Johnny Rodriguez RIP

[Pete Finney]

What an amazing voice, and what a soulful singer... he ruled the honky-tonk jukeboxes when I first started playing bars in 1973 and he made so many incredible records; I often steer people to those early Jerry Kennedy produced albums when they're looking for examples of Pete Drake at his best.
I got to play with Johnny a bit many years later and really treasure the memory of those shows, and he was always just as cool as could be. Country music didn't get much better in my humble opinion, and I think he deserves more recognition than he ever got.

[Will Houston]

Well said Pete. RIP Johnny

[Rick Campbell]

Another one of the legends gone. Johnny was a super country singer.

RC

[Walter Stettner]

What Pete said, this is really sad news. I still listen a lot to his great recordings, especially the early ones, with Pete Drake.

Another true legend gone,,,

My prayers and condolences go out to his family.

Walter Stettner
Vienna, Austria

[Craig Stock]

RIP Johnny, I'm pretty sure that Ben Lawson played for Johnny at one point too.

[Ricky Davis]

RIP Johnny R. and thank you for all your music sang with all your passion all the time.
Ricky

[Floyd Lowery]

I enjoyed meeting Johnny in the early 1980s. The band I was in fronted him at the Rusty Spur in Birmingham. He was very nice and sounded great. RIP

[Darrell Criswell]

I saw him play at a BBQ restaurant outside of San Antonio, he was a phenomenal performer who really cared about his audience. People who knew him told me about the severity of his substance abuse problems. I know people who never listen to country music say their favorite song was "Fooling" by him.

[Paul King]

Johnny kept it country. He will definitely be missed.

[Joe Rogers]

The very 1st concert I ever attended was Johnny Rodriguez opening for Merle Haggard the day after Hag cut the live I LOVE Dixie Blues album in New Orleans. What a fantastic memory. I had always wished I could have played at least 1 show with Johnny....I was such a huge fan. It never came to pass. His Greatest Hits album is never far from me.

Joe Rogers

[Kerry Johnson]

Sad news. I offer my sincere condolences to his Family.

Memories;
Back in 2001, I was touring Texas with the Chris Chitsey band.
We had an afternoon Gig in South Texas at a High School gymnasium headlined by Johnny Rodriquez.
We were so excited and anticipated a legendary performance by Johnny & his band.

Playing live music in a gymnasium however was a musical nightmare.
At Sound Check, no matter how soft we played or loud we played, the Sound in a gymnasium was just one BIG echo chamber.
We tried to play as soft as possible. Uggh !
Still an echo chamber.

Johnny's band just overcame the circumstances ... and gave a great performance!
What a great memory both then and in hind-site.

Again my condolences to his Family.
God bless his Family in this difficult time for them.

[Rick Schmidt]

Verey sad to hear this!!!
I played 4 shows with Johnny back in the day. Every one of them could be a whole chapter in my book of memories! Too much to write about at the moment, but there was one in particular where we played a big concert in the central California agricultural valley ( I can't remember exactly what town right now?) that was mostly Hispanic farm workers in the audience. I never felt like I was in the Beatles more than that show! He was a very lovable and inspiring guy! God Bless Johnny!!! R.I.P.

[Tim Harr]

When I was stationed in Korea (1993-94) with the Army Band, I played pedal steel on three shows with him. For some reason his regular steel player could not make the trip at the last minute (DUI?), can’t recall. When deciding to use me, he asked me to play the kick off to “Pass Me By”. When I asked him what key he wanted it in, he winked and said “pick one”. A true pro and very kind soul.

[Gary Hoetker]

A great talent obviously. My hope and prayer is that he made it right with our Father. That's what really counts. I like to think he did.

[Kerry Johnson]

Nashville's Rick Lisk also got to Tour with Johnny around 1984-85.
I talked with Rick about his remembrance of that time and he had some very interesting stories of Johnny's live performances that were funny and endearing.

What a great time in Country Music it was.

[Drew Pierce]

I too had the pleasure of playing some shows with Johnny. At the time he didn’t have a road band but would use pick up bands he’d recruit from the local areas where he had shows booked. Most shows were in smaller country music theaters that became popular in the mid ‘80s. His bass player and harmony singer, whose name I can’t recall, was his band leader and road manager. He’d visit country dance halls and music stores ahead of the shows and get names of local drummers, lead guitarists and steel players. I was working in the house band in a honky tonk in West Plains, Missouri at the time and got the nod. I received a cassette and set list about a week before the first show and we had one rehearsal before the show in which we mainly ran through intros, instrumental breaks and endings—usually less than two minutes per song as I recall. I woodshedded that tape like crazy and thought I was ready to go. But I gotta say, having to kickoff to the show with the intro to “Pass Me By” was the most white knuckle musical experience I can remember. I felt like everybody in the place—including Johnny Rodriguez — was looking at me and waiting to see how it was going to go.
I guess I did OK as he asked me to play some more shows after that.

[Terry Wood]

He was a great Country singer. One of my buddy's played drums for him several years ago. I always liked his music. RIP Johnny R

[Daniel Dickie]

One of the greatest country singers of all time and one of my personal favourites.
The early recordings with Sneaky Pete are magical
RIP Johnny