Johnny Bond
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Cyrus Whitfield Bond (June 1, 1915 – June 12, 1978), known professionally as Johnny Bond, was an American
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
singer-songwriter, guitarist and composer and publisher, who co-founded a music publishing firm, he was active in the music industry from 1940 until the late 1970s.


Early years

Bond was born in
Enville, Oklahoma Enville is a community located in eastern Love County, Oklahoma, United States. A post office was established at Enville, Indian Territory on June 16, 1904, and closed January 15, 1935. The name is said to have been coined from a contraction of ...
, and grew up on several small farms in Oklahoma. As a youngster, he was influenced musically by records that his parents played. He learned basics of music as a member of his high school's brass band. While in high school he bought a ukulele, but soon he switched to playing the guitar.


Performing

Bond first performed on radio in
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
when he was 19 years old. In 1937, he began performing with
Jimmy Wakely Jimmy Wakely (February 16, 1914 – September 23, 1982) was an American actor, songwriter, country music vocalist, and one of the last singing cowboys. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, he released records, appeared in several B-Western movies ...
and Scotty Harrell in the Bell Boys trio, named after the Bell Clothing Company, which sponsored the group on radio station
WKY WKY (930 AM) is a commercial radio station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, owned by Cumulus Media. It is the oldest radio station in Oklahoma and among the oldest in the nation. WKY airs a sports format which is simulcast with its sister stati ...
in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He went on to join ''
Gene Autry's Melody Ranch ''Gene Autry's Melody Ranch'' is a Western variety radio show in the United States. A 15-minute pilot show aired on December 31, 1939. The program ran from January 7, 1940 to August 1, 1943, and from September 23, 1945 to May 16, 1956.French, Jack ...
'' in 1940. He also performed with his own group, the Red River Valley Boys. ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music'' says that the Bond-Wakely-Harrell trio "pulled a clever musical scam" by recording for two companies under different names: the Jimmy Wakely Trio (for
Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
) and Johnny Bond & the Cimarron Boys (for
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
). Bond also acted in more than 40 films, beginning with '' Saga of Death Valley'' (1939) and including '' Wilson'' and '' Duel in the Sun''. Beginning in 1953, Bond and
Tex Ritter Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John, grandsons Jason and ...
were hosts of the syndicated country music television series ''
Town Hall Party ''Town Hall Party'' was an American country music program, firstly broadcast on radio and then television The first radio broadcast was in Autumn 1951 by stations KXLA-AM in Pasadena, California and KFI-AM in Los Angeles, California The televis ...
,'' which lasted seven years.


Recording

Bond's first solo recordings came with Columbia Records in 1937. He is best known for his 1947
hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
"
Divorce Me C.O.D. "Divorce Me C.O.D." is a 1946 honky-tonk song recorded by Merle Travis. One of many songs co-written by Travis and Cliffie Stone, it was Travis' first release to make it to number one on the Folk Juke Box charts where it stayed for fourteen wee ...
", one of his seven top ten hits on the ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' country
charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tab ...
. In 1965 at age 50 he scored the biggest hit of his career with the comic "Ten Little Bottles", which spent four weeks at No. 2. Bond's other hits include "
So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" is a 1947 song by Merle Travis, written by Travis, Eddie Kirk, and Cliffie Stone. Background The song describes a woman through the use of advertising slogans. The slogan "So round, so firm, so fully packed, ...
" (1947), "Oklahoma Waltz" (1948), "Love Song in 32 Bars" (1950), "Sick Sober and Sorry" (1951), and a cover of Charlie Ryan's "
Hot Rod Lincoln "Hot Rod Lincoln" is a song by American singer-songwriter Charlie Ryan, first released in 1955. It was written as an answer song to Arkie Shibley's 1950 hit "Hot Rod Race" (US #29). It describes a drive north on US Route 99 (predecessor to ...
" (1960).


Composing and publishing

The hundreds of songs that Bond wrote include "Cimarron" and "Ten Little Bottles". He and Ritter formed Vidor Publications, a music publishing firm. He retired from performing in the 1970s to devote more time to publishing music.


Death

Bond died of a stroke in 1978, at the age of 63.


Recognition

Bond was elected to the
Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...
in 1999, and to the
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1970 by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that is u ...
.


In popular culture

Bond's song "Stars of the Midnight Range" was featured in the role-playing video game, '' Fallout: New Vegas''. Another song of his; "Headin' Down the Wrong Highway" was on the radio in the game
Fallout 76 ''Fallout 76'' is a 2018 online action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is an installment in the ''Fallout'' series and a prequel to previous entries. ''Fallout 76'' is Bethesda ...
.


Discography


Albums


Singles


References


External links

*
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
*
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Bond, JohnnyJohnny Bond at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, Johnny 1915 births 1978 deaths People from Love County, Oklahoma American country singer-songwriters Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Country musicians from Oklahoma Starday Records artists Smash Records artists 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma