Let Me Die In A Honky Tonk
Mike Johnson
Album review by Preshias Harris for Country Music News International Magazine & Radio Show
After sound was added to the movies in 1929
(and they became known as ‘talkies’), it seemed that every Western movie had to
feature a yodeling cowboy, riding along and strumming a guitar while singing to
his horse. Movie stars such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry became known as
singers who adapted the Alpine yodeling style to more of a “Western Swing”
style, and all acknowledged Jimmie Rodgers as a major influence.
One artist who is keeping alive the
tradition of Country yodeling is Mike Johnson and he’s been doing it for a long
time. Born in 1946, he says he began yodeling as a boy, at first imitating the
famous yodeling call of Johnny Weissmuller in the Tarzan movies. Johnson made his first professional recording
in 1981 and has released an amazing 58 CDs as well as cassette tapes and 45 rpm
singles.
His latest album is Let Me Die In A
Honky Tonk with fourteen tracks that will appeal to fans of traditional
Country music as well as yodeling enthusiasts.
Johnson has a unique vocal style that is
quite ‘staccato’ in that he delivers the lyrics with each word sung in a
‘clipped’ manner, rather than stretching or drawing out the lyrics. As he admits on his website: “I’m not a
musician. I’m a half-ass guitar strummer average singer, and a very good
Yodeler!”
The album opens with the title track, “Let
Me Die In A Honky Tonk,” a mid-tempo song in classic Western Swing style and
Johnson showcases his yodeling skills here. You can hear him yodeling on other
tracks, but he also includes some non-yodel songs in a traditional country
style. “Spare Me a Quarter” is a cowboy
waltz that has Johnson asking for quarter for the jukebox (still in the honky
tonk, of course!) Other standout tracks
include the ballad “There’s Something In Between Us” and “As Long As I Can
Yodel” that clearly demonstrates why he is recognized as ‘Country Music’s No. 1
Black Yodeler.’
Let Me Die In A Honky Tonkis a fun album for fans of both cowboy yodeling and traditional
Country sung in a unique style by an artist still performing and recording at
the age of 74.
For more about Mike Johnson and to listen
to the title track from the new album, visit https://www.freewebs.com/blackyodelno1/roughshod-records-music
# # #