Johnny Bond
by Stan Paregien, Sr.
Johnny Bond was born June 1, 1915 on a farm near Enville, Oklahoma (some 12 miles southeast of Ardmore). His real name was Cyrus Whitfield Bond, and he was the fifth of six children.
Johnny fell in love with music when he heard the records of Vernon Dalhart and Jimmie Rodgers on the old family Victrola. His sister, Mary, then bought a new-fangled thing called a "radio" and he listened to such regional favorites as Milton Brown, W. Lee O'Daniels and Carson Robison.
Johnny Bond seems to have been naturally gifted as a musician. He was asked to join the brass band in high school, so he borrowed an E flat alto brass horn and learned to play it very quickly. Then he bought a ukulele from a Montgomery Ward catalog for 98 cents and learned to play that just as fast. After that he borrowed a guitar and a banjo and taught himself how to play them.
Johnny graduated from high school in 1934. He moved to Oklahoma City to live with his brother, Howard. The young farm boy was determined to find a job making music. So he knocked on area radio station doors until he got a job--non-paying, at the start--at KFXR. He briefly played with "Billy McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboys" ( later became "Pop Moore and His Oklahomans").
Then one day he joined Jimmy Wakely and Scotty Harrel as 'The Bell Boys', sponsored by the Bell Clothing Company. They were heard on both WKY in Oklahoma City and on KVOO in Tulsa. It was this move that ultimately took him to Hollywood and to stardom. About that time another fellow who grew up in Oklahoma, Gene Autry, was touring the plains states to promote his movie, "Rancho Grande." The Bell Boys were determined to talk with Gene, and followed him from town to town until they got to meet him. He was impressed with the trio and told them to look him up if they ever got to Hollywood.
Now, a lot of Hollywood types use that line. But they believed Gene meant it. On May 31, 1940, Johnny and Dorothy Bond, Dick Reinhart, Jimmy and Inez Wakely and their two daughters, Deanna and Carol, left Oklahoma City for California. Scotty Harrel joined them later. And, true to his word, Gene Autry put them to work.
At about this time Johnny had been attempting to write his own songs. He saw the movie CIMARRON and he had crossed the Cimarron many times in his travels. This led him to write his signature song, "Cimarron (Roll On)". That song has been recorded by scores of artists over the years.
There in sunny California, The Bell Boys changed their name to "The Jimmy Wakely Trio". They were regulars on Foreman Phillips' County Barn Dances. No doubt that is why Scotty Harrel became "Foreman Scotty" when he returned to Oklahoma City and started a children's TV show).
Dick Reinhart began recording for the Okeh label with Johnny Bond and Jimmy Wakely accompanying him. Jimmy Wakely began recording for Decca with Johnny Bond playing lead guitar for him. Johnny Bond starting recording on the Okeh/Columbia lable on August 12, 1941. He continued to record for Columbia through 1957.
Johnny also appeared on Gene Autry's nationwide radio broadcast, "Melody Ranch," show from 1940 to 1956. He toured extensively with Gene during the same period, literally going all over the world and appearing before "Woodstock" sized audiences before anybody ever heard of Woodstock.
Bond was Gene Autry's lead guitartist. It is his picking that introduces Gene's theme song, "Back in the Saddle Again". And it is his picking on Autry's recording of "You Are My Sunshine".
And when he decided to stop touring, it was a young fellow named Johnny Western who was chosen to take his place as lead guitarist. Interestingly, Western had learned his guitar "licks" from listening to Johnny Bond records many years before.
Johnny was in 38 movies from 1938 to 1947. He worked with William Boyd ("Hopalong Cassidy"), Roy Rogers, , Gene Autry, Johnny Mack Brown, Don Barry ("Red Ryder"), Tex Ritter and Jimmy Wakely.
Cedric Stevens, Lee "Lasses" White, Dennis Moore
and Johnny Bond in a scene from Jimmy Wakely's
first movie for Monogram, "Song of the Range" (1944).
Johnny Bond in 1946By 1952 Bond was starring on the Los Angeles-based TV show, "Town Hall Party". These Friday and Saturday night shows got a wide exposure, however, as they were filed under the name of "Ranch Party" and distributed on the Armed Forces Network.
After 1957 Bond continued to record on small lables. Those companies included Capitol, Republic, Smash, Starday, 20th Fox, , Lamb & Lion and even his old partner Jimmy Wakely's "Shasta" label. But he only had one "Number One" recording during that period: "Ten Little Bottles".
His most requested song at his live performances was the novelty song, "Hot Rod Lincoln".
Bond in the early 1970's.After suffering several strokes, Johnny Bond died on June 12, 1978 at the St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA. He was buried at sea.
He was survived by his wife, Dorothy and three daughters: Sherry Bond of Nashville, Tenn.; Jeannie Wood of Oregon; and Susan Hawley of Burbank, Calif. His wife died in 1997.
Sherry Bond told an interviewer this about her father: "I had no idea how into country music he was. I knew he was somewhat successful--he raised three daughters, and my mother never worked. He never pretended he was somebody big. He always said he was surrounded by big people" (Daily Oklahoman, Oct. 10, 1999). He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in September of 1999.
In 2008 I discovered that a high school classmate of mine, Nancy Brooks Smalle (Fillmore, California - Class of 1959), had roomed with Sherry Bond when they were both at Stanford University. Small world, isn't it?
Sherry Bond recently led the effort to get published a book that her father wrote long before his death. 30 Years on the Road with Gene Autry: Recollections was Johnny Bond's inside view of what it was to work with and around a super-star. Gene did not want it published while he was still kicking and the Bond family thought it best to wait until another subject of the book also expired. So it was finally published in 2007, nearly 30 years after Johnny finished writing it.
Anyway, the book is said to be entertaining reading and contains several photos not previously published. You may order it for $34 from: Museum of Lone Pine Film History, P.O. Box 111, Lone Pine, CA 93545. Or phone 760-876-9103.
CLICK HERE to go to the official Johnny Bond web site.
All contents copyrighted 2008
by Stan Paregien Sr
