Johnny Paycheck | |
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From left to right Johnny Lee, Johnny PayCheck and Mickey Gilley at Gilley's Nightclub. |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Donald Eugene Lytle |
Born | May 31, 1938 |
Origin | Greenfield, Ohio, USA |
Died | February 19, 2003 Nashville, Tennessee, USA |
(aged 64)
Genres | Country Music Outlaw Country Honky tonk |
Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
Instruments | Vocalist Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar Bass Guitar Steel Guitar |
Years active | 1953 – 2003 |
Labels | Sony |
Website | www.johnnypaycheckmusic.com |
Johnny Paycheck was the legal name of Donald Eugene Lytle (May 31, 1938 – February 19, 2003), a country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member most famous for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It". He achieved his greatest success in the 1970s as a major force in country music's "Outlaw Movement" popularized by artists such as David Allan Coe, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver and Merle Haggard. In the 1980s, his music career suffered from his problems with drugs, alcohol, and legal difficulties. He served a prison sentence in the early 1990s but his declining health effectively ended his career in early 2000.
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Born in Greenfield, Ohio, Donald Lytle was playing in talent contests by the age of 9.
He took a job with country music legend George Jones for whom he played bass and steel guitar. He later co-wrote Jones' hit song "Once You've Had the Best." PayCheck was a tenor harmony singer with numerous hard country performers in the late 1950s and early 1960s including Ray Price. Lytle, along with Willie Nelson, worked in Price's band the Cherokee Cowboys. He is featured as a tenor singer on recordings by Faron Young, Roger Miller, and Skeets McDonald. All of these recordings are recognizable by their honky tonk purism. The recordings shun vocal choruses and strings that became known as the "Countrypolitan" sound in favor of steel guitar, twin fiddles, shuffle beats, high harmony and self-consciously miserable lyrics. As George Jones' tenor singer, PayCheck has been credited with the development of Jones' unique vocal phrasing.
In 1960, he reached Top 35 status in Cashbox magazine's country charts as Donny Young with the tune "Miracle Of Love". From the early to mid-1960s, he also enjoyed some success as a songwriter for others, with his biggest songwriting hit being "Apartment #9", which served as Tammy Wynette's first chart hit in December 1967.
In 1964, he changed his name legally to Johnny PayCheck, taking the name from Johnny Paychek, a top ranked boxer from Chicago who once fought Joe Louis for the heavyweight title.[1] He first charted under his new name with "A-11" in 1965. His best-selling single from this period was "She's All I Got" which reached #2 on the U.S. country singles charts in 1971 and made it onto the Billboard Hot 100. His "Mr. Lovemaker" also reached #2 on the U.S. country singles chart in 1973. But with the popularity of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings in the mid 70's, PayCheck changed his image to that of outlaw, where he was to have his largest financial success.
It was his producer Bill Sherrill who helped revive his career by significantly changing his sound and image. Sherrill was best known for carefully choreographing his records and infusing them with considerable pop feel. The PayCheck records were clearly based on Sherrill's take on the bands backing Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson on records. "Colorado Kool-Aid", "Me and the IRS", "Friend, Lover, Wife", "Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets", and "I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)" were hits for PayCheck during this period. He received a Academy of Country Music Career Achievement award in 1977.
“ | To me, an outlaw is a man that did things his own way, whether you liked him or not. I did things my own way." |
” |
—Johnny PayCheck |
In 1981 he appeared on the television show, The Dukes of Hazzard, as himself.[2] The scene had him playing "Take This Job and Shove It" and arguing with Boss Hogg when the sheriff tried to give him a citation over the content of the song.
In December 1985, PayCheck was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in jail for shooting a man at the North High Lounge in Hillsboro, Ohio after he fired a .22 pistol, grazing the man's head with a bullet. PayCheck claimed the act was self-defense. After several years spent fighting the sentence, in 1989 he began his sentence, spending 22 months in prison before he was pardoned by the Governor of Ohio, Richard Celeste.[3]
“ | I heard from fans constantly throughout the entire two years. The letters never stopped, from throughout the world. I looked forward to mail call every day. |
” |
The most successful of his later singles, released during his appeal, was "Old Violin" which reached # 21 on the country chart in 1986. His last album to chart was "Modern Times" in 1987. He continued to release albums, the last of which, Remembering appeared in 2002.
In 1990, he filed for bankruptcy after tax problems with the IRS.
Although PayCheck suffered from drug and alcohol addiction during his career, he later was said to have "put his life in order" [4] after his prison stay. He continued to perform and tour until the late 1990's. After the year 2000 his health would only allow for short appearances. Suffering from emphysema and asthma after a lengthy illness, Johnny PayCheck died at Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2003. His funeral was paid for by good friend and music legend George Jones. He was buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville and survived by his wife Sharon and son Jonathan.
His brother Bud Lytle died from cancer in the mid 1990s in Ohio. His brother Jeffrey L. Lytle was killed in a car crash near Wilmington, Ohio in 2009.[5]
With his producer, Aubrey Mayhew, PayCheck co-owned his record company, Little Darlin' Records. PayCheck's Little Darlin' recordings featured the pedal steel guitar work of Lloyd Green. By the end of the 1960s, Little Darlin' Records folded. In the late 1990s, after taking them for granted for years, country music historians began to recognize the distinctive and sharp-edged sound of the Little Darlin' recordings as unique in their time, PayCheck's in particular.
A tribute album, Touch My Heart: a Tribute to Johnny PayCheck, was released in 2004 on the Sugar Hill Label. Produced by Robbie Fulks, the album features George Jones, Marshall Crenshaw, Hank Williams III, Al Anderson, Dallas Wayne, Neko Case, Gail Davies and Fulks himself covering some of PayCheck's best-known songs.
In his song "Grand Ole Opry (Ain't So Grand Anymore)", Hank Williams III praises PayCheck (along with the singer's father and Waylon Jennings) as a "real rebel" the Grand Ole Opry only reluctantly inducted.
“ | I'm a man who believes that right is right and wrong is wrong. Treat me right, and I will give you my all. Treat me wrong, and I will give you nothing. They don't like me for that, but that's the way I am." | ” |
—Johnny PayCheck |
Year | Album | Chart Positions | RIAA | Label | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | CAN Country | ||||
1966 | At Carnegie Hall | 22 | — | — | Little Darlin' |
The Lovin' Machine | — | — | — | ||
1967 | Gospel Time in My Fashion | — | — | — | |
Jukebox Charlie | 10 | — | — | ||
Country Soul | 41 | — | — | ||
1968 | Greatest Hits | 42 | — | — | |
1969 | Wherever You Are | — | — | — | |
1971 | She's All I Got | 5 | — | — | Epic |
1972 | Someone to Give My Love To | 9 | — | — | |
Somebody Loves Me | 16 | — | — | ||
1973 | Mr. Lovemaker | 12 | — | — | |
Song and Dance Man | 16 | — | — | ||
1974 | Greatest Hits | 21 | — | — | |
1975 | Loving You Beats All I've Ever Seen | — | — | — | |
1976 | 11 Months and 29 Days | 40 | — | — | |
1977 | Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets | 22 | — | — | |
Take This Job and Shove ItA | 2 | — | Platinum | ||
1978 | Greatest Hits 2 | 23 | — | Gold | |
Armed and Crazy | 15 | 12 | — | ||
1979 | Everybody's Got a Family | 42 | 17 | — | |
1980 | Double Trouble (w/ George Jones) | 45 | — | — | |
New York Town | 48 | — | — | ||
Mr. Hag Told My Story | 40 | — | — | ||
1981 | Encore | — | — | — | |
1982 | Lovers and Losers | — | — | — | |
Biggest Hits | — | — | — | ||
1987 | Modern Times | 54 | — | — | Mercury |
1993 | Live In Branson | — | — | — | Delta |
1995 | Difference in Me | — | — | — | Playback |
1996 | Johnny Paycheck Sings George Jones | — | — | — | K-Tel |
The Real Mr. Heartache: The Little Darlin Years | — | — | — | Country Music Foundation | |
I'm a Survivor | — | — | — | Playback | |
1999 | Live at Gilley's | — | — | — | Atlantic |
16 Biggest Hits | — | — | — | Sony | |
2002 | Remembering | — | — | — | Orpheus |
Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album |
---|---|---|---|
US Country | |||
1964 | "I'd Rather Be Your Fool" | — | Singles only |
1965 | "For Those Who Think Young" | — | |
"A-11" | 26 | ||
"Heartbreak Tennessee" | 40 | ||
1966 | "I'm Barely Hangin' on to Me" | — | |
"The Lovin' Machine" | 8 | The Lovin' Machine | |
"Ballad of Green Berets" | — | At Carnegie Hall | |
"Right Back Where We Parted" | — | Single only | |
"Motel Time Again" | 13 | Jukebox Charlie | |
1967 | "Jukebox Charlie" | 15 | |
"The Cave" | 32 | Single only | |
"Don't Monkey with Another Monkey's Monkey" | 41 | Greatest Hits | |
1968 | "(It Won't Be Long) And I'll Be Hating You" | 59 | |
"My Heart Keeps Running to You" | 66 | ||
"If I'm Gonna Sink" | 73 | Wherever You Are | |
1969 | "My World of Memories" | — | |
"Wherever You Are" | 31 | ||
"Wildfire" | — |
Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | CAN Country | |||
1971 | "She's All I Got"A | 2 | 2 | She's All I Got |
1972 | "Someone to Give My Love To" | 4 | 7 | Someone to Give My Love To |
"Love Is a Good Thing" | 12 | 24 | ||
"Somebody Loves Me" | 21 | 13 | Somebody Loves Me | |
1973 | "Something About You I Love" | 10 | 20 | Mr. Lovemaker |
"Mr. Lovemaker" | 2 | 3 | ||
"Song and Dance Man" | 8 | 9 | Song and Dance Man | |
1974 | "My Part of Forever" | 19 | 37 | |
"Keep on Lovin' Me" | 23 | 33 | Greatest Hits | |
"For a Minute There" | 12 | 2 | Song and Dance Man | |
1975 | "Loving You Beats All I've Ever Seen" | 26 | 46 | Loving You Beats All I've Ever Seen |
"I Don't Love Her Anymore" | 38 | 45 | ||
"All-American Man" | 23 | — | Single only | |
1976 | "The Feminine Touch" | 56 | 48 | 11 Months and 29 Days |
"Gone at Last" (w/ Charnissa) | 49 | — | ||
"11 Months and 29 Days" | 34 | — | ||
"I Can See Me Lovin' You Again" | 44 | — | ||
1977 | "Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets" | 7 | 7 | Slide Off Your Satin Sheets |
"I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)" | 8 | 6 | ||
"Take This Job and Shove It" | 1 | 1 | Take This Job and Shove It | |
1978 | "Georgia in a Jug" | 17 | 6 | |
"Friend, Lover, Wife" | 7 | 8 | Armed and Crazy | |
1979 | "The Outlaw's Prayer"B | 27 | 29 | |
"Down on the Corner at a Bar Called Kelly's" | 94 | — | Single only | |
"(Stay Away From) The Cocaine Train" | 49 | 34 | Everybody's Got a Family | |
"Drinkin' and Drivin'" | 17 | 23 |
Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | CAN Country | |||
1980 | "Fifteen Beers" | 40 | 43 | Everybody's Got a Family |
"In Memory of a Memory" | 22 | 35 | New York Town | |
1981 | "I Can't Hold Myself in Line" (w/ Merle Haggard) | 41 | 41 | Mr. Hag Told Me a Story |
"Yesterday's News (Just Hit Home Today)" | 57 | — | ||
"The Highlight of '81" | 75 | 42 | Lovers and Losers | |
1982 | "No Way Out" | 69 | — | |
"D.O.A. (Drunk on Arrival)" | 88 | — | ||
1983 | "I Don't Need to Know That Right Now" | — | — | Single only |
1984 | "I Never Get Over You" | 30 | — | I'm a Survivor |
1985 | "You're Every Step I Take" | 47 | 49 | |
"Everything Is Changing" | 63 | — | ||
1986 | "Sexy Southern Lady" | — | — | Single only |
"Old Violin" | 21 | 36 | Modern Times | |
"Don't Bury Me 'Til I'm Ready" | 49 | — | ||
1987 | "Come to Me" | 56 | — | |
"I Grow Old Too Fast (And Smart Too Slow)" | 72 | — | ||
1988 | "Out of Beer" | 81 | — | Singles only |
"Josie" | — | — | ||
1989 | "Scars" | 90 | — | |
1994 | "There Lies the Difference" | — | — | Difference in Me |
Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | CAN Country | |||
1978 | "Maybelline" | 7 | 4 | Double Trouble |
1979 | "You Can Have Her" | 14 | 26 | |
1980 | "When You're Ugly Like Us (You Just Naturally Got to Be Cool)" |
31 | 29 | |
"You Better Move On" | 18 | 25 |
Year | Single | Artist | Chart Positions | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | CAN Country | ||||
1972 | "Let's All Go Down to the River" | Jody Miller | 13 | 18 | There's a Party Goin' On |
Year | B-Side | Chart Positions | Original A-Side | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | CAN Country | |||
1973 | "Billy Jack Washburn" | — | 79 | "Livin' the Life of a Dog" |
1978 | "Colorado Kool-Aid" | 50 | — | "Take This Job and Shove It" |
"Me and the I.R.S." | 33 | — | "Georgia in a Jug" |