a great
picker.”
Unsung Al worked with Eddy to create
a twangy, echoing guitar sound that led
to such successes as “Rebel Rouser” and
“40 Miles of Bad Road.”
Casey can be heard on numerous other
hits, such as “Good Vibrations” (Beach
Boys), “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”
(Glen Campbell) and “These Boots Are
Made For Walkin’” (Nancy Sinatra). Other
career highlights include playing guitar for
Elvis Presley’s comeback concert televised
in 1968, and performing on the haunting
ballad “Everybody’s Talkin’,” for the
and Bobby Lord’s WSM-TV shows in 1966.
Columbia A&R chief Don Law spotted him,
recognized his talent and suggested the signing
of Duncan to the label that year. Johnny’s
first chart single to was “Hard Luck Joe” in
1967.
According to Duncan, “It tried like hell
to be a hit, but didn’t quite make it.”
Johnny was headlining at The Town Towers
in Bowling Green, Ky., when Charley
Pride’s manager Jack Johnson convinced
Pride to take him on tour as an opening act.
In appreciation, Duncan later wrote two #1
songs for Pride, “I’d Rather Love You” and
“She’s Too Good To Be True,” as well as “I
Ain’t All Bad” (#6, 1975).
Duncan’s own first successful charting
was a 1968 Top 20 duet with June Stearns
on “Jackson Ain’t a Very Big Town,” a cover
of Norma Jean’s RCA single, and it charted
eight weeks. Johnny confided that when he
was about to ask the label to release him
from their contract, his next record proved
a winner.
Once linked up with production ace Billy
Sherrill, Duncan enjoyed a string of hits,
among them Kris Kristofferson’s “Strangers”
(#4, 1976), a song he first heard on a
Billy Swan album: “The record started
slowly, but it kept on moving up the charts
week by week.”
It was while doing backup vocals on
Duncan’s recordings that Janie Fricke was
asked to step out of the group to sing a line
on “Strangers,” a single that changed her life,
and helped make her a star in her own right.
He and Janie had a full-fledged duet success
on “Come a Little Bit Closer” (#4,
1977).
Other Duncan hits were “A Song In the
Night,” “Hello Mexico (And Adios Baby To
You),” “Slow Dancing” and in 1979 his last
Top 10 “Lady In the Blue Mercedes.”
During the early 1980s, Duncan moved
back to Texas to live the life of a Gentleman
Farmer. He married again, tying the knot
with longtime companion Connie.
Throughout the years, Duncan continued
to accept bookings and reportedly had just
completed a new recording project, his first
in many years. The Harrell Funeral Home
in Dublin handled arrangements, with a memorial
service at First Baptist Church in
Stephenville, Texas, Aug. 17. Besides his
widow Connie; and daughters Angela,
Lezlie and Lori; survivors include his and
Connie’s son Ike Duncan; grandson John
Dewey Haggard; sister JoAnn Black; and a
brother Tommy Duncan. - Walt Trott
highly-acclaimed movie “Midnight
Cowboy’s” soundtrack.
Early in his Phoenix career, Al hooked
up with the Sunset Riders band, which performed
on the 1955 TV series The Arizona
Hayride. Noted producer-composer Lee
Hazlewood helped give him studio recognition,
and in turn Casey introduced him to
singer Sanford Clark, who recorded
Hazlewood’s “The Fool” for Dot Records,
taking it into the Billboard pop Top 10 in
’56. Part of its success was attributed to
Casey’s blues guitar riffs.
After relocating to Phoenix, Al taught
guitar. In recognition of his many career accomplishments,
Casey was inducted into the
Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of
Fame last year, and is an instrumental member
of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
The musician has since suffered from
lung and kidney ailments, prompting his
being cared for in a nursing home.
A memorial was scheduled at the AFM
Phoenix Local 586, Sept. 23, conducted by
Dionne Hauke, a friend who runs Ziggy’s
Music store in Phoenix. - WT
Give To TEMPO
Mack King, Jr. in 1990.
Guitarist’s spirit soared
despite crippling illness
As a newcomer, he was playing backup
lead guitar for Alice Cooper on the shockrock
superstar’s “Welcome To My Nightmare”
tour, but Mack King, Jr.’s first instrument
was drums, according to dad Mack,
Sr., himself a member of the Rockabilly Instrumental
Hall of Fame.
Sad to say, King Jr. died Aug. 11 at the
University of Tennessee Medical Center in
Knoxville, where he was being treated for
complications resulting from a transplant
and his longtime diabetes affliction. Earlier
his right leg was amputated.
A member of Local 257, King also
played bass, though his passion was guitar.
He became a Nashville studio musician,
playing on a variety of recordings, ranging
from rock and roll to country.
Reportedly, the heavy metal band Foreigner
wrote their cut “Headknocker” after
witnessing an incident involving young
Mack in a Tampa nightclub: “He’s a dedicated
rocker/a real headknocker . . . He’s
got an old Fender Strat/Plays behind his
back/While he sings out ‘Louie, Louie’ . . .
He might like to fight/Oh, but boy, does he
love to play . . .”
The only child of Bette Jean and Mack
King, he was born April 22, 1954 in Florala,
Ala., but moved with his family to Tampa,
Fla., when 14 months old. At age 16, Mack
won a Battle of the Bands contest in Florida,
which helped him decide on his life’s work.
“Jimmy Bryant (noted for his ‘Flaming
Guitars’ partnership with Speedy West)
taught him to play guitar,” recalls King Sr.,
who says his son had suffered from diabetes
since age 11.
Nonetheless, the young musician also
went on to earn a Sixth Degree Black Belt
in Karate, the martial art, which he also
taught for several years.
In February 2001, Type 1 diabetic King
became a double (pancreas/kidney) transplant
recipient. For a short time, he lived
free of insulin and dialysis, and once again
could play guitar. Prior to his death, he had
wed his childhood schoolmate Bonita Barja.
“I knew Mack since I was 9 years old.
We were married on Valentine’s Day 2005,”
says his widow, a.k.a. “Bonnie.” “We were
very close and I am glad I got to be with
him . . . We were in the process of building
a studio here.”
The here she refers to is Rock King
Ranch on Pick Mountain, near Gainesboro,
Tenn.
“We bought this l’il old farm here so
he’d be closer to Nashville,” recalls Dad,
who calls himself a “minor musician,” who
hasn’t performed professionally since 1960.
“But somehow I ended up in the Rockabilly
Hall of Fame. I think the main thing there
was my early association with Elvis
(Presley), before he got his drummer (D.J.
Fontana).”
Senior, who once headed up his own
band The Western Hayriders in Tampa, even
remembers a time Elvis playfully tossed tiny
Mack Jr. up in the air.
Mack Sr. recorded for Starday Records,
and joshes, “We had a lot of trouble selling
them for 90-cents, and I hear now they’re
worth over $400 (among collectors).”
“My son liked Nashville, but he also
loved Colorado and went out there to work
for a while. B. J. Thomas became a good
friend to him. He knew a lot of people, particularly
musicians, including Nashville
pickers like Josh Graves, Ernie Rowell, Walt
Cunningham, Clyde Phillips, and some of
the original Outlaws. His friend Mark, I
think, was soundman for Martina McBride.”
When he was a teen-ager, country singer
Ruby Wright (of “Dern Ya” fame) offered
to hire Jr. to perform in her backing band,
but the Kings felt he was too young to tour.
Mack Jr. relished the session scene, but
also headed up his own Mack King Band,
and performed some with Frank Evans’ The
Homesteaders, and Randy Hatfield’s The
Real McCoys, among others.
In 1985, Mack’s illness slowed him
down, necessitating frequent hospitalization,
all of which left him too weak to play
guitar. Following his transplant, Mack had
high hopes of returning to the music scene.
Mack Jr. & Sr. more recently.
Bonnie says, “He was inspired by the
idea of building a recording studio, and said
the Rock King Ranch will rock once again!”
Mack, however, suffered a light stroke,
says Mack Sr., “But he was always a fighter,
and his spirit remained strong . . . ”
Proud of his Native American Indian
heritage, he asked that he be cremated and
his remains scattered in Colorado Springs.
Mack King, Jr. was preceded in death
in 1995 by his previous wife, Patricia Reed;
and by his mother Bette Jean King in 2001.
Besides his widow Bonita King, survivors
include a daughter Christina Nicole Foye;
and stepsons Robert Mack King and Jeffrey
Montgomery Walker. At his services,
led in prayer by Don Bryant and John Barja,
songs played were “Go Rest High On That
Mountain,” “Headknocker,” “When I Get
Where I’m Going” and “Go Ahead,” the
latter performed by his father. A video was
shown of the deceased playing a benefit in
Venice, Fla., and Bonnie King delivered the
Eulogy. - Walt Trott
Cover boy Mack King in his heyday.