JOHNNY RUSSELL CANCELLED A DATE AND JOKED THAT HOLLYWOOD WAS GOING TO MAKE HIM A STAR. TWO YEARS LATER, BUCK OWENS TURNED THAT JOKE INTO HIS FIRST NO. 1 HIT.

Johnny Russell was supposed to go out with his girlfriend when musician friends called and asked him to come to Los Angeles for a recording session.

When she asked why he was leaving, Russell jokingly told her they were going to put him in the movies and make him a big star.

They both laughed.

But Russell couldn’t forget the line. He turned the joke into “Act Naturally,” a song about a brokenhearted man who figures he would be perfect for a sad movie because he wouldn’t even have to act.

Then almost nothing happened.

For roughly two years, Russell couldn’t get anyone to record it. Eventually songwriter Voni Morrison brought it to Buck Owens. Buck recorded the song at Capitol Studios on February 12, 1963.

“Act Naturally” became Buck’s first No. 1 country hit and spent four weeks at the top. Two years later, the Beatles recorded it with Ringo Starr singing lead.

A joke used to explain one cancelled date had traveled all the way from a girlfriend to Buck Owens — and then to the Beatles.

How a Cancelled Date Helped Create Buck Owens’ First No. 1 Hit

Some songs begin with a studio, a deadline, or a contract. “Act Naturally” began with a cancelled date and a nervous joke.

Johnny Russell had planned to see his girlfriend when musician friends called with an opportunity in Los Angeles. He chose the session instead. When he explained why he was leaving, he told her, half laughing, that they were going to put him in the movies and turn him into a big star. It was a throwaway line, the kind people say to soften bad timing. But Russell remembered it.

That joke became the seed of a song. Russell wrote about a man so sad and so hopelessly believable in his misery that he would be perfect for a movie role as a heartbroken character. The idea was simple, smart, and a little self-mocking. It sounded like the kind of country song that should have found a home quickly.

Instead, it sat.

For about two years, Russell had trouble getting anyone to record it. Then songwriter Voni Morrison brought the song to Buck Owens. Owens was already building a major career, but this was still a turning point. On February 12, 1963, he recorded “Act Naturally” at Capitol Studios.

The timing proved perfect. The song rose to No. 1 on the country charts and stayed there for four weeks. For Buck Owens, it became his first chart-topping country hit, the breakthrough that helped define his place in country music history.

What makes the story even better is how the song kept moving. In 1965, the Beatles recorded it, with Ringo Starr singing lead. A joke Russell used to explain one missed date had crossed from personal embarrassment into country stardom, and then into rock history.

Sometimes a small moment survives because it is honest enough to feel bigger than the moment itself.

That is the strange beauty of “Act Naturally”. It started as a private excuse, became a clever song about heartbreak, and then turned into one of Buck Owens’ signature records. By the time the Beatles covered it, the line that once made a girlfriend laugh had already traveled much farther than anyone could have expected.

Johnny Russell probably did not know it then, but the cancelled date had done its work. The joke did not stay a joke. It became a song, then a hit, and then a piece of music history that still feels delightfully human.

Related Post

GEORGE JONES THOUGHT CONWAY TWITTY WAS THE BIG SURPRISE AT THE OPENING OF HIS MUSIC PARK. TAMMY WYNETTE HAD SECRETLY BROUGHT IN ONE MORE MAN — HIS OLD FRIEND CHARLEY PRIDE.

On April 4, 1971, George Jones and Tammy Wynette opened Old Plantation Music Park beside their home in Lakeland, Florida.

More than 10,000 people packed the grounds. Conway Twitty was advertised as the headliner, and George and Tammy were there to perform at the place they had built together.

But Tammy had kept one part of the day from George.

Without telling him, she arranged for Charley Pride, one of George’s old friends, to come down from Nashville.

Then Charley walked out and played a surprise set.

At the time, Pride was already in the middle of one of country music’s great runs of No. 1 records. Yet that afternoon, he was not there because his name was on the marquee.

Tammy had brought him there for George.

On a day filled with thousands of fans and country stars, her best surprise was simply an old friend showing up.

MEL TILLIS WAITED FIFTY-TWO YEARS TO JOIN THE GRAND OLE OPRY. HIS DAUGHTER GOT THERE FIRST.

Pam Tillis became an Opry member in 2000. She had first sung on that stage at eight years old, standing beside her father at the Ryman. He was still waiting. A childhood bout of malaria had left him with a stutter he didn’t know he had until first grade, and when he reached Nashville in the fifties, a record man told him to forget singing and sell his songs instead.

He sold more than a thousand of them, six hundred recorded by other artists. “Detroit City,” written with Danny Dill, won Bobby Bare a Grammy in 1963. “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” came out of the house next door in Pahokee, where a paralyzed World War II veteran and the English nurse he had married argued through the window beside young Mel’s bed. Johnny Darrell had the hit first. Kenny Rogers made it a standard two years later. The stutter never followed him into a song.

On June 9, 2007, Pam stood on that stage and told her father the best part of getting inducted first was that she got to induct him. He was seventy-four. “It took me 52 years,” he said, “and I do appreciate this.” Two months later the Country Music Hall of Fame elected him. He would have turned 94 this weekend.

RAY PRICE KNEW HE WAS RUNNING OUT OF TIME. HE CALLED FRED FOSTER AND SAID, “I THINK I HAVE ONE ALBUM LEFT IN ME.” HE WAS RIGHT.

Ray Price was battling pancreatic cancer when he called his longtime friend and producer Fred Foster in 2012.

“I think I have one album left in me,” the 86-year-old told him.

He wanted Foster to produce it.

Despite the cancer and repeated health problems, Ray kept recording. The songs were mostly love ballads, many chosen with his wife Janie in mind — the woman who had been beside him since 1970.

By October 2013, Ray had finished his studio work.

Less than two months later, on December 16, he died at his Texas home at 87.

He never saw the album released.

On April 15, 2014, “Beauty Is… The Final Sessions” finally arrived, including duets with Vince Gill and Martina McBride.

Ray had been right.

He had one album left in him — and he used it to leave behind the kind of songs he loved most.

You Missed

GEORGE JONES THOUGHT CONWAY TWITTY WAS THE BIG SURPRISE AT THE OPENING OF HIS MUSIC PARK. TAMMY WYNETTE HAD SECRETLY BROUGHT IN ONE MORE MAN — HIS OLD FRIEND CHARLEY PRIDE.

On April 4, 1971, George Jones and Tammy Wynette opened Old Plantation Music Park beside their home in Lakeland, Florida.

More than 10,000 people packed the grounds. Conway Twitty was advertised as the headliner, and George and Tammy were there to perform at the place they had built together.

But Tammy had kept one part of the day from George.

Without telling him, she arranged for Charley Pride, one of George’s old friends, to come down from Nashville.

Then Charley walked out and played a surprise set.

At the time, Pride was already in the middle of one of country music’s great runs of No. 1 records. Yet that afternoon, he was not there because his name was on the marquee.

Tammy had brought him there for George.

On a day filled with thousands of fans and country stars, her best surprise was simply an old friend showing up.

Johnny Russell was supposed to go out with his girlfriend when musician friends called and asked him to come to Los Angeles for a recording session.

When she asked why he was leaving, Russell jokingly told her they were going to put him in the movies and make him a big star.

They both laughed.

But Russell couldn’t forget the line. He turned the joke into “Act Naturally,” a song about a brokenhearted man who figures he would be perfect for a sad movie because he wouldn’t even have to act.

Then almost nothing happened.

For roughly two years, Russell couldn’t get anyone to record it. Eventually songwriter Voni Morrison brought it to Buck Owens. Buck recorded the song at Capitol Studios on February 12, 1963.

“Act Naturally” became Buck’s first No. 1 country hit and spent four weeks at the top. Two years later, the Beatles recorded it with Ringo Starr singing lead.

A joke used to explain one cancelled date had traveled all the way from a girlfriend to Buck Owens — and then to the Beatles.

MEL TILLIS WAITED FIFTY-TWO YEARS TO JOIN THE GRAND OLE OPRY. HIS DAUGHTER GOT THERE FIRST.

Pam Tillis became an Opry member in 2000. She had first sung on that stage at eight years old, standing beside her father at the Ryman. He was still waiting. A childhood bout of malaria had left him with a stutter he didn’t know he had until first grade, and when he reached Nashville in the fifties, a record man told him to forget singing and sell his songs instead.

He sold more than a thousand of them, six hundred recorded by other artists. “Detroit City,” written with Danny Dill, won Bobby Bare a Grammy in 1963. “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” came out of the house next door in Pahokee, where a paralyzed World War II veteran and the English nurse he had married argued through the window beside young Mel’s bed. Johnny Darrell had the hit first. Kenny Rogers made it a standard two years later. The stutter never followed him into a song.

On June 9, 2007, Pam stood on that stage and told her father the best part of getting inducted first was that she got to induct him. He was seventy-four. “It took me 52 years,” he said, “and I do appreciate this.” Two months later the Country Music Hall of Fame elected him. He would have turned 94 this weekend.

RAY PRICE KNEW HE WAS RUNNING OUT OF TIME. HE CALLED FRED FOSTER AND SAID, “I THINK I HAVE ONE ALBUM LEFT IN ME.” HE WAS RIGHT.

Ray Price was battling pancreatic cancer when he called his longtime friend and producer Fred Foster in 2012.

“I think I have one album left in me,” the 86-year-old told him.

He wanted Foster to produce it.

Despite the cancer and repeated health problems, Ray kept recording. The songs were mostly love ballads, many chosen with his wife Janie in mind — the woman who had been beside him since 1970.

By October 2013, Ray had finished his studio work.

Less than two months later, on December 16, he died at his Texas home at 87.

He never saw the album released.

On April 15, 2014, “Beauty Is… The Final Sessions” finally arrived, including duets with Vince Gill and Martina McBride.

Ray had been right.

He had one album left in him — and he used it to leave behind the kind of songs he loved most.

Search for: