JOHNNY PAYCHECK

'Johnny Paycheck' (May 31, 1938 – February 18, 2003) was a country music singer. He is most famous for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It".
Born 'Donald Eugene Lytle' in Greenfield, Ohio, United States, he began playing guitar by age six and made his first record at age 15. After a time served in the United States Navy (which included a court-martial for assault), he began performing under the name 'Donny Young'. The singer took a job with country music star 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 for numerous hard country acts of the late nineteen fifties and early nineteen sixties. 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. They shun vocal chouses and strings 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.
By the 1960s, he had changed his name to 'Johnny Paycheck', a name similar to Johnny Cash. Lytle reportedly re-named himself after the boxer, Johnny Paychek, who fought Joe Louis in 1940. Paycheck had his first hit with a minor Buck Owen's hit "A-11". This recording set a pattern for the rest of his 1960's work. Paycheck also co-owned his own record company 'Little Darlin' Records', with his producer Aubrey Mayhew. Paycheck's Little Darlin recordings feature the shreiking pedal steel guitar work of Lloyd Green. By the end of the 1960's, Paycheck had decended into alcoholism and drug abuse, and 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.
In the early 70's, Paycheck was revived by producer Billy Sherrill, who significantly changed Paycheck's sound and image. With the popularity of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings in the mid 70's, Paycheck again changed his image to that of outlaw, where he was to have his largest financial success.
A member of the Grand Ole Opry, Paycheck is best remembered for his 1977 hit single, "Take This Job and Shove It" (written by David Allan Coe), which sold over 2 million copies and inspired a motion picture of the same name. "Colorado Kool-Aid" is another of his most famous songs. In his career, Paycheck recorded eleven songs that made it into country music's top ten chart, plus he co-wrote several successful songs for other country singers, including "Apartment #9," a hit for Tammy Wynette.
His life was often filled with turmoil and in 1985, Paycheck was convicted of shooting a man in Hillsboro, Ohio (after the man asked Paycheck to visit his home and try his deer meat and turtle soup. Paycheck responded, "Do you see me as some kind of hick?...I don't like you," and later fired a .22 pistol that grazed the man's head, claiming it was self-defense) and spent two years in prison. His tax problems with the IRS led to his filing for bankruptcy in 1990. In the 1990s, he began capitalizing the fourth letter of his name in a style later dubbed CamelCase, preferring to be known as Johnny PayCheck.
Paycheck suffered from drug and alcohol addiction during his career, although he was said to have "put his life in order" [1] after his prison stay. Suffering from emphysema and asthma after a lengthy illness, Johnny Paycheck died at Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
He was interred in Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville.

Contents

Cover Versions of Johnny Paycheck's songs

Trivia

Quotes

Awards

Reference

External links

Cover Versions of Johnny Paycheck's songs

★ His 1979 song "(Stay Away From) The Cocaine Train" was covered by The Fall in 1996, re-titled "Stay Away (Old White Train)"

★ His song The "I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)" was also recorded by Kevin Fowler and Hank Williams III

★ Tracy Byrd released versions of "Someone to Give my Love to", and "Don't Take Her, She's All I've Got"

Trivia

★ Country icon and longtime friend George Jones purchased Paycheck's burial plot and headstone when he learned that his family couldn't cover the interment costs.

★ Paycheck appeared on the popular television show, The Dukes of Hazzard as himself. The scene had him playing "Take This Job and Shove It" and happily arguing with Boss Hogg when the sheriff tried to give him a citation over the content of the song.

★ "Take This Job and Shove It" was also covered by Johnny Cash , as well as the Dead Kennedys.

★ Fracas (band) released their version of "15 Beers" on the Fracas Album ''On Trial'' in 2003.

Quotes

★ "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." (After his release from prison)

★ "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."

★ "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."

Awards

★ 1977 — Academy of Country Music – Career Achievement

Reference

★ Cooper, Daniel. (1998). "Johnny Paycheck". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 408.

External links

★ Official Website

★ Johnny Paycheck Tribute Site

★ Johnny Paycheck: Lost Masters

★ Johnny Paycheck at The Internet Movie Database

★ Johnny Paycheck's Gravesite

★ CNN.com - Country singer Johnny Paycheck dead at 64

★ All Music Guide