Johnny Paycheck

The initial widespread recognition of Johnny Paycheck arrived in 1977 through his chart-topping single "Take This Job and Shove It," which prompted spontaneous one-man wildcat strikes throughout the United States. Public memory resurfaced a decade later when he faced arrest for shooting a man during a bar incident in Hillsboro, OH, resulting in a two-year prison term. Such associations with a novelty track and that violent episode overshadow his stature as one of the era's most powerful honky tonk performers.

Born Donald Lytle in Greenfield, OH, he took up guitar at age six and entered talent contests statewide by nine, later leaving home at fifteen to hitchhike and ride the rails while singing in honky tonks nationwide. A Navy enlistment ended with a court-martial conviction after assaulting a superior officer, confining him to the brig for two years. Upon discharge he reached Nashville, where Buddy Killen at Decca Records signed him; under the name Donny Young he issued two unsuccessful rockabilly singles there, followed by a pair of non-charting country releases on Mercury.

During this period he backed artists on bass and occasional steel guitar for Porter Wagoner, Faron Young, and Ray Price, moving frequently because of his volatile temper, before spending four years from 1962 to 1966 as a member of George Jones's band, the Jones Boys, and supplying harmony vocals on Jones's hits "I'm a People," "The Race Is On," and "Love Bug."

Adopting the stage name Johnny Paycheck after a Chicago heavyweight boxer, Donald Lytle resumed his solo career in late 1965 with producer Aubrey Mayhew on Hilltop Records, releasing "A-11" and "Heartbreak Tennessee"; the former reached number 26, attracted multiple Grammy nominations, and drew comparisons to his mentor Jones. In 1966 the pair launched Little Darlin' Records to showcase Paycheck alongside Jeannie C. Riley, Bobby Helms, and Lloyd Green. That summer "The Lovin' Machine" became his first Top Ten single, while he co-wrote Tammy Wynette's debut hit "Apartment #9" with Bobby Austin and Fuzzy Owen and Ray Price's number-three success "Touch My Heart."

Paycheck's Little Darlin' sides stand among his rawest country recordings, though commercial momentum faded; eight further chart entries between 1967 and 1969 descended in rank, from "Motel Time Again" at number 13 to "If I'm Gonna Sink" at number 73, with "Wherever You Are" rebounding briefly to number 31 before the label collapsed amid his drinking and erratic conduct. He relocated to California, descended further into substance abuse, until Billy Sherrill at Epic Records located him in 1971 and offered a contract conditional on sobriety, which Paycheck accepted.

Sherrill's polished, string-laden productions marked a departure from Little Darlin' grit yet yielded immediate success: "She's All I Got" climbed to number two in fall 1971, followed by another Top Ten entry, "Someone to Give My Love To." Twelve additional hits followed over the next four years, including the 1973 Top Ten singles "Something About You I Love" and "Mr. Lovemaker" plus 1974's "For a Minute There," even as Paycheck's legal difficulties mounted with a 1972 forgery conviction and 1976 troubles involving paternity, taxes, and bankruptcy. He embraced the outlaw country movement mid-decade.

The 1976 album 11 Months and 29 Days, whose title matched the length of his suspended sentence for passing a bad check, featured jail-cell imagery on the cover and signaled his stylistic shift. Early outlaw releases gained little traction until early 1977, when "Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets" and "I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)" both reached the Top Ten; later that year his cover of David Allan Coe's "Take This Job and Shove It" held number one for two weeks, with B-side "Colorado Kool-Aid" charting at number 50. Subsequent singles such as "Me and the I.R.S." and "D.O.A. (Drunk on Arrival)" echoed his lifestyle, yet "Friend, Lover, Wife" and "Mabellene" both peaked at number seven in late 1978 and early 1979.

Excessive behavior soon eroded his career: a protracted lawsuit from former manager Glenn Ferguson began in 1979, a 1981 slander suit arose from an altercation aboard a Frontier Airlines flight, and a 1982 rape charge was reduced to a fine, prompting Epic to drop him. Brief stints at AMI produced minor hits from 1984 to 1985, after which a bar fight in Hillsboro, OH, led to aggravated-assault charges. He recorded for Mercury without Top 40 success, was dropped in 1987, moved to Desperado in 1988, then Damascus in 1989 following his conversion to Christianity.

Appeals exhausted, Paycheck entered the Chillicothe Correctional Institute in 1989, serving two years that included a concert with Merle Haggard before parole in January 1991. He maintained a low profile thereafter, performing in Branson, MO, and recording for Playback Records until his death from diabetes and emphysema complications in February 2003 at age 64.