Biography
Throughout more than three decades, Johnny Bond thrived across multiple dimensions of the entertainment business. Participation in the Jimmy Wakely Trio together with extensive session work established him as a vital presence in dozens of B Western productions, where he supported Wakely, Tex Ritter, and Johnny Mack Brown. His songwriting yielded numerous country standards such as "Cimarron," "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight," "Conversation With a Gun," "Tomorrow Never Comes," and "I'll Step Aside," numbers that charted for artists ranging from Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra to Johnny Rodriguez. He also supplied substantial material to the catalogs of Wakely, Ritter, and additional country figures active during the 1940s and 1950s. Although his own releases, several cut with Merle Travis, enjoyed steady popularity from the 1940s forward and generated multiple hits, the 1960s finally brought his career peak via the chart-topping "Ten Little Bottles."
Cyrus Whitfield Bond entered the world in Enville, OK, on June 1, 1915, into a struggling farm household. Trumpet served as his initial instrument, yet he soon mastered guitar and ukulele as well; by his teenage years he performed at regional dances, drawing primary inspiration from Jimmie Rodgers, Milton Brown, and the Light Crust Doughboys. Following high-school graduation in 1933, he relocated to Oklahoma City seeking radio work, first airing as Cyrus Whitfield, subsequently as Johnny Whitfield, and finally adopting the name Johnny Bond. There he joined Jimmy Wakely and Scotty Harrell (later succeeded by Dick Reinhart) to create a group initially called the Singing Cowboy Trio and afterward the Bell Boys in recognition of Bell Clothing's sponsorship. Their early repertoire reflected heavy influence from Gene Autry and the Sons of the Pioneers, emphasizing cowboy material. Broadcasts originated from station WKY, with transcription discs cut at KVOO in Tulsa. Bond had already begun composing, and 1938 produced his first enduring composition, "Cimarron." Gene Autry encountered the trio during a late-1930s tour and expressed interest in featuring them on his Melody Ranch program should they reach California.
In 1939 the ensemble traveled to Hollywood under the Jimmy Wakely Trio designation for an appearance in The Saga of Death Valley, a Republic Pictures release starring Roy Rogers. This exposure encouraged Wakely and Bond to pursue further screen opportunities, including Republic's continuing offers and Autry's standing invitation. May 1940 found Wakely, Bond, Reinhart, and their families driving west in Wakely's Dodge. They promptly became Melody Ranch regulars, with Bond remaining on the program for sixteen years until its 1956 cancellation. A second film credit followed in The Tulsa Kid, starring Don "Red" Barry, the group billed as "Jimmy Wakely & His Rough Riders." Subsequent Universal work began with Pony Post (1940), again featuring Johnny Mack Brown. The musicians also maintained a schedule of concerts, ballrooms, and clubs across southern California.
Bond, Wakely, and Reinhart, later rejoined by Scotty Harrell upon his arrival in Hollywood, sustained various collaborative configurations into the early 1940s even after the official Wakely Trio disbanded around 1941. Notably, Bond rather than Wakely secured the first solo recording contract. Columbia's Art Satherly, who had previously signed Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Leadbelly, and numerous other notables, placed Bond under contract in 1941; the initial sessions occurred that August, highlighted by "Those Gone and Left Me Blues."
April 1942 yielded four sides—covers of Carson Robison's recent hits "1942 Turkey in the Straw," "Mussolini's Letter to Hitler," and "Hitler's Reply to Mussolini"—intended to supply Columbia with its own versions of the Robison successes, yet the label withheld release. Bond's compositions began appearing in print during this interval, most prominently "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight" and "Cimarron." July 1942 sessions produced another four tracks, among them "I'm a Pris'ner of War," "Der Fuhrer's Face," and the originals "You Let Me Down" and "Love Gone Cold," supported by a band that included Spade Cooley on violin. Wartime recording restrictions imposed by the Musicians' Union, compounded by shellac shortages, halted Bond's studio activity until June 1945, when he recorded the originals "Heart and Soul," "Gotta Make Up for Lost Time," and "Sad, Sad and Blue." Beyond appearances on the Autry broadcast and other radio outlets, plus wartime performances, Bond cut numerous radio transcription discs and appeared in thirty-eight films, serving either as musical sidekick to singing leads such as Jimmy Wakely or Tex Ritter or within musical sequences for non-singing stars including Johnny Mack Brown and Ray "Crash" Corrigan. He even participated in non-Western fare such as the 1941 comedy Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga starring Leon Errol and Lupe Velez. A rare major-studio credit came in 1946 as a supporting player in David O. Selznick's Duel in the Sun, with his final screen appearance occurring the following year in Jimmy Wakely's last Western, Song of the Wasteland (1947).
Throughout this period Bond also belonged to and led Tex Ritter's studio ensemble, the Red River Valley Boys, contributing to Ritter's sessions as well as those of other West Coast country artists. The conclusion of his film work in 1947 coincided with growing recording success. Bond achieved three Top Five country hits that year: "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" (strong sales, though surpassed by Merle Travis's rendition), "Divorce Me C.O.D.," and "The Daughter of Jole Blon." The next year brought a Top Ten entry with "Oklahoma Waltz," while 1949 produced substantial chart placements for "Till the End of the World" and "Tennessee Saturday Night." A further Top Ten hit, "Love Song in 32 Bars," arrived in 1950, followed in 1951 by "Sick, Sober and Sorry."
By late 1957 Bond had authored 123 songs, several—"Cimarron," "I'll Step Aside," "Tomorrow Never Comes," and "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight"—receiving extensive coverage. Johnny Rodriguez supplied the most successful reading of "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight," yet additional versions came from Bobby Bare, Roy Clark, Flatt & Scruggs, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Monroe, the Louvin Brothers, Hank Snow, Red Allen & the Kentuckians, and Arthur Alexander. "Cimarron" attained standard status through recordings by the Sons of the Pioneers, Foy Willing, Bob Wills, and Jimmy Dean, plus concert performances by Johnny Cash and Chet Atkins; Les Paul and Mary Ford also recorded it, as did Harry James and Neal Hefti instrumentally, with Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra delivering the highest-selling interpretation. "Tomorrow Never Comes" charted for Glen Campbell and was covered by Lynn Anderson, Elvis Presley, Little Jimmy Dickens, Loretta Lynn, the Statler Brothers, and Ernest Tubb. "Conversation With a Gun" received treatments from Tex Ritter and Marty Robbins, while Hank Thompson, Ernest Tubb, and Marty Robbins recorded "I'll Step Aside."
Bond accompanied Autry on 1940s and 1950s tours; Johnny Western, a younger singer possessing a comparably rich baritone, eventually assumed his chair. Unlike many contemporaries, Bond embraced rock & roll's arrival and occasionally adapted his style to its rhythms, recognizing their proximity to country traditions. Much of his output further displayed a rollicking humor that aligned it spiritually with early rock & roll more closely than the work of most country peers. Nevertheless, when Columbia declined to renew his contract upon its 1957 expiration, his recording career appeared finished.
A short stint on Autry's Republic label yielded "Hot Rod Lincoln," a crossover success that later became a rock & roll standard. In 1960 Starday signed Bond, initiating an eleven-year association. The 1964 remake of "Ten Little Bottles," previously recorded twice since 1954, became his biggest hit, reaching the Top Three and attaining number one on select charts. Subsequent releases, including the humorous "Morning After," failed to replicate that performance.
Bond's or Starday's continued emphasis on drinking songs may have contributed to the difficulty; the majority of his mid- and late-1960s output centered on such material, casting him as a one-dimensional artist. Even uncredited Tex Ritter appearances, as on the 1965 track "New Year's Day," failed to generate significant chart response. The Starday contract concluded in 1969, after which Bond moved to Capitol—where Ritter had long advocated on his behalf—and recorded a Delmore Brothers tribute album with longtime friend Merle Travis. Poor sales prompted both artists' departure from the label by year's end. Bond returned briefly to Starday before exiting permanently in 1971. He next recorded for the Lamb & Lion label, then joined Jimmy Wakely's Shasta imprint in 1974 for a single session backed by James Burton and Red Rhodes, revisiting signature numbers such as his own "Cimarron" and "I'll Step Aside," along with Woody Guthrie's "Oklahoma Hills" and another reading of "Hot Rod Lincoln."
Only one anthology of Bond's Columbia sides exists: the twenty-five-track mid-priced import Johnny Bond & His Red River Valley Boys issued by the British ASV label in 2001. Columbia itself released a 1958 EP containing "Sick, Sober and Sorry" and "Ten Little Bottles" yet waited until 1965—eight years after his departure—to issue a full-length album. That same year Autry revived his Radio Ranch series on his own station, and Bond resumed weekly broadcasts as musician, singer, and scriptwriter for another five years until cancellation. By contrast, Starday issued fourteen Bond albums between 1960 and 1971, encompassing hit collections, recent singles, and concept projects (mostly post-1963 drinking-song themed), the strongest being 1961's That Wild, Wicked But Wonderful West. In 1969 he recorded Great Songs of the Delmore Brothers with Merle Travis for Capitol, while Lamb & Lion and Shasta each released individual albums plus radio performances drawn from Wakely's late-1950s program. ~ Bruce Eder
Cyrus Whitfield Bond entered the world in Enville, OK, on June 1, 1915, into a struggling farm household. Trumpet served as his initial instrument, yet he soon mastered guitar and ukulele as well; by his teenage years he performed at regional dances, drawing primary inspiration from Jimmie Rodgers, Milton Brown, and the Light Crust Doughboys. Following high-school graduation in 1933, he relocated to Oklahoma City seeking radio work, first airing as Cyrus Whitfield, subsequently as Johnny Whitfield, and finally adopting the name Johnny Bond. There he joined Jimmy Wakely and Scotty Harrell (later succeeded by Dick Reinhart) to create a group initially called the Singing Cowboy Trio and afterward the Bell Boys in recognition of Bell Clothing's sponsorship. Their early repertoire reflected heavy influence from Gene Autry and the Sons of the Pioneers, emphasizing cowboy material. Broadcasts originated from station WKY, with transcription discs cut at KVOO in Tulsa. Bond had already begun composing, and 1938 produced his first enduring composition, "Cimarron." Gene Autry encountered the trio during a late-1930s tour and expressed interest in featuring them on his Melody Ranch program should they reach California.
In 1939 the ensemble traveled to Hollywood under the Jimmy Wakely Trio designation for an appearance in The Saga of Death Valley, a Republic Pictures release starring Roy Rogers. This exposure encouraged Wakely and Bond to pursue further screen opportunities, including Republic's continuing offers and Autry's standing invitation. May 1940 found Wakely, Bond, Reinhart, and their families driving west in Wakely's Dodge. They promptly became Melody Ranch regulars, with Bond remaining on the program for sixteen years until its 1956 cancellation. A second film credit followed in The Tulsa Kid, starring Don "Red" Barry, the group billed as "Jimmy Wakely & His Rough Riders." Subsequent Universal work began with Pony Post (1940), again featuring Johnny Mack Brown. The musicians also maintained a schedule of concerts, ballrooms, and clubs across southern California.
Bond, Wakely, and Reinhart, later rejoined by Scotty Harrell upon his arrival in Hollywood, sustained various collaborative configurations into the early 1940s even after the official Wakely Trio disbanded around 1941. Notably, Bond rather than Wakely secured the first solo recording contract. Columbia's Art Satherly, who had previously signed Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Leadbelly, and numerous other notables, placed Bond under contract in 1941; the initial sessions occurred that August, highlighted by "Those Gone and Left Me Blues."
April 1942 yielded four sides—covers of Carson Robison's recent hits "1942 Turkey in the Straw," "Mussolini's Letter to Hitler," and "Hitler's Reply to Mussolini"—intended to supply Columbia with its own versions of the Robison successes, yet the label withheld release. Bond's compositions began appearing in print during this interval, most prominently "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight" and "Cimarron." July 1942 sessions produced another four tracks, among them "I'm a Pris'ner of War," "Der Fuhrer's Face," and the originals "You Let Me Down" and "Love Gone Cold," supported by a band that included Spade Cooley on violin. Wartime recording restrictions imposed by the Musicians' Union, compounded by shellac shortages, halted Bond's studio activity until June 1945, when he recorded the originals "Heart and Soul," "Gotta Make Up for Lost Time," and "Sad, Sad and Blue." Beyond appearances on the Autry broadcast and other radio outlets, plus wartime performances, Bond cut numerous radio transcription discs and appeared in thirty-eight films, serving either as musical sidekick to singing leads such as Jimmy Wakely or Tex Ritter or within musical sequences for non-singing stars including Johnny Mack Brown and Ray "Crash" Corrigan. He even participated in non-Western fare such as the 1941 comedy Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga starring Leon Errol and Lupe Velez. A rare major-studio credit came in 1946 as a supporting player in David O. Selznick's Duel in the Sun, with his final screen appearance occurring the following year in Jimmy Wakely's last Western, Song of the Wasteland (1947).
Throughout this period Bond also belonged to and led Tex Ritter's studio ensemble, the Red River Valley Boys, contributing to Ritter's sessions as well as those of other West Coast country artists. The conclusion of his film work in 1947 coincided with growing recording success. Bond achieved three Top Five country hits that year: "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" (strong sales, though surpassed by Merle Travis's rendition), "Divorce Me C.O.D.," and "The Daughter of Jole Blon." The next year brought a Top Ten entry with "Oklahoma Waltz," while 1949 produced substantial chart placements for "Till the End of the World" and "Tennessee Saturday Night." A further Top Ten hit, "Love Song in 32 Bars," arrived in 1950, followed in 1951 by "Sick, Sober and Sorry."
By late 1957 Bond had authored 123 songs, several—"Cimarron," "I'll Step Aside," "Tomorrow Never Comes," and "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight"—receiving extensive coverage. Johnny Rodriguez supplied the most successful reading of "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight," yet additional versions came from Bobby Bare, Roy Clark, Flatt & Scruggs, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Monroe, the Louvin Brothers, Hank Snow, Red Allen & the Kentuckians, and Arthur Alexander. "Cimarron" attained standard status through recordings by the Sons of the Pioneers, Foy Willing, Bob Wills, and Jimmy Dean, plus concert performances by Johnny Cash and Chet Atkins; Les Paul and Mary Ford also recorded it, as did Harry James and Neal Hefti instrumentally, with Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra delivering the highest-selling interpretation. "Tomorrow Never Comes" charted for Glen Campbell and was covered by Lynn Anderson, Elvis Presley, Little Jimmy Dickens, Loretta Lynn, the Statler Brothers, and Ernest Tubb. "Conversation With a Gun" received treatments from Tex Ritter and Marty Robbins, while Hank Thompson, Ernest Tubb, and Marty Robbins recorded "I'll Step Aside."
Bond accompanied Autry on 1940s and 1950s tours; Johnny Western, a younger singer possessing a comparably rich baritone, eventually assumed his chair. Unlike many contemporaries, Bond embraced rock & roll's arrival and occasionally adapted his style to its rhythms, recognizing their proximity to country traditions. Much of his output further displayed a rollicking humor that aligned it spiritually with early rock & roll more closely than the work of most country peers. Nevertheless, when Columbia declined to renew his contract upon its 1957 expiration, his recording career appeared finished.
A short stint on Autry's Republic label yielded "Hot Rod Lincoln," a crossover success that later became a rock & roll standard. In 1960 Starday signed Bond, initiating an eleven-year association. The 1964 remake of "Ten Little Bottles," previously recorded twice since 1954, became his biggest hit, reaching the Top Three and attaining number one on select charts. Subsequent releases, including the humorous "Morning After," failed to replicate that performance.
Bond's or Starday's continued emphasis on drinking songs may have contributed to the difficulty; the majority of his mid- and late-1960s output centered on such material, casting him as a one-dimensional artist. Even uncredited Tex Ritter appearances, as on the 1965 track "New Year's Day," failed to generate significant chart response. The Starday contract concluded in 1969, after which Bond moved to Capitol—where Ritter had long advocated on his behalf—and recorded a Delmore Brothers tribute album with longtime friend Merle Travis. Poor sales prompted both artists' departure from the label by year's end. Bond returned briefly to Starday before exiting permanently in 1971. He next recorded for the Lamb & Lion label, then joined Jimmy Wakely's Shasta imprint in 1974 for a single session backed by James Burton and Red Rhodes, revisiting signature numbers such as his own "Cimarron" and "I'll Step Aside," along with Woody Guthrie's "Oklahoma Hills" and another reading of "Hot Rod Lincoln."
Only one anthology of Bond's Columbia sides exists: the twenty-five-track mid-priced import Johnny Bond & His Red River Valley Boys issued by the British ASV label in 2001. Columbia itself released a 1958 EP containing "Sick, Sober and Sorry" and "Ten Little Bottles" yet waited until 1965—eight years after his departure—to issue a full-length album. That same year Autry revived his Radio Ranch series on his own station, and Bond resumed weekly broadcasts as musician, singer, and scriptwriter for another five years until cancellation. By contrast, Starday issued fourteen Bond albums between 1960 and 1971, encompassing hit collections, recent singles, and concept projects (mostly post-1963 drinking-song themed), the strongest being 1961's That Wild, Wicked But Wonderful West. In 1969 he recorded Great Songs of the Delmore Brothers with Merle Travis for Capitol, while Lamb & Lion and Shasta each released individual albums plus radio performances drawn from Wakely's late-1950s program. ~ Bruce Eder
Albums
