Grand Ole Opry to Tribute Johnny Paycheck
Perhaps it’s fitting that a performer named “Johnny PayCheck” had to earn every single square inch of recognition he ever received, and still probably never received his fair due. Though he’s best known for his massive #1 hit “Take This Job and Shove It” written by David Allan Coe that has since gone on to become one of the best-known country songs of all time, he had scores of other songs that should be just as popular.
The charts might not reflect it, but time has proven that songs like “11 Months and 29 Days,” “I’m The Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised),” and “Colorado Kool-Aid” are PayCheck classics too. He did get to #2 on the charts with “She’s All I Got” and “Mr. Lovermaker,” but PayCheck was always a little too rough around the edges for superstardom, even though he’s a superstar in the minds of many country fans.
One place that paid proper due to PayCheck was the Grand Ole Opry, which made him a member in 1997, well after his popular career had expired, but as PayCheck was becoming a proper country legend. Now on Thursday, May 9th, the Opry will toast PayCheck as part of their Opry Country Classics series.
Scheduled to perform at the tribute are Jamey Johnson, William Michael Morgan, The Gatlin Brothers, Georgette Jones, Chris Janson, Johnny PayCheck’s son and fellow performer John PayCheck, and Jesse Keith Whitley, son of Keith Whitley and Lorrie Morgan. It will be hosted by Larry Gatlin, who hosts the Opry Country Classics series.
The tribute to Johnny PayCheck will also officially be the Opry debut for his son John PayCheck, who has been stepping up more and more as a performer in recent years. He just released a new single “More Days Behind” and will be doing his first full scale tour this upcoming summer.
Born Donald Eugene Lytle, he started his career under the name Donald Young, singing harmonies for numerous artists including George Jones, and playing bass and steel guitar before his career took off in the early ’70s. PayCheck died in 2003 at the age of 64.
April 22, 2024 @ 12:14 pm
File this under “It’s a shame.” I recently had dinner at a Texas Roadhouse, and several of the servers were wearing t-shirts with the slogan “Take this job and Love it” on the back. I asked several of those staff if they had any idea where that slogan came from (in its original form), and none of them knew. None of them had even heard of Mr. Paycheck. Pity.
April 22, 2024 @ 4:30 pm
Kinda random, but back in the day I lived in Richmond, VA and there was a neighborhood called Shockoe Bottom and it flooded. I suggested “If I’m Gonna Sink I May As Well Go to the Bottom” tshirts, but no one really got it…
April 23, 2024 @ 12:37 am
…perhaps it would be, if the serving personnel there were all in their 60s and 70s.
May 4, 2024 @ 9:54 am
Who gives a shit what the server’s knowledge of country music is? Enjoy your breadsticks.
I was raised on country music and never heard of Paycheck. Is that a shame or pity? Nah, just an artist I never heard of.
God, this site drives me crazy with all the oldsters and experts.
“Well, Trig back in ’72 I saw…”
No one cares about your country music war stories oldtimers. Just eat your salad and drink your water with a lemon slice.
April 22, 2024 @ 12:17 pm
The Feminine Touch…..classic!!
April 22, 2024 @ 12:22 pm
Glad young John is there.
April 22, 2024 @ 12:38 pm
I hope he makes it. Unfortunately the only father son success I can think of is Hank. Hopefully he can step out of his fathers shadow
April 22, 2024 @ 1:22 pm
He’s around 50 and playing off his father’s name. That’s not really going to happen.
But you’re right as far as sons of country stars not making as country stars in their own right. Quite a few daughters have, though.
April 22, 2024 @ 1:50 pm
Reading Trig’s previous article, Paycheck Jr. had a successful career in academics and tech and and helicopter and plane piloting. So, this belated country music career is just gravy. If he’s playing in front of audiences and having fun, that’s plenty good already. Sounds like a helluva life story.
April 22, 2024 @ 5:33 pm
Have you listened to any of his stuff? He doesn’t have his father’s voice, but it’s still pretty good stuff.
April 22, 2024 @ 8:56 pm
Thomas Rhett, Justin Townes Earle, Shooter Jennings
April 22, 2024 @ 10:55 pm
@JC–I took it that @K-i-C was talking about success in mainstream country. I don’t believe that Shooter Jennings or Justin Earle ever had a hit song or album. The Akinses qualify: Rhett was not a big star, but he did have a few bona hits in the ’90s and Thomas’s record speaks for itself.
There’s also ET’s son Justin Tubb who had a few top-10 hits and became a performing artist/personality in the ’50s and ’60s.
But there’s no comparison to the female side where Rosanne Cash, Lorrie Morgan; Pam Tillis, and Carlene Carter all folllowed country star fathers to become significant country stars and or hitmakers on their own. Also Lynn Anderson, daughter of a country star (though the mother was far more successful and prominent as a songwriter than as a performer).
April 22, 2024 @ 1:17 pm
If anyone listens to “Old Violin” and is not moved, they have no heart. It just cuts right through you. A superb singer with an unmatched voice. Thanks for the shout-out.
By the way, years ago Tim McGraw used Johnny Paycheck as an opener. I thought that was a classy move. Can’t remember the details now.
April 22, 2024 @ 3:35 pm
Have you seen the Country Family Reunion video of him performing “Old Violin”? The country legends that make up the in studio audience react as he’s performing with a childlike sense of wonder and delight, even though they already know the song. It’s magical.
April 23, 2024 @ 9:39 am
JB,
I have watched it. Truly a special moment.
April 22, 2024 @ 1:54 pm
Hmmm. One wonders if Lorrie and Jesse Keith are helping John campaign a bit to get Pops into the HOF? That’s my guess, based upon their success at getting Keith inducted. Either way, I’m thrilled for ANYTHING positive on the Paycheck front. One of the truly great vocalists, songwriters and musicians of the genre.
April 22, 2024 @ 3:55 pm
I’m kinda banking on a situation where, say, Crystal Gayle gets in and then they sorta balance that out the next year by inducting Paycheck.
April 22, 2024 @ 5:29 pm
He’s one of my absolute favorites of his era. I think I’ve said this on every article that Trigger has mentioned him on, but his back catalogue is a complete mess. At some point, somebody in his camp (him or otherwise) clearly sold some of the rights to his catalogue or they hit a technicality or something. About ten years ago I went through tried to collect all of his albums, and I can’t think of another artist that had so many bargain bin compilations and re-recordings gumming everything up. The sheer amount of releases with the same titles and track listings (often with different versions of the same songs) is baffling. I did my best to clean up his discography on Wikipedia for other fans but even then I’m sure I missed a studio album or two somewhere. I was listening to a live album, I’m The Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised): Live (released 2022), and in between songs Paycheck would banter about his new album, Mr. Hag, Part 2, which as far as I can tell was intended to be a sequel to the Mr. Hag Told My Story album, but it never saw the light of day. Not to mention the live album he and Hag recorded while Johnny was in prison that apparently perished in a fire. And then there’s stuff like The Last Outlaw from 1991, which was more or less impossible to find until just a few years ago when someone (wink, wink) started sharing a lossless cassette rip with other fans and it found its way onto YouTube.
There doesn’t seem to be any reliable historians for his career, or at least not very many that know the details of his post-Epic career up until his death. So I’m always happy when he gets some attention, as I’m hopeful at some point someone will start reissuing his stuff in a reliable way, particularly from the later years.
April 23, 2024 @ 9:13 am
I love Paycheck but several singers with more success are rightly ahead of him in the pecking order.
April 22, 2024 @ 2:22 pm
Trigger, do you have an update on Mark Chesnutt? Also, can I contact you at an email address?
April 22, 2024 @ 3:52 pm
You can reach out here:
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/contact/
Just saw Mark Chesnutt yesterday at Two Step Inn. He sounded and looked great. Posted something about him on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C6En5S8ORGW/?img_index=1
Will probably have more in the festival recap I’m working on at the moment.
April 22, 2024 @ 5:56 pm
Mark looks great in those pics! Glad he’s doing well.
April 23, 2024 @ 9:41 am
Glad to see the update on Mark.
April 22, 2024 @ 3:07 pm
I am typing this reply some floors upstairs in a place where I saw Johnny Paycheck play downstairs. Admission was cans for a food drive. Yea!
April 22, 2024 @ 3:43 pm
Random, any idea what the latest countdown on Sturgill’s website is for?
April 22, 2024 @ 4:02 pm
New exclusive koozie.
April 22, 2024 @ 4:27 pm
😂😂😂😂😂
Well played sir
April 22, 2024 @ 3:49 pm
Paycheck was awesome. Just listening to one of his records a few day ago. But let’s be honest, if anyone held Paycheck back or kept from get recognition he “deserved”, it was Johnny Paycheck.
April 22, 2024 @ 4:35 pm
Some day the hall of fame will induct Luke Bryan or somebody (hopefully Kenny Chesney) and will be so embarrassed that they induct Paycheck as well.
Country music deserves it.
April 22, 2024 @ 5:13 pm
It’s more complicated than the HoF not wanting to give Paycheck credit or something. Tap is completely correct about Johnny being his own worst enemy. Shooting a guy in the head was definitely questionable, but ultimately I think the rape allegations are what will probably keep him out, particularly in this day and age.
April 22, 2024 @ 5:30 pm
Well like I said, country music deserves it. It’s the hall of fames loss in this sorry day and age. Pray to country music Jesus that Lee Ann Womack doesn’t reject the honor by the time she’s inducted.
April 23, 2024 @ 8:56 am
Well she looked old for 12….
April 23, 2024 @ 9:12 am
I probably should have phrased that last line differently. I wasn’t defending the man’s actions at all.
April 22, 2024 @ 6:34 pm
Country songs don’t get any more soul-shattering than “Old Violin,” unless they’re Lefty’s “I Never Go Around Mirrors.” Whenever I’m just about ready to give up on the genre altogether, those two come to mind. Well, a few others, too. But they’re worth all the dreck one has to wade through to find the pearls. Country has a lot to answer for, but no other kind of music could have produced the likes of these.
April 23, 2024 @ 7:45 am
Anyone who doesn’t know Johnny paycheck doesn’t know country music and Johnny paycheck was one of the greatest r i p mister paycheck love your music
April 23, 2024 @ 8:12 am
If I remember correctly, Tracy Byrd covered a couple Paycheck songs. I know he covered “(Don’t Take Her) She’s All I’ve Got”. I seem to remember him covering another song but the title slips my mind right now.
April 23, 2024 @ 8:37 am
“Someone To Give My Love To”
There are even videos of them performing the songs together: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq-ePmKaND8&pp=ygUadHJhY3kgYnlyZCBqb2hubnkgcGF5Y2hlY2s%3D
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yzliHh1vFVU&pp=ygUadHJhY3kgYnlyZCBqb2hubnkgcGF5Y2hlY2s%3D
April 23, 2024 @ 12:56 pm
I love the music of Johnny Paycheck since I heard A11 in his version for the first time.
April 24, 2024 @ 10:50 am
One of my favorites is “Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets”.
Johnny PayCheck’s vocal capabilities are criminally underrated.